In two months of living here lots of things have happened. In this time we had to decide when to go home. The protocol for obtaining a residence permit has changed in last two years. Brazilian authorities don't allow tourists to stay longer than 6 months anymore. The rules have become more strict even for job seekers. The only option for us to stay here longer would be giving birth to a child with a Brazilian nationality. We can't really imagine how to get a child in less than 6 months, but this is how the officials explained it. It means that we have to leave the country in January. And then we will have lots of time to decide whether we want to come back to Brazil pregnant or not at all :). January is still far away and we're not yet thinking of the departure. We rather enjoy the vibes of Bahia, discovering endless palm beaches just outside Salvador. We both fell in love with the ocean, enchanted by the never-ending music of the waves and stillness of the sand. The sea and waves have so far been the only contact with the nature that we have been missing so much. (Lately we've been longing for the mountains and the forests painted in wonderful yellow, orange and red.) The north of Salvador is all beaches, much cleaner and less populated than those in the city. On a working day we were practically alone on a few kilometers long beach, full of scenic views.One such place is a charming small village Praia do Forte with excellent tourist infrastructure, full of top-end restaurants, souvenir shops, and colorful bars. The place is popular among Brazilians and many rich Soteropolitanos (inhabitants of Salvador) have their summer houses there. Some of the chique decorated houses really look like those from the movies; with luxury furniture and excellent location by the sea.
There we visited an ecological reserve, the Tamar project (www.projetotamar.org.br), whose objective is to save marine turtles along the beaches of Brazil. They have established several camps along the whole Brazilian coastline to recover the populations of different species of turtles. In the reserve close to Salvador we got to know about the work of the project and about these huge animals. In fact one of the species of the sea turtles can reach a length of 2 meters and can weigh more than 700 kg. It is amazing to observe such a big animal floating and moving slowly in the water. We particularly liked the babies, which are normally born from September to December. It must be emotional to see them getting out of the eggs, laid in the sand, and quickly running to reach the sea. Five of seven species of marine turtles live in Brazil, that is why the Tamar project has had an important impact on preservation of the turtles. Its social role and dedication has rescued thousands of turtles and the main objective is to educate people in the local communities to protect the animals instead of eating them. One community of 400 people has been converted from turtle-eaters into turtle-guards. It is sad to know that such harmless animals had been threatened to extinction. Illegal fishing, pollution, coast urbanization and industrial fishing are still sad reasons for those and many other animals' death.
In the same village we also visited another ecologically oriented project, dedicated to research the whales. It is the Whale Institute of Brazil, whose purpose is to protect, rescue and save the Humpback whales. The institute educates visitors about the behaviour, nature and life cycle of these big mammals. During the 10 years of work they managed to lobby for laws prohibiting whale hunting. By monitoring, protecting and researching Humpback whales that come to Brazil to breed during the winter, researchers have learnt about their behaviour. All the accumulated knowledge has allowed researchers to organize ecological whale-watching tours for visitors. Even though we went to watch them only 2 days before the whales would supposedly leave Brazil and head to Antarctica, we had luck and spotted a mother with a calf. It was impressive to see them swimming in a synchronized pace, showing a bit of their shiny upper fins every now and then. Unfortunately none of them was in a jumpy mood, so we didn't have a chance to see the spectacular jumps and splashes of water, when an animal of 40 tons suddenly jumps out from the water. As the rules don't allow boats to stay more than 30 minutes with the same group of whales, we had to leave the mother and the calf alone. In the argument to cancel whale hunting globally, it is claimed that there is more money to be made from whale watching tourism than from industrial whale hunting. At the institute we got to see the original skeleton of the female whale, which was beached and died couple of years ago in a nearby village. The size was incredible! Even though they are harmless, it must be quite scary to accidentally come across an animal of that size.
The coastline in Bahia is scarcely urbanized, which gives space for the flora to grow in its natural environment. Apart of famous palm trees, there are thousands of other plants and interesting trees that triggered our attention. In general it is quite difficult and dangerous to walk off the beaten paths. But we hired a guide, a boy of 10 years, to walk us in Floresta Sapiranga to watch the forest and observe the plants. Local people know many secrets from the forest and the guide explained some about medical plants, herbs, edible roots, useful leaves, as well as legends and stories of the "mata" (forest). Mango trees have become our favourite ones, because they grow fast and become really tall and wide, giving a generous shadow and tasty fruits. In Praia do Forte we were lodged in a modest room in a small house with a big garden and many mango trees. The property was located outside of the village, in a forest, close to the nature. Every morning we got woken up by a cock, together with the horses from the ranch. It was nice and calm as a contrast of the touristified and loud village centre. Other villages along the Coco road and Linha Verde road (north of Salvador) are less popular and less modernized. We found the village of Imbassai even more charming and nicer than Praia do Forte. Imbassai is a modest village, where asphalt has not yet polluted the nice reddish soil. We also experienced what this means when it rains -- it wasn't as bad as one could think. The village has only a few restaurants, all closed during the day, one supermarket with limited assortment, and a couple of hostels. The beach of Imbassai is an idyll - where a river mixes with the ocean, its sediments have built a natural lagoon of fresh water. At the time when we were there, we were almost alone. It seemed deserted and peaceful and only for us.
