Salvador, Brazil - Day 2

Because we had an excursion yesterday and got “lay of the land” we freestyled today. Our plan was to take the elevator to the upper city and go to the historic area again but a LARGE 5,877 PASSENGER (!?!?) ship was in port today so the line for the elevator was brutal. (Reinforcing our preference for small ships.) We walked up despite the heat. It was really busy in the area but we enjoyed our meandering nonetheless.

One of the really important things to understand about Brazil and about Salvador in particular is the significance of the slave trade. Wikipedia: “Brazil imported more enslaved Africans than any other country in the world. An estimated 4.9 million enslaved people from Africa were brought to Brazil during the period of 1501 to 1866.”

The Portuguese wanted the slaves to be Catholic but the slaves cleverly developed a religion straddling their African religions and Catholicism. It’s called Candomblé. You can read more about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candomblé Each of the Candomblé spirits, called orixás, has a corresponding Saint. Representations of these spirits feature prominently throughout the city. Once we’d finished roaming around the old town, we took an Uber to see the most significant representations of these orixás in the city. The pictures simply can’t capture how magical they are.Read more