It is pretty hot but still bearable. We spend the most time in the shadow in the garden. We also like to take a bath on one of Salvador's beaches or in a swimming pool. The sea – The Atlantic Ocean – is quite clean, with big waves. Unfortunately the beaches are less clean, and the city littered with all kinds of things. People are not used to throw trash in trash bins. Since there are already street dogs and litter, a little more makes no difference and there is anyways needed to clean the street all the time. But most probably people don't think about what happens after they drop leftovers. Sometimes it can be difficult to navigate on the streets early in the mornings, before the cleaning brigade comes. We like to observe people working here; normally there is a group of people executing a task, where only one person is working and the rest are watching or resting. Somebody said they sometimes don't get paid, so maybe they are working in relation to their salaries. It seems that improvements are taken slowly. It is an overall atmosphere here. Relaxed and easy. And intresting on a great scale.
The Bahianos are regarded as party animals, food lovers and Casanovas. They take each small opportunity to make a party. And opportunities are many; there are many holidays and days off. The music is on for the whole day even on a normal day. If it is not music from the neighbours, it is from the small nearby bar, passing cars, improvised instruments or just singing pedestrians. It is loud all day long. Not only on the streets, also at home. People here don’t have a conversational tone, they shout all the time - either of cheerfulness or out of frustration. Conversations often sound like quarrels and yelling. It is quite common to encounter a verbal fight on the street. It seems to us that many people are bored and nervous, and maybe that is why they spend so much time quarreling, small talking or gossiping. One example is the mother from the house, who is only one year older than Polona but is already nervous, shouting on the kids all the time. We try to show them that it is nice to have a conversational tone and respect for eachother. We think it is a clear cultural difference. People here don't seem to suffer from quarreling and harsh words are easily forgotten and probably forgiven. Hopefully the next generation that is now being yelled at, at least won’t suffer of frustrations and feel a need to yell. Although it seems it has been like this for ages; keeping people happy in their own way. Soap operas take up the prime time both on TV and in reality with plenty of secret lovers and frauds. This gives room for juicy gossips and imagination. Often nobody knows the true parents of a child, but everybody's talking.
In general people are quite religiuos or at least supersticious. There are hundreds of different Churches, all more or less originating from Catolics. All kind of saints play important role in the religion. In September we often saw a small bowl filled with food left on a corner of a street for a saint called São Cosme da Miau. It is not so unusual for locals to practice black magic, conduct spells, use incenses or other superstitious beliefs to indicate the way for luck. Many people still possess beliefs that the slaves brought from Africa. The slaves brought not only the beliefs; but also religion, cuisine, martial art, music and the entire culture that is today still reflected in Salvador. People don’t talk about big plans for the future, and it seems people aren't very economical. Some people here prefer to buy branded but not well constructed furniture made of masonite or plywood, alike cheap IKEA shelves, rather than buying real wood furniture from a carpenter across the street. Second hand is scary to the middle class, although there are stores selling used clothes for a few reais or around 1 EUR. Otherwise new clothes cost like in Europe. It is difficult to find cotton - maybe because there are moths or other animals eating non-plastic clothes. Staying in the fashion and looking good is important for females of any age. Even an prematurely born child who appeared on the evening news had earrings.
Fashion seems more important than investing in durable things and people would like to earn money quickly. Tourism offers money for low efforts. Sometimes people follow the trends, which causes similar stores to be grouped together. When one new convenience store opened on our street, another one opened soon after. Maybe they want to have a better store than their neighbour. It also goes quickly to switch profession. One day a flower store, two days later a hairdresser. (We haven't looked closer to see if they renovated or rebuilt anything inside.)
It is said that no business can have all the papers and documentation correct, partly because of difficult bureaucracy and partly because of ignorance or laziness. Also many people try their luck in illegal activities. Every time we watch news there are either police raids on drug trafficers or corrupted officials getting caught. It is said that Brazil is the country with the biggest social difference between the richest and the poorest ones. We can only guess what made the rich ones so rich. On the other hand, the life of the poor majority is going in a circle. It seems normal for girls have kids early in their lives. Most of them loose the opportunity to study, which in many cases leads to a modest way of life.
