OPPORTUNITY IN PARADISE (updated pix)
2:09pm
I am sitting on the porch of my temporary home in PARIPE. (about 30 minutes by bus from Salvador) The day is a bit suffocatingly hot
but gorgeous!!! And I’m not about to complain about anything since I’ve just come from the land of wintertime ;-)
I’m seeing what looks like a mini palm tree, grass, a big palm, a huge fig tree, a tree with vibrant and exotic orange flowers, leading to the fence surrounding the house. Beyond that there are people passing by on bikes, selling popsicles, talking in groups, and more wading and swimming in the ocean. I keep thinking I must be crazy to want to leave here…because it is truly paradise, and so comfortable.
5:00pm
I have decided to stay here a few weeks in safety, and pursue a relationship with Josuel (unsure of the spelling) the young man who is working and staying here at the house. From what people tell me, when he first arrived, he barely looked over thirteen. Once a strung out shoe shinning kid in the streets of Pelourinho, his years of drug abuse, starvation, and other consequences of the streets had kept him tiny, and frail. Apparently he grew a foot since coming to this land of hope and opportunity (as I call it), and has now thickened out, is no longer on drugs, and a healthy 18 year old. (my friends discovered his birthday after researching his documents from is “mother”. He didn’t know how old he was up until that point)
I am intrigued on hearing his story from his point of view and in his voice. For now I just hang out with him…getting him comfortable with my presence, and building a friendship. I think the film could use the perspective of a kid who has totally turned his life around, and took the chance he was given to get out.
i headed out on my first city adventure yesterday. A new thing for me was taking the 30 minute bus ride to the central point of the city. Or really
the touristic central point of Salvador. I spent Christmas here last year and didn’t leave the Pelourinho neighborhood at all. It was so beautiful with colorful colonial buildings, cobblestone streets, art, and my favorite place to sit and eat cheese. Grilled cheese would come out on a hot plate, and I would dive into paradise every night. Observing the regular group of prostitutes attacking the foreign looking men and sometimes women around me became my daily soap opera. As well as the occasional fight over peanuts that weren’t solicited, eaten and then expected to be paid for. My favorite….. Word for thought for future travelers to Salvador….. Never eat anything that someone just drops on your table and walks away…. The will come back and fiercely demand their money if you even touch it…especially eat it…
more on yesterdays adventure later….
I am sitting on the porch of my temporary home in PARIPE. (about 30 minutes by bus from Salvador) The day is a bit suffocatingly hot
but gorgeous!!! And I’m not about to complain about anything since I’ve just come from the land of wintertime ;-) I’m seeing what looks like a mini palm tree, grass, a big palm, a huge fig tree, a tree with vibrant and exotic orange flowers, leading to the fence surrounding the house. Beyond that there are people passing by on bikes, selling popsicles, talking in groups, and more wading and swimming in the ocean. I keep thinking I must be crazy to want to leave here…because it is truly paradise, and so comfortable.
5:00pm
I have decided to stay here a few weeks in safety, and pursue a relationship with Josuel (unsure of the spelling) the young man who is working and staying here at the house. From what people tell me, when he first arrived, he barely looked over thirteen. Once a strung out shoe shinning kid in the streets of Pelourinho, his years of drug abuse, starvation, and other consequences of the streets had kept him tiny, and frail. Apparently he grew a foot since coming to this land of hope and opportunity (as I call it), and has now thickened out, is no longer on drugs, and a healthy 18 year old. (my friends discovered his birthday after researching his documents from is “mother”. He didn’t know how old he was up until that point)
I am intrigued on hearing his story from his point of view and in his voice. For now I just hang out with him…getting him comfortable with my presence, and building a friendship. I think the film could use the perspective of a kid who has totally turned his life around, and took the chance he was given to get out.
i headed out on my first city adventure yesterday. A new thing for me was taking the 30 minute bus ride to the central point of the city. Or really
the touristic central point of Salvador. I spent Christmas here last year and didn’t leave the Pelourinho neighborhood at all. It was so beautiful with colorful colonial buildings, cobblestone streets, art, and my favorite place to sit and eat cheese. Grilled cheese would come out on a hot plate, and I would dive into paradise every night. Observing the regular group of prostitutes attacking the foreign looking men and sometimes women around me became my daily soap opera. As well as the occasional fight over peanuts that weren’t solicited, eaten and then expected to be paid for. My favorite….. Word for thought for future travelers to Salvador….. Never eat anything that someone just drops on your table and walks away…. The will come back and fiercely demand their money if you even touch it…especially eat it…more on yesterdays adventure later….
posted by golbon at 4:05 PM
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