A fantastic weekend, and a travesty

Wow. I have just finished up a terrific weekend. There were a ton of opportunities for things to go disastrously wrong, but for the most part everything went very well. I'm traveling to experience new things and from that grow a bit (sounds cliche I know), and if that is the case, this weekend was perfect! I pushed myself out of my comfort zone (my first time for a solo trip in a foreign language speaking country, and I basically had no definitive plans beyond the flights) and was rewarded with a weekend that I think I will remember for a very long time!

I'll give a quick run down here, but I'm typing up a ton more details in a journal of sorts and anyone who is interested in hearing the full story/ies just email me and I'll send it on to you once I'm done.

The trip started with an early morning wake-up call and several bus transfers to get me to the airport. The theme of being on a bus and not really knowing where I was going or when to get off, and further, having difficulty talking to anyone to figure these little details out continued for the entire trip. I'd say navigating public transport in a foreign language speaking country (where English isn't even a second language) that does not have the greatest transportation infrastructure is a HUGE challenge. But, it's one that I managed to survive for the most part, and really enjoyed a bit. Getting lost on a bus is a pretty good way to see a city, though I would suggest knowing where the bus is going to stop, and not having a deadline of when you need to arrive. I can say that after I rode a bus in Salvador for nearly 3hrs (I wish I was exaggerating). At one point we went less than a block in about 30mins.

So a brief itinerary:
landed in Salvador, managed a bus to Pelourinho (the historical center of Salvador),but got fed up with the traffic and walked the last little part. I had heard a lot about the crime in Salvador and as I was a clear tourist and already stressed from the travels when I found myself in the middle of a sidewalk with people everywhere yelling and selling things, I was a little freaked out. I eventually got to Pelo, but I think largely b/c I was kinda freaked I didn't enjoy it as much. I looked around for awhile and eventually saw some other areas near by. After that my bus 'adventure' occurred, and I ended up at the bus station.
I took a night bus to Lencois and got in at 5am. Somehow managed a pousada and a tour for the day and got some sleep (at one point I somehow ended up in some guy's car getting driven to see the Pousada, I was pretty sure I was gonna be kidnapped at that point ;) Of course I was so tired and out of it, I didn't really care!).
The pousada was very nice, though probably more than I really needed (oh well it's only money!). The tour that day was great because it gave me a pretty good overview of what the area (Chapada Diamantina National Park) is like: Astoundingly Beautiful! The tour was great we saw a water fall, some caves, great landscapes, and I met a couple people. Two of the women I met, Luciana and Germana, proved to be great friends and I tagged along with them the rest of the time.
The next day, after some scrambling around, I ended up in a car with Luciana (who speaks next to no English) and 3 guys who spoke almost no English either, headed to who knows where, thousands of miles from home (yet another, what the hell am I doing moment!). But that day ended up being beyond perfect. We saw two waterfalls, one was HUGE, and the other may be one of my favorite places on Earth (it helped that I was in a very...introspective/exhausted mood when we got there).
After all of that I ended up on another night bus back to Salvador, got in bright and early and eventually took a public bus (much more successful this time) to see another part of Salvador (Barra) including some beaches. I ended up walking all the way up to Pelo again, and was much more pleased with it this time. I wish I could have spent an evening there as I would have loved to see some musical performances and tried a dinner (I did get some Bahian food though, an abara).

This reminds me, for all things Salvador, this website is a must, and will probably make some of what I'm saying make a lot more sense: http://www.bahia-online.net/ .
While I'm posting links here are the picture highlights (I of course have a ton more):
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2068727&id=15804233&l=9272711d79

I gotta say I didn't realize what I was getting myself into when I set this up (it was kinda last minute b/c I didn't realize there was a long weekend until about a week before I left), but I'm am so glad I did it. I surprised myself with my Portuguese at times, I met some very nice people, I saw some stunning sights, and I definitely took a couple steps as an independent traveler. Wow what a weekend!

Now to end on a sad note...
This blog is meant for my travels, but I have to say something about a huge tragedy. A dear family friend and a man that I have admired and looked up to my entire life has just past on. Doug Meek was more than just the father of my best friend growing up, he was a friend to me, and at times nearly a second father. That he was taken away from his family seems so wrong. He was a great man, and I really just don't know what to think right now. Sorry about the aside, but I couldn't in good faith not say anything.