visiting islands off the coast of salvador.

on Thursday, we spent our last day in Bahia traveling arounds the islands off the coast of Salvador. 

We arrived early morning, just outside of the "mercado modelo"& got on a boat that took us on about a 2 hour boat ride to this gorgeous island.  It appeared to be pretty remote, with very few people who actually live there. We spent an hour swimming, playing beach volleyball, snorkeling, etc. Everyone said that it was the most beautiful beach they've seen so far, but I think it's equally as beautiful as my favorite place-porto de galinhas. When we got off the boat, I swore I was in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean, there were no words to describe it! 

We loved swimming in the ocean and if we just sat there a while all these fish would come up and start nipping at your fingers and toes. I think they were trying to eat your skin cells & it was so entertaining to watch happen. We also saw plenty of jelly fish on shore, and jordan even hit one while snorkeling. That would have been bad.. but it did make up for some funny "who would you choose to "help" you if you got stung by a jelly fish..." stories. :P!

About to leave for our boat ride!

The view of the harbor. You can see the Lacerda Elevator to the top left and the municipal palace right next to it. 

Here is a closer view.

These guys played some music for us during our boat ride. It was really fun to sing & dance along.

Part of our group clapping along to the music.

 The first island we visited.

Afterwards, we went about another hour to another island called the Island of Itaparica. It is composed of two cities-Itaparica & Vera Cruz. Together there are about 15,000 people who live there. 

We arrived in time for lunch & were served food at this buffet that was so delicious. We had our choice of rice, beans, salads, meats, fish, fruit, etc. It was probably some of the best brazilian food I've had up here! 

Later, half of our group decided to take a city tour of the island while the others stayed on the beach. Of course I wanted to see the historic part, so we hopped on a bus & got a mini tour. I kept thinking the whole time why people would choose to live there! I mean, it's at least an hour boat ride to the city of Salvador..but there are plenty of homes, shops, restaurants, people etc. It really amazed me! I kept thinking wow, this must be real bahia.. the part that most travelers don't see. It was beautiful but it also seemed very poor as well. I wonder if it's cheaper or more expensive to live there than in Salvador. I assume most people who live there are probably fisherman or something..I guess we could compare it to a much simpler "catalina island" off the coast of san diego :P

I tried to take a picture of these kids on the streets without being too obvious. They were so cute playing with their "bows and arrows" made of like bamboo sticks. 

Do you see that house behind the tree that is white and beige? Vinicius de Moraes lived there! Crazy right? Right on that random little island. I don't know how long he lived there for or anything but it was really cool to see how his lifestyle could have inspired his music. 

I can't get enough of these portuguese style homes.

Bahian men playing cards together outside.

This was a fort that we visited that was built in the 1600s. 

On our way back to the mainland the sun started setting :)

& we saw many many huge vessels in the harbor.

Overlooking the bay after getting done with our boat ride. It was around six o clock and "ave maria" started playing in the square downtown. Apparently every day at 6 that song is played, and it is her hour. Catholicism is still the official religion of Brazil, so they can do that..not like in the US where everyone would get so upset over something like that. 

Ps; Here is another picture of the "mercado modelo" & where exactly the slaves were put that drowned under water.  Vanessa showed us as we were going to get on the boat. She said that most of the slaves that were put there were those that had been rebelious or tried to hold revolts. Of course since it was under sea level it was a death sentence to be put under there. She said that Elder Eyring said that when he visited the Mercado Modelo here in Bahia, he went to the bottom portion to see where the slaves were put to drown. He said that as he was walking down, he felt such a bad feeling (spirit) that he had to turn around & would not go down anymore. Nowadays, it's closed for the public since they are renovating it..but knowing that story I for sure would have avoided it.

Pss; I've noticed that most of the hotels in the northeast do not have blankets on their beds. We have stayed in these amazingly, beautiful, really really nice hotels right on or next to the beach & none of them have blankets! You are just given a sheet on the bed to sleep with. Tonight, Jordan went downstairs to ask for a blanket for us (since I freeze with the AC on and he dies without it) and the man looked at him like he had seen a ghost & didn't speak Portuguese anymore. What, a blanket? What's that? hahaha.. after several several seconds he said "oh yeah, let me go find one & we will bring it up to you later.." I wonder if they went to the store and bought one.. hahah! Oh I love the northeast! I guess you don't need blankets when its 80 degrees year round. I wonder what they think about an electric blanket, I bet they don't even know those exist :P