Short Vacation In Brazil
Flight with Lufthansa from Zürich to Frankfurt. A long wait to reach my gate for the Condor plane to Salvador, Bahia. It looked like half the airport wanted to board that same plane. Dropped into seat 34C only to switch to 40B so that a young couple could spend the next ten hours together. Spent the flight translating for the young French woman next to me. She didn’t speak a single German word and the flight crew neither spoke French nor Portuguese - on a flight to Brazil! “Man spricht Deutsch” on German airlines, jawohl. Let my French flight-companion get up for a potty run each time she finished a cup of water or coffee, a good half dozen times on our way across the Atlantic. We could have switched seats. Long line in front of immigration at the Salvador airport reminded me of the many entries to the US. Same wait but fewer signs, cell phones okay. Even longer wait for my luggage. Met my wife and her mom right after I walked through customs and we drove straight into Salvador for the traditional arrival snack - Acarajé and Abará.
Spent a week and some more with family and friends dining and drinking and dining and drinking. Lots of good foods from fine Sushi in busy Japanese restaurants to delicious Bahian soft-shell crab Moqueca. Had some Brazilian Cerveja but much more Caipiroska. Always go for one made with local fruits like Umbu-Cajá or Jabuticaba. Good times. Only spent one afternoon at the beach and instantly burnt my neck. Arms and legs are used to the sun from cycling, but the rest of my body hasn’t been sun exposed in the last decade. Glad I kept my shirt on. Went shopping for clothes a few times. Lots of nice boutiques that design and manufacture their products locally. Was amazed at the rate Brazil is growing. Everywhere new high-risers are popping into the sky. Road conditions though are a whole different story. Salvador roads look as bad as the roads I used to travel daily in Sonoma County. Pot holes galore! Time flew too quickly. Sunday afternoon, my wife and I stood amused at the check-in at the Salvador airport. Amused because some blonde European tramp changed clothes three times while waiting in line. From mini-skirt to even shorter shorts to tight jeans. We hugged our family and said good bye and proceeded to our gate. We flew in comfort or whatever class, had more leg room and a better dinner. Frankfurt suffered delays due to rain and gusty winds. We flew two waiting loops far above thick clouds and later departed Frankfurt on a tiny Swiss plane half an hour off schedule. Returned back home early Monday afternoon. Although I brought my camera along, I didn’t snap any photos with it. Instead, I instagrammed a few places with my old iPhone.
