"Oh mye gahd!"

The Andrades

A trip is not a trip without some antics and adventures, and over the last few days we have certainly experienced a few to make for a noteworthy Brazilian World Cup experience.

Representing

Upgraded seats!

 To begin, the team rivalry has not gone without impact. France faced off with Switzerland last Friday. The beginning part of our day was spent in Pelourinho where Swiss and French fans were en masse. Stephen and grandma Louise proudly donned their stylish French coq jerseys and Eloise, abuelita Esther, and I sported Ecuador's bright tri color shirts. Although Ecuador was not playing against France yet, I (Mery) had to ensure both teams knew we were still a force to be reckoned with. Eloise and I solidified this by running in front of and photobombing a group of French and Swiss dudes chanting their team anthems as they posed for several cameras. Some Swiss fans took our picture as the first Ecuadorians they had seen so far. I felt satisfaction in having supported my team proudly.

The Walking Dead in Salvador

The mystery

Passing on capoeira to the next generation, outside the gates

Later that afternoon we headed to the stadium to watch the match. Our walk was casual and light with no competitive discussion. The evangelical group we ran into at the last game swapped beats and drums for walking dead interpretation and existentialism. Again, very impressive tactics.

Confidence levels heading into the game

And then the rivalry began.  I (Mery) had not decided to root for any team as they were or are threats to Ecuador. But since I tend to support the underdog and was wearing a Swiss money bag, and if the Swiss were to beat France proving their skill would provide some rationale for Ecuador's loss against this team, I chose the Swiss and my marriage was poured on the rocks. I won't go into details but we will have to see a marriage counselor before going to Ecuador vs France in Rio. France opened the scoring with lovely goals from the head of Giroud, the fleet feet of Matuidi, Benzema, Valbuena and everyone's favorite defender Sissoko. Benzema scored the prettiest goal I've seen live just as time expired but the ref disallowed it, saying the game had already ended.

Enjoying the goleado of les Bleus

That night, in a nail biting game for only Ecuadorian fans, El Tri beat Honduras keeping us in the hunt for a spot in the Round of 16.

The only passengers were palm trees!

For our last day in Salvador we went out to Solar do Unhao on the bay and did some shopping and walked along the bay as Stephen went off to buy us tickets to folkloric dance. Amazing. The walk was lovely and quiet between the bay, and the highway and .... the downpour that had us running for cover. Somewhere. Anywhere. The parking lot of Armando's where the host welcomed us by placing some chairs for us overlooking the bay and the mini beaches along it's coast became our shleter. Even a parking lot is made charming with Salvadoran attentiveness. The abuelitas and Eloise dried off in joy.

Abuelitas showing off their bargaining skills

Sunday morning, we went to the Cathedral--that also happens to be where the Sao Joao festival ended a few hours before Sunday mass. As the priest purified the souls inside, workers purified the Porta-Potties outside. Where the two currents met was a bit unpleasant! For the second church of the day, we headed to Senhor do Bomfim Church, where your wishes are granted and good luck is awash.

Igrega do Senhor do Bomfim

 Our moms also took a selfie with the Pope.  

Yuri took us to the Ponta do Humaita for a final Bahian meal of carne do sol, caldo de sururu, and fried fish. A fancy dog was scared off by a pack of strays, and we took in the crash of the waves against the sea wall.

Lulu

Already with saudade

Stephen and Yuri

When you leave Salvador, you can't help but promise to return to the heartland of Brazilian music, its most delicious food, and all the friendly smiles. We still should ruminate more on the juxtaposition of poverty and the rich cultural traditions--capoeira, Olodum, axe, pagode, moquecas and more--that make Bahians rightfully proud of their culture.

Then it was off to Rio. A two hour trip was converted into  6 hours of joy thanks to the wonderful folks at airfare.com providing us with an irrational stop in Brasilia. Eloise expressed her happiness by shrieking loudly for a few moments in each leg of the trip. Thankfully each flight was an hour and half. Flying is hard with babies, as many know, and only mommy's cellphone and sleep (hard fought and won) can offer any relief. 

We finally arrive in the beautiful city of Rio where music and dancing and romancing abound. The city of Cristo El Redendor, of Copacabana, of Sugarloaf! We hop in a taxi with our four bags, a stroller, backpacks, grandmas, and babies. The night air is crisp, the city is bathed in green and yellow lights. We see the Cristo, the alighted bridges of this that and the other, the train system, and we are having a blast chatting it up with our cab driver and of course anxious to get home. As we arrive at our destination the driver says "no pagaron la luz no tienen luz". [They didn't pay the light bill.] "Oh mye gahd!" he belts in his best american accent. "Oh mye gahd!" Somehow I think he is talking about a car when it hits us, he is talking about our neighborhood. More importantly our building. "Oh my Gad!" Where we have rented an apartment. To house our moms, our babies, and 6 pieces of luggage. On the 12th floor. Bem-vindo, o Rio!

One building has lights! ...but not ours...

