Brasil tem meu coração (Brasil has my heart)
By Nanga'ah Ndumu

Last month, I wrote about my adventures in Habana, Cuba. This month, my writing will take you to Salvador da Bahia, Brasil (Salvador is the city, and Bahia is the state). Brasil is the country with the second most people of African descent, second only to Nigeria. Bahia is regarded as Brazil's most historic state, and has retained strong links with the African heritage of many of the people. The population is 80% black (well, black from an American perspective, because in Brasil, the concept of race is totally different). From 1549 to 1763, Salvador da Bahia, was also once the capital of colonial Brasil, and was the center of the sugar industry. Portuguese is the official language, and the brasilian people are a beautiful mix of African, indigenous American, and European (mostly Portuguese, but also Spanish, Italian, German, etc.). There are also several million Brasilians who are of Japanese descent (the largest outside of Japan). As you can see, this country is truly a melting pot.

One advantage that I had was that, as far as looks, I blended in with the local population. People often mistook me for a Baiana, and I think that was because of my attitude also. For safety, as well as other reasons (i.e. to get an authentic feel of the place), I never wanted to stand out as a tourist, so I dressed and acted as if I was a native (when in Rome). I didn't have obvious or expensive clothes, jewelry, cameras, etc. And even the few times that I was lost, I never stood out on the street looking confused; I walked like I knew exactly where I was going (then I would walk into a reputable-looking business and ask for help). Sometimes people would come up to me speaking Portuguese; however, my cover was blown when they saw my blank look, and heard me desperately struggling with Portuguese. I had only mastered a few essential phrases, like how to communicate that I don't speak much Portuguese, I'm sorry/lost/hungry/thirsty, please, thank you, how much does it cost, etc.

I was staying in the historic Pelourinho area, and my first day in Bahia, I mostly just walked around and did some sightseeing. Pelourinho has been undergoing major restoration work since 1993, which continues today and the result is that it has been transformed into a tourists delight, packed with restaurants, bars, art galleries and boutiques. Although this may have caused it to lose some of its character in the process, the area is now much safer and tourist police are posted on just about every other corner. One interesting feature of the Pelourinho area is Lacerda Elevator, a vertical elevator that transports people to the lower part of the city. While walking around the city, I sampled the delicious regional cuisine (i.e. vatapa WHAT IS THIS), checked out the night life (i.e. Aeroclube) and made great friends in some unlikely places.

Some of the places I saw were Mercado Modelo (a huge market of vendors geared towards tourists), many museums and beautiful churches, like Igreja São Francisco. Defying the teachings and vows of poverty of its namesake, this baroque church is crammed with displays of wealth and splendor. Gold leaf is used like wallpaper and there is an 80-kg silver chandelier and imported azulejos (Portuguese ceramic tiles). Forced to build their masters' church and yet prohibited from practicing their own religion (Candomblé terreiros were hidden and kept far from town), the African slave artisans responded through their work: the faces of the cherubs are distorted, some angels are endowed with huge sex organs, some appear pregnant. Most of these creative acts were chastely covered by 20th-century sacristans. Traditionally blacks were seated in far corners of the church without a view of the altar.

While walking around, I saw the Afro-Brasilian martial art capoeira being practiced. Capoeira can be described as a mixture of fight, dance, and gymnastics, rolled into fluid, graceful and athletic movements. Music is also used in the form of the berimbau, a stringed musical instrument that resembles a fishing rod. It was developed as a way for a slave to fight their masters. Another interesting cultural practice is Candomblé, an Afro-Brasilian religion that was brought over by the African slaves. It combines African traditions of music, dance and language into a system of worship and enjoyment of life in peace and harmony. Much about the religion is secret, but the public ceremony takes place in the original Yoruba language.

My last few days in Bahia, some friends and I took a ferry to Itaparica, a nearby island. The weather was beautiful and hot (though cooler in the evenings), so we went to the beach, and it was so relaxing. The sky was clear, and the water was far more blue than any that I'd seen at the beaches in Delaware. People there are so free, so I saw people of all sizes, shapes, colors and ages in the least amount of clothes possible. Besides just working on their tan, people were swimming, playing volleyball, strolling, etc. In general, Bahia is very laid back, from the mentality, to the dress. After a few hours of lounging on the beach, sipping juice, talking to locals, and listening to the great music, we took the ferry back to Pelourinho.

