Tue Jan 21, 2025
Hi All! Today’s words were Hot and Muggy! Sorry to all my friends and family on the East Coast who are freezing! Wish I could send you some of this heat. Or you could send us a little cool front! It was 86 but felt like 100 with the humidity. But we had a fun day!
We were docked in the town of Salvador, Brazil which has a population of 3 million and was the first capital of Brazil founded in 1549. It sits on the 2nd largest bay in the Americas after Hudson Bay. Amerigo Vespucci saw it on Nov 1, 1502 and named it Bay of All Saints (after the Catholic All Saints Day on Nov 1).
Our tour wasn’t until 1 PM so we slept in and grabbed lunch before heading out. We started at the Upper city for a great view down on Salvador. We then walked to two different churches. The first was the Church of St Francis Xavier which was the 1st Jesuit church in Brazil. The second church was the church and convent of St Francis of Assisi. It had tons of gold all over the inside and is third most expensive church in the world after St Peter’s in Rome and Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City.
We then walked thru the old town section. Our tour guide told us a fun story of when she was an interpreter and was working with Spike Lee. He was looking for new talent and saw all these young people singing and dancing in the streets. So he went down to Rio and got Michael Jackson and brought him back to help him decide who to choose. Michael stayed in one of the houses and they have a sign on it and I took a picture of it. She said Spike and Michael were both great to work with.
We then drove to the Barra Lighthouse which sits on the Bay of All Saints and is the oldest in the Americas. We got out to take pictures. There was a young kid there selling caramel popcorn. So we went to buy some and I took out two US Dollars to pay him. He looked at the money and he said, “Oh, Estados Unidos… Viva La Trump”! Lol. Gotta love it!
We then stoped at an artisans market where some people got off and others went back to the ship. It was only a few minutes walk to the ship so Kathy got off and shopped and I went back. We then got cleaned up and went to dinner. I’ll do another update after dinner. Happy Tuesday!
The Wandering Italian 