Different view of the Rio nightlife than we expected

Baby Bahia in Five Senses

From the Baby Perspective

In all the excitement of the games we have not forgotten to take some time to explore some of the sights and sounds of Salvador. From the Pelourinho to Embassai there have been some really great moments of taking in the omnipresent, rich culture of Salvador. Some articles evaluate the host cities by how they appear at the moment of the World Cup, but it might be better to see how hosting a few games of the Copa fits into the city's busy schedule. More important for locals like Eloise (above) is a Festa de São João, which culminates on June 23. All across Bahia, even more in small towns than big cities, there are forro concerts, square dancing (quadrilhas), fireworks, bonfires, and special food. Banners of the festival colors--green and yellow-flutter rhythmically in the breeze. We caught some forro and sweaty samba on Wednesday night.

Earlier this week, Humans of New York shared a photo of a Brazilian man on the subways of New York. When asked '"What do you miss most about Brazil?" the man responded "In Brazil. My people. Money or no money. Still happy." We are staying in the city center of Salvador, in the working class neighborhood of Dois de Julho.The streets vibrant, energetic, congested, and alive certainly align with this statement. People in Salvador give Washington Heights a run for its money. Street corner parties, and music abound pretty much every night of the week: Segunda, Terca, Quarto, Quinta, Sexta, Sabado e Domingo.

Praca de Castro Alves

The sights lure you around each corner, with the cidade alta (Upper City) peering down on the sparkling bay below. From the cidade baixa (Lower City) below, the water laps and lulls you into a living lullaby.  

The world's first public elevator, Elevador Lacerda,
that goes from the cidade baixa to the cidade alta.

Our first comida baiana was at the house of the mother of my friend Yuri. They cooked up moqueca de peixe, a coconut fish stew, marascada, a warm seafood salad, and feijao, black eyed peas with farofa flour. 

The river on one side of the beach

Yuri and Stephen drove out past the well-known Praia do Forte to Embassai, a former fishing village that now survives more from low-key tourism. The delight of Embassai is the river that you can swim in, or take a raft down, to the vast white beach on the Atlantic. It would be Eloise's first time at the beach!

Elo and Papa rafted down to the beach and fell asleep under an umbrella. When she squinted her eyes awake and set her feet into the unsteady sand, she was in seventh heaven. Yuri showed her how to run her fingers through the sand, and she gave everyone around her gift after gift of moist sand. She ran up and down, up and down, up and down, into the roaring ocean, watching her feet disappear as the sand receded with the wave.

Where am I? Onde estou?

Beige stuff everywhere

I can do this!

As people still love babies it provides a great opportunity to chat with locals and foreigners alike. I have not formally learned portuguese, but folks seem to go along with my attempt to mask spanish in some sort of beginner portuguese accent. This of course gives me the delusion that I am quite skilled at this, unlike my french. One four year old girl, a transplant from Curitiba, took a liking to Eloise, and they passed sand back and forth for an hour or two. Her mom, grandmother, and great-grandmother came over to chat about babies, Brazilian friendliness, and how different Bahia is from their home state of Parana.

First time in the sea foam of the ocean!

Grandma in her Panama hat

Grandma and Abuelita

 The grandmas showed off their skill in relaxation, enjoying a cold coconut and some cold cerveja. Yuri ordered us acaraje, a specialty of Bahia (also in Nigeria). It's made from black eyed peas, made into balls fried in dende oil (a palm oil). When you eat it, you cut it open, put in some little shrimps, some peppers and onion, and vatapa (a thick fish sauce). It is absolutely gostoso when fresh! We all gobbled them up!

Selling acaraje in Salvador

.

Eloise and a palm tree = smiles

getting our feet wet in the river across the ocean

Not wanting to leave

Eloise at the Cup Check-in

Alegria!

Eloise would like to report that she is enjoying all the music and sounds of Salvador and is working on perfecting her soccer skills. On this trip she has exchanged the rhythms of merengue and salsa for those of Samba and Forro. She has adapted her dance steps quite nicely, and applauding herself after a good song. A little yellow stool in the apartment has also become a nice drum to beat with as she sings and dances. She is perhaps considering a future summer in a Escola Olodum. 

Already a flag-carrying Brasileira!

Yesterday, Eloise scored the winning goal in a living room futebol match against the abuelitas making for one of the most exciting matches of the world cup. She is otherwise in heaven garnering attention not only from her parents, two doting abuelitas, but pretty much every Brazilian she encounters. They really are the most baby loving folks on earth.

Discovering the city of Salvador has been fun, except for the stroller part. There is apparently  no easy way to push a stroller in the unpredictable array of sidewalks that dip and disappear on any given street. This should have been apparent when every other Salvadorean baby is being lugged around in their mommy's arms no matter the age. The baby carrier however, has saved the day and it is also a good place to see everything that is going on from high up (daddy is much taller than mommy pushing a stroller).

No sunburns under the splendid sunshine of Salvador to report and the milk here seems to be just as refreshing. Eloise will check back in when diapers and wipes begin to run low!

