Thursday, November 15, 2012

Ilhues

The next part of my excursion was traveling to a city that is smaller than salvador, but still a city, it is called Ilheus and is further south. It had a very different feel from Salvador, it was much cleaner, much quieter and seemed safer, less crazy. We stayed in a hotel all together, I stayed with my two roomies Emily and Jess. We seemed to be more on a vacation at this point than actually studying.

We went to a cocoa factory and saw how chocolate was made, and how the cocoa was harvested and got to sample some delicious chocolate and chocolate milk. that was really exciting, on the property there there was also a safe house, or program for sloths that had been living there and been hurt. It was a rehabilitation center for them, I have never really seen sloths up close however so that was really cool to see. the lady who talked to us, was holding one while she talked to us, so cool. Later that afternoon we went on a tour of the historical district and got to see a little more of downtown, followed by ice-cream for everyone! haha definitely the highlight.

the next day we visited a PSF in town. It was a lot of fun because we got to go off in small groups with a community agent and learn some more hands on questions. We also were able to go on a few house visits and see and talk to some different people. The agent I worked with was very nice and very invested in his work and the community which was really nice to see. Afterwards we visited an after school program where kids can learn all sorts of things, mostly artsy and crafty. We got to hear them play music for us, but they also have a dance program, and there was an arts and crafts room. We also got to see what the kids had made and buy some of the things. I wish we would have been able to spend some time with the kids, but we didn't have the time.

Saturday we spent the day on an indian reservation, with a small indigenous tribe that resides in Ihleus. They were so welcoming and very interested in talking to us and showing us their culture. We participated in a ceremony with them, learned about some different medicines they used, and we all received seeds that will bring us protection. We got to walk around the reservation and meet people, and spend time at a river, and they picked coconuts for us so we could drink and eat some coconut, I will miss fresh coconut so much! It was all in all a wonderful day.

The last day we spent there was a free day for students, and there is this one beach that apparently you must see before you die according to the NY times. so we got the driver to all bus us out there and we spent the day on the beach, playing in the waves, and climbing on hiking across rocks. It was pretty gorgeous  and nice to have a day just at the beach. I am blanking on the name of it right now, but I will try to add it when I remember.

That is the end of my excursion however, and now I am back in Salvador and getting ready to start another trip, with a new host family while I do my research with an Indigenous tribe in Porto Seguro. I hope to head out tomorrow or sometime this weekend, it will be hard to say goodbye to my host family, but I am excited to see a new place and have a new adventure!
























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