Before I go any further I should mention that the part of Salvador where the port is located is separated into two parts by a cliff that runs parallel to the port. There are three ways to get from one to the other. One is by the road, two is by a cable car (plano inclinado), and the third is by the Elevador Lacerda (elevator). The bottom level is called the Comércio, which is five blocks wide and is made up of mostly the banking district. The upper level is called the Pelourinho, which has more tourist shops and things along those lines.
So after the bank we went searching for the cable car to go up to the Pelourinho. After walking around through the empty streets we came across it and found it to be closed because it was Sunday. We then headed over to the Elevador and paid our 5 centavos (2 cents in US dollars) for the ride up. We were met mostly by empty cobblestone streets, except for some tourists, and European style architecture with different town squares. We walked around and did some light shopping in some of the tourist shops and then headed back down the Elevador to the Mercado Modelo right in front. The Mercado Modelo is a large building that used to be used for the slave trade. Brazil had the most slaves (3 million- compared to the U.S. 500,000) from Africa, with the slave trade going on from approx. 1580- 1880 C.E. (current era). The basement of the Mercado is where the slaves were kept before they were sold off. The building is now used to sell handicrafts and other tourist trap items. We walked around there for a while and then headed back to the ship for lunch.
In the afternoon I headed off on the Semester at Sea trip to see a soccer game between Bahia state rivals, Bahia vs. Vitoria. In all 400 SAS people attended, although many of them did not give off a good impression of us (i.e.- getting totally drunk, a girl making out with random Brazilian guys one after another). I really wasn’t too please to be associated with people like that, but I guess I have to take it with a grain of salt. The game was really cool. Our bus pulled up into a regular neighborhood and all of a sudden we walked up to a concrete stadium. As we entered through the turnstiles the Vitoria fans were yelling at us because a large contingency had bought the Bahia jerseys.
Just as we were walking to our seats it began to rain and then there was a downpour. Everyone was under the covered area as a game started on the field. I was kind of confused because the stadium was quite empty and there was a game going on, although we got there an hour early. We soon found out that it was the second half of the 19 & under Bahia and Vitoria teams. At the end of the game the stadium began to fill up and drums began to bang in unison. The fans from the two teams were split up by different sides and the lower levels were separated by metal dividers. The first game ended and the referees were escorted off the field by six armed and shielded riot army men. During the interlude between games a new set of police with riot gear and another set with dogs walked to positions surrounding the field. At this same time the fans from both sides in the upper levels began to walk near each other very confrontationally and then some members from the Bahia contingency threw some firecrackers and both sides ran back to their sides.
A new set of referees were escorted onto the field and then both teams entered with enormous cheers from their respective fan base. The game began and I soon noticed that players were very good and they also played very dirty. One of my favorite tricks that I noticed was that they would feign an injury and then the cart would come onto the field, pick them up, and then as soon as it got to the sideline they would roll off of the stretcher and go back into the game (since there are only three substitutions in a game of soccer they are very valuable leading to not so much substitutions). At one point the cart was on every other play and it limited the fluidity of the game. The game was really close and exciting and Bahia led 2-1 with a couple minutes left in the game. However in the closing minutes Vitoria scored the tying goal to the disappointment of the Bahia fans. I, on the other hand could have cared less because it definitely was a very interesting and exciting experience.
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