Religions and languages

Dogs and churches

Jesus is the star player; Jesus is the coach; Jesus is the ball. We walked towards the Fonte Nova stadium in Salvador peppered by the smilingest Brazilians handing out various evangelical pamphlets. (Stephen-I am still using one of them--the table of games--to follow the logistic maze set up by FIFA and Brazil.) A twenty piece drum band pounded out a driving beat, colorfully-dressed dancers led the parade down Avenida Joana Angelica, and tourists snapped photos of the spectacle. The performers cleverly mixed their Brazilian flag outfits with 'I only need Jesus' slogans. A banner read 'Jesus te amo' and another one 'Jesus loves you'.

Jesus Loves You

It is hard not to get caught in the spirit of the music as we walk to the stadium. Everyone crowded around, singing and dancing. I (Mery) am a little conflicted as I dance to the drums while the performers are holding anti-abortion and anti-sex trafficking-signs and pro-education. I like this music... uh..wait. Can i just dance for a couple of those agendas? And can I add a " pro-traffic and pedestrian safety" sign. It is an amazing feat to traverse the streets in Salvador avoiding sidewalk trenches, disappearing sidewalks, and what one can only describe as driving that knows no rules.

For the tourists: beer vendors and military police

Though we are not sure the evangelical group netted any new members on the day of the Germany-Portugal game, other evidence shows they may not have a bad strategy. The banks ask you to 'be like Brasil' and text #torcidabrasil [fa
n of Brazil] to show your support. Supermarkets have display after display of some soccer player, the FIFA emblem, and their product (Brahma, Budweiser, batteries, and bananas; Coca-Cola, coffee, chips, and candy...). Clothes stores of any station lead with flag-inspired fashions, and cafes all have flat screens with a game on. As we walked back from the stadium, a bit deflated by Germany's shalacking of poor (literally and figuratively) Portugal, we looked for baby Brazil shirts. In front, the small storefronts seem to only sell soccer souvenirs in the blue, green and canary yellow of Brazil. Once past the initial row of items, you see that the store really sells toilet seats, cheap plastic toys, shower curtains or yarn. 

The 'cheap' seats of Germany-Portugal

Many say that soccer is a religion in Brazil, but I'm not so sure. There's no collective emotion, no effervescence in those outside the bars and sometimes not in those inside, either. I sense they are more ambivalent. Or maybe many of them are non-observant soccerians or even rebellious deniers. Soccer seems to be the *language* of Brazil. It provides the unifying symbols to all communication and interactions. On a game day, it's impossible to not ask someone what they're doing for the game, whether they think Brazil will play with more style than they did in the opener, to not enjoy one of the cold advertised beers as you are watching. Half the street is green, and the other half is canary yellow. The blue sky completes the idea that God is indeed on Brazil's side. 

Companies have integrated soccer adjectives, colors, and trophies into their marketing. Doormen discuss the defeat of Ronaldo and the pugnacious pride of Pepe. Soccer street banners and dancers invite you to dance to the revelry of the Copa. And so, in the end, you buy cheap Brazil t-shirts for your baby and her abuelas, too. You want to speak Brazilian, too.  

Yellow, green, and blue

Overlooking the Bahia de todos os santos,
the second-largest bay in the world

Into the Eye

When we left our apartment in New York, the Dutch team was still considered possibly doubtful to advance to the 2nd round, and by the time we arrived in Salvador the hopes of the Celeste of Uruguay had crestfallen to tiny titan Costa Rica.

Eloise in her Ecuadorean jersey aspiring one day to be like this god/fan

More importantly, we had pulled off a bigger upset than either of those teams! We arrived in Salvador after well over a full day of traveling without having a major baby breakdown moment! Eloise made more friends on this trip than I (Stephen) have after nearly 36 years. 

Brazilians--especially but not only women--love babies. They play a masterful peekaboo, flash big grins, and clap as they sing nursery rhymes. This all being said, I (Mery) bow down to all those parents who came before us and all those who will come after in their attempt to travel with a baby for more than 6 hours. Extra points for  additional hours, international travel and super extra points if you travel with two kids. I have been indoctrinated into the group of parents whose child incessantly kicks the front seat and no longer cares.Whatever works and keeps her from screaming!

O Largo do Pelourinho 

World Cup, meet Carnival!

I (Stephen) held her as I sneaked a good watching position from outside a bar for the second half of France-Honduras. Several Frenchmen led a "Brasil, Brasil, oh-oh-oh" chant that challenged the drunk Germans' [repeated] swaying to "Deutschland Deutschland" (even though Germany wasn't playing). Eloise, however, won over the crowd with her yay-ouais cheers with both baby arms above her head.

Impromptu dance circle

We have realized that Eloise is, in fact, *not* the only baby here. To the beat of Olodum drumming in the streets, an Argentinean two year old led an infant dance circle. They marched forward to catch the drum parade with young men and one young woman throwing their drums above their heads as they syncopated their rhythms. 

In the Pelourinho

So far so good here in Salvador. Our neighborhood is vibrant and were able to explore the town some. People are generally friendly and attentive. Some folks perceive the world cup as good for business while others feel it really hasn't generated any significant revenue. 

Drums in the air!

After Ecuador's really disappointing loss to Switzerland at the last minute, we are hoping that our first game tomorrow (Portugal vs. Germany) at the stadium will lift our spirits!

Ready to go!