However, one cannot write about Brasil, especially Bahia, without mentioning the music. Some of the most popular genres are samba, bossa nova, tropicalia, and axé. Bahia's lively axé music mixes samba, reggae, afoxé, frevo, pop, Caribbean styles and other ingredients. Bahia has produced many of Brazil's great musicians, including João Gilberto, Dorival Caymmi, Gilberto Gil, Novos Baianos, Gal Costa, Caetano Veloso, and Maria Bethania. And of course, Brasil didn't escape Americas far reaching musical influence, so I also heard some popular American songs there. The rhythms in the music are just as infectious as the salsa I heard in Habana, and I danced just as much.

As in most of the countries that I have visited, my fondest memories are of the people that I met. My first day in Bahia, I met a taxi driver who took such good care of me. He was teaching himself English (which was better than my Portuguese at the time), so we communicated pretty well most of the time. He had a daughter a few years older than I, and said I reminded him of her, so he acted somewhat paternal towards me. Luiz gave me his card and told me to call him whenever I needed him, and he would come and get me. He took me around on his day off to see the sites (not just the touristy sites, but things that vistors don't often get a chance to see, like the ghettos, which are called favelas) and didn't even charge me.

Otherwise, he would always charge me less than what the meter said, and later on, when I met a nice Brasilian guy, we all went out for ice cream. My last day in Bahia, he even made me a copy of a cd by Elis Regina, a popular Brasilian singer. We still keep in touch through emails and phone calls, and the next time that I am in Bahia, I am invited to stay with him and his family.

Another person I remember well is a security guard named Santos. He also had a daughter, and she was about my age. I passed him frequently every day, but we didn't say much other than just to greet each other. However once, as I was heading in for the night, we started talking and just didn't stop until actually seven hours later. Yes, that's rights seven hours. I saw him at midnight, but didn't actually leave his station until seven a.m. The time just passed! He offered me some of his coffee (and I don't even like coffee, but I like Brasilian coffee!) and we just talked. We talked about politics (Brasilian and American), the war, religion (we are both Christians), our families, the difference between Brasilians and Americans, race and racism (in both our countries), stereotypes and mentalities that Brasilians have about Americans, etc.

Of course we also taught each other our respective languages. Towards the end of our conversation, I was even acting as an interpreter for the other American students who wanted to talk to him! He was teaching himself English (he had an English/Portuguese dictionary) and would ask me words, or how to explain an American expression he had heard. I did the same with him, but would often pepper the conversation with Spanish words if I didn't know how to say it in Portuguese. Since the languages are similar in many respects, I would just hope he could figure out what I meant. Most of the time, he did, and so did the rest of the Baianos. My knowledge of Spanish helped more than I imagined it would.

I learned so many interesting things about Brazilian culture, and got an opportunity to discuss them in depth. For example, as I mentioned earlier, the way Brasilians view race is very different from how Americans view race. In Brasil, there are several main categories: branca (white), mestizo (Native American or N.A. mix), mulatto (mixed black and white), morena (brown/mixed), negro (black). Beyond these are many unofficial classifications as well. America goes mostly by blood and also by appearance, while Brasil goes mostly by appearance. I have always been regarded as Black in the states, but when I went to Brasil, I heard words such as morena used to describe me. When I pointed to my skin to say Nao, sou negra (No, I'm black), Brasilians would answer back Nao, é morena (No, you are morena), morena meaning tan, brown, and having implications of mixed race.

Well, this was news to me! In the states, no one has ever thought I was mixed with anything except black and black. In the U.S., if both parents are black, and the child happens to have light skin, he is not considered any less black; someone might use the term light-skinned to describe his physical appearance, but he is still considered black. In the states, even if a child is part black and part white, he is still, for the most part, considered black. So, as long as one parent is black, so are the children. Not so in Brasil. It is perfectly possible for a black mother and white father to have three children and they are three different races. Lets say the first is a son who is light like the father; he is branco or maybe branquinho (whitish). If the second is a daughter who is dark like the mother, she is negra. If the third is another son who is an equal blend of both parents, he is mulatto (or if he is a little darker, but not quite black, he can also be moreno. So, in Brasil, a person's race is based on the actual color of the skin. This was all very confusing to me until I looked at it from a deeper context. In Brasil, there seems to be little benefit to being regarded as black. Whiteness is associated with status, both social and economic. So, since there is the option of not being black, but instead being something in between white and black, some people who are otherwise black take that option. Though Brasil would like to take the stance of being a Racial Democracy, this is not entirely true. Lighter skinned Brasilians definitely have an advantage.,

My stay in Brasil was enlightening, fun, and relaxing all at the same time, and I loved every minute of it. One of the best ways to really experience a country is to just talk to the people. The museums, beaches, churches, etc., that I saw were great, and it was nice to learn about the history. But the best memories that I have are just hanging with the new friends that I made while I was there, with me struggling to speak their language, and them struggling to speak mine.