Salvador is Offfffffff the HOOK

Just made it to Salvador. And when I mean just made it, i mean it the way where everything just went lucky. Arriving to a new city at night sucks beyond all suckage. Long story short, didn~t have a place to stay , took the bus into the center of town where tuesday nights are suppose to be the all out "town party". as we got off the bus and looked for some places to stay at 8pm, we assumed the bus dropped us off at the spot where the map said. instead, it missed by a good few blocks. but me, compass savy traveler, directed us to the center of town, didn~t realized this. luckily, and i mean luckily, a policeman stopped us cuz us GRINGOES with huge backpacks on were walking right into the center of the "ghetto". so instead the policia escorted us to the right place. Man, I hate arriving at night.

We found a place quick style and already was hearing the music calling us from the streets. I would describe it as a block party in the middle the the town square but all of a sudden, a brasilian drum group came by the square with loads of followers. we joined the crew and marched down through the town dancing and chatting with the group along with about 50-70 other followers. all in all, it turned out to be a great night. even though i~m about to sleep right next to some strangers in the hostel room where the BO is massively strong. instead of complaining, i loaded up on beans tonight to add to the brew.

i must say, writing and getting onto the internet is a chore but always fulfilling. instead of describing the rest of Rio, i~ll list my highlights of it. starting with the greats ones in my head now.

el misti workers taking us to lapa for crazy fun. street partying, drumming, drinking, ending the night at our first funk party. def funk partys are off the hook in Rio.
visiting santa teresa and riding the old cable car with new friends karen (santa cruz) and carolina (colombia)... in the RAIN!!!!
watching Linha de Passe in straight up portuguese. but it never stops me.
finding a restaurant which had awesome northeast brasilian cuisine...so good, we ate there again the next night and josh somehow got deep fried frog!
rain, rain, rain! always rain when i travel. oh well, makes things more interesting.
christ the redeemer and suger loaf view which u saw in the pics
beaches, beaches, and beaches
acai (ah-sah-E), the drink of choice in brasil
and finally, finding a chinese family with a quick stop food store and chatting with them in chinese about RIO and their lives here.

all in all, its been going great. trying to figure out how to upload some video, cuz i got some good ones. but we have been missing out on some great pic opportunities just cuz we wanna play it safe. and safe is always good. GO NINERS BABY!!!!!!!JT!!!!