So I didn’t update for a while… Sorry… I know from experience that I am bad at keeping a diary when I have a social life happening. Luckily though I had a bored moment and found this entry half way completed! Even though I am in Australia now, back to Brasil:
So Mel (which means honey in Portuguese, but who happens to be my beautiful fiancee) arrived and brought plenty more rain with her in case Brazil didnt have enough. São Paulo instantly lived up to its name for being untouristy but with fantastic food. We went to the occasional interesting but mostly bizarre museum of Afro-Brazillians and B’s parents took us out for an amazing meal and gave us plenty of things to take back and a big hug to pass on, as they obviously miss their daughter.
So with plenty (too much) to carry we packed off for Rio and my friend Herbert, who was amazing. He worked extra hard during the week before so he could take the weekend and a couple of days in the week to hang out with us and show us around. Once again the food and music were fantastic and it definitely helped having a local contact in Rio. We saw the zoo, the statue of Christ and the sugarloaf mountain, but the highlights were definitely the music nights we went to with Herbert. I tried to meet up with a friend from Scotland for some capoeira but it didn’t come through. No capoeira for me until:
Salvador! The home of modern capoeira. Oh. My. Giddy. Aunt. So many famous Angoleiro mestres and capoeira groups in one place. Allow me to explain: I was invited to a roda within 5 minutes of stepping into our pousada. Bliss.
The pousada is a Brazillian guest house, basically a bed and breakfast. Getting there was a bit worrying, as we negotiated a cheap rate with a taxi driver from the airport only to find he was just some guy with a car, nothing official. We drove through some really bad neighbourhoods hoping we hadn’t made a mistake and were going to get dropped off and mugged, but in the end we arrived perfectly safely for about half the rate of the overpriced airport taxis. Our pousada was a gorgeous red place right on the sea front with art everywhere, it was called Noa Noa. Like about half the pousadas in Salvador it was owned by a Frenchman. As soon as we were checked in the guy at the reception desk (Cristian) invited me along to a roda with his teacher (Mestre Valmir). I guess the berimbau case I was carrying was a bit of a giveaway, but I knew I’d come to a great place
It was a very fun roda, with long games and a good atmosphere. M. Valmir wasn’t there though, he was on a trip to the UK, but I did get to meet his incredibly acrobatic son (whose name I can’t remember, apologies). Cristian also turned out to be a skilled capoeirista and he was an awesome contact to have in Salvador.
We were only in Salvador for a week so we went on a few trips around the place and had a few adventures getting out to Praia de Forte and some of the islands. I also went a bit mental in Mestre Lua’s drum shop and bought a bunch of percussion, including an atabaque (big capoeira drum for the non-initiates) which I had to post home and is currently getting bathed in radiation courtesy of Australian customs. It wasn’t until the end of the week I discovered the most amazing thing in Salvador, the Forte do Santo Antonio, aka the Forte da Capoeira.
I was a bit confused at first, because it shares a name with the fort at Barra next to where we were staying, but I’m glad we made it out there while we were in Salvador. It is literally a fort full of capoeira, with classes from about 6 different schools of capoeira. I went for a roda and a class with the Centro Esportiva de Capoeira Angola, the old group of Mestre Joao Pequeno but there were also classes available with Mestre Moraes and Mestre Boca Rica and 4 others besides. This was without a doubt my favourite roda in Salvador, with amazing capoeira on show in techniques, skills and maladragem. Also I played. I got to play a student and a teacher from CECA and they were very entertaining games, I think I more or less held my own in the first and understandably got thrashed in the second, but in a very kind way. The professor definitely was testing me, as he wouldn’t let me leave the game (I had the stitch bad and wanted a rest, he wasn’t having any of it) but we played for a very long time so I took that as a complement. They kept a tight control over the roda, which was good as there was a guy in Krav Maga trousers who looked like a serial killer and kept trying to fight everyone. As soon as it went too far off that way – and these angoleiros were good, they gave it right back to him with icing on – the berimbau called everyone back and kicked the offenders off to cool down. The only thing I didn’t like about the Forte da Capoeira is the way everyone had teaching on the night the others had their open rodas, so the groups didn’t seem to mix even though they were right next to each other. This seemed like a waste. It was a really beautiful place though with great views of Salvador. I want one.
I suppose I should say something about touristying my way around Salvador. It’s a gorgeous place, let down only by the smell of piss along some of the streets (especially the waterfront at Barra). We were told we’d only want to spend a couple of days there, but with all the capoeira I could have spent much longer quite happily. We got out to a couple of the islands and a turtle sanctuary and they were all little paradises, so next time I’m going to hit up Salvador for the capoeira and then hopefully get out into Bahia a little more, especially to the Chapada Diamantina national park. And there will be a next time, oh yes.
Adventures In Capoeira 