TRAVEL DIARY – the Dartmouth College Fall 2004 Portuguese LSA + Program in Salvador, Brazil.

Participants –

– Dartmouth Students: Brent Clayton, Jessica Elfstrom, Jordan A. Garrow, Shaina Landau, Amy Shaw.

– Dartmouth Director (2004). Professor Piers Armstrong. <Piers.Armstrong@Dartmouth.EDU>. Tel. Office (Vitória Campus) 71-336-4411. Cell: (71) 9918 2536.

– ACBEU Portuguese Program Coordinator and Family Placer: Professor Clara Ramos. Email: <clararamos@acbeubahia.org.br>. Tel. Office (Vitória Campus) 71-336-4411. Cell: (71) 9982-3524

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Technical note regarding the pictures ... we are experimenting with formats to send these pictures back to Dartmouth.. if you are looking via the web and it is hard to see, please let us know by email to Piers (<Piers.Armstrong@Dartmouth.EDU>)

Week 2: -

Week 1 ended with a much anticipated dinner at the famous Boi Preto restaurant, a rather over-the-top luxury buffet with everything from Italian carpaccio to Japanese sushi, and, most notoriously, various types of churrascaria (barbecue) served at the table in a long sequence...

In the warm-up phase, Clara’s look tells us she means business tonight, starting with sushi! Meanwhile, Brent, our most serious contender in the culinary domain, ignores the camera and gets a head-start. In the foreground after Amy and wearing black, Professora Zélia is about to demonstrate a secret sushi sneezing ritual... did you know the work harigato actually comes from the Portuguese obrigado?

Amy and Professora Zélia, obviously a repressed carnivore, are served..

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Jessica, however, remains a vegetarian despite all temptations... the restaurant staff prepare a special salad for her with french-fries and a little rice on the “sides”...

Somehow we all keep a little room for dessert, presented here by Shaina and somebody else’s left hand, while Amy and Jessica engage in a tug-of-war... Hey! There’s no meat in dessert, right!

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Saturday October 2nd .... our first trip outside Salvador! We head for Praia do Forte (Beach of the Fort), so-called because of a 16^th century castle whose remains we visit. We filmed this part, so no still pix for now (unless a student emails one to Professor Piers – hint!). Amongst other things, in the archeological exhibit we saw a few decapitated skulls which could be Portuguese or Indian or African..

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After our history lesson we took a walk through a reserve and on to river where several students walked on water – no pictures of this either (unless a student emails one to Professor Piers – hint!)

From the reserve we head to Professora Clara’s nearby weekend getaway, on a lagoon several kilometers from the beach area of Praia do Forte.

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Clara’s Dad, Sr. Dilson, is here to meet us.. In this picture, he is in front of a picture of himself and his wife, Clara’s mother, Angelica, taken back in the golden years of Hollywood

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As Brent would say, “ Lunch waits for no man...” the students gather around the outdoor clay oven. Clara makes pizza with home-made dough...

Clara’s husband Marcos uses the oven to bake a lasagna...

Lunch proceeds.. Clara and Marcos are standing together in the background..

Shaina shares her chair with her new friend, Rodrigo...

After lunch, for Shaina and Jessica what matters most is SUN...

Brent and Jordan work on digesting the filet mignon they had for lunch after the pizza!

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We now head for the actual town of Praia do Forte, a beach and fishing port, with a light-house...

low-tide makes for a rock-pools...

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Here is our pousada (small hotel)...

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Saturday night begins with an excellent, if belated, Italian dinner. Later our students experiment with local dance styles. It’s very different from American clubs and a lot of fun.. you just have to get into the swing of it... so far we haven’t quite, so no pictures!

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On Sunday morning we head off to see the famous Tamar Sea-Turtle recovery project...

Here are hatching pods..

and a diagram describing the life cycle...

But what about the turtles? Yes, they are here too, some made of fiber-glass, some real – here Jordan gets a shot..

There is also a sort of marine petting zoo.. Brent strokes a stingless ray...

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After the turtles there’s some beach time

And then after lunch, a little time for a last wander by the art shops and street vendors on the main avenue...

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We return to Salvador with a stop along the way at Arembepe. Outside the town, by a lagoon, a hippy village founded in the 1960s is still intact, though a litte the worse for wear...

here Brent signs in the official registry!

and now for our group photo..

OK, enough “peace and love, brother”... Let’s head past those huts, over those dunes and see what’s on the other side...

Hurray! The ocean! And some swirling surf!

“One small step for one man, one giant sand-indentation for all Vermonters..”

Meanwhile Jordan blends into the beautiful late-afternoon setting...

... and Professor Piers experiments unsuccessfully with self-portraiture..

One more group photo

and it’s obrigado but sayonara to the beach and the palms... because tomorrow is Monday and we’re back in school at ACBEU, with language, literature and civilization...

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