View from the top of the lift.
The elevator itself.
The outside Mercado
Then off we went to catch a bus to several miles away to "St. Bonfim Church". Built in 1745, this church is the most significant church in Salvador. Along with the ornate features of the inner sanctuary of the main worship room, the "Salas dos Milagres" or miracle room, is equally famous. A surreal display of wax and wooden arms, legs, feet, hearts and hands hang from the ceiling. The walls are plastered with photos and testimonies of people who have been cured.. The figurines represent all of the people with corresponding body parts who were healed after praying to St. Bonfim. I must admit it was a bit eery to be in a room with many plastics limbs hanging over us.
The miracle Room
Faithful pilgrims trek from all over Brazil to this Church to receive healing. Plastered on the walls outside the church were thousands of "Miracle Ribbons". Nowadays, the Bahia Bands are worn as a fashion accessory as well as a good luck charm. The wish ribbon is tied around the wrist with 3 knots. A wish is made for each of the 3 knots tied. Once the Brazilian Wish Bracelet falls off the wrist on its own, it is believed the 3 wishes will come true. Maybe I should load up while I am here for future use! :)
One miracle we received is that we found the bus to take us home. It is a miracle because absolutely no one speaks English. The problem is our Spanish had started to get a bit better in B.A, but as I mentioned Portugese is another matter! We managed to communicate we wanted to go back to the "elevator" and lo and behold we got there..It is tricky because one street may be OK, the next street may be dangerous to walk on..I am traveling around Salvador with much intrepidation. One wrong move and we would be a statistic in the guide books! There was a woman on the bus trying to talk to me..I finally realized she was trying to help us by telling us where to get off the bus...bless her..
During the trip back home, we saw these Samba musicians. Every few hours, we seem to witness a different form of entertainment by the locals right outside our hotel.
In the evening, we were picked up by a local native guide to transport us to the "Candomble", a house of worship by Africans. These native families, (along with practicing Catholicism) participate in this special ceremony/dance once a year. There are thousands of these "Candombles" in Salavadore. We went to one which was REALLY far from our hotel. Think dark narrow back allies, poverty stricken streets and a driver who knew no English. Our guide knew some English, although very broken. He explained to us what to expect from the ceremony of the "Candomble House." We were in a van with 9 other tourists, which made me feel alot better about the whole thing. Finally we drove up to an alley, the guide went away for about 15 minutes, then we were able to drive down a dark street to the house that held the ceremony. Once there, local children gathered around us, entertaining us with their charm. They thought we were pretty funny, not speaking their language (instead of Portugese). There were 2 other Americans with us, who we talked with for awhile. Once the dance started all the men were put on one side of the room, the women on the other. The way the guide explained the ceremony/dance was pretty right on. The African beat of music/drums infused the tiny building as we sat in amazement witnessing this piece of Brazilian African culture. There were women dressed up in traditional garb, dancing and twirling.
This woman appeared to be the main Mother
The Outside sign on the House
An adorable little girl who was fascinated by me and my camera
As described by travel books:
"During major rituals, priests and priestesses disguise as Baba Egum. The worship takes place in the form of dances and songs. Dances call the orixa to enter the body. When a dancer becomes possessed, they enter a trancelike condition and publicly act out scenes from the community life through dance. When the orixa leaves the body, the trance ends. Women play a significant role in Candomble. Women, called “mothers of the holy one” lead services and train future priestesses. The sacred places for followers of Candomble are the terreiro, or temples. These structures have indoor and outdoor sections and designated places for the gods. Worshippers enter the terreiro in clean clothes. They also splash water on themselves before entering so they clean themselves from the impurity of the outside world."
We saw a shortened version of this, I believe. Dancing took place for about an hour then we had a 30 minute break, in which we were served tiny sandwiches and juice. It was rather warm in the hall, I thought the women would pass out from the heavy outfits they were wearing! After the break, the women who were "possessed" came back in even more strange and beautiful costumes. The dancing continued....after about 15 minute, the guide ushered us out.
H with one of the "tranced" women in front of him(kind of blurry)
It was really difficult to get still pics. I took some video..
This ceremony would go on until the morning, our guide told us. It was all so fascinatingly weird but interesting!! Our guide seemed to have been smoking something during our time there. His words were very slurred as he attempted to answer our questions in the van ride home. The driver dropped him off and then we were dependent on the non English speaking driver to take us back to our hotel. Again traveling through dark alleys and streets, we finally made it home. Amazing!!
I slept well getting to bed well after midnight. H and I are exhausted today. H is fighting "Traveler's Bug". Thank goodness for Cipro! We are off to Rio de Janeiro tomorrow at dark o'clock in the morning. Hopefully we will perk up a bit in the "Plastic Surgery Capital of the world"!
