Day 399: Salvador, Brazil – 09/02/11

We have a pretty lazy day.  And boy, is it hot.  I keep scuttling out of the sun into the shade as quickly as I can but even a few minutes is enough to prompt the return of the dreaded strap marks which I have worked so hard to get rid of.

Mike and Steve have an abortive attempt at doing some jobs ie putting the baton back in the sail and removing the old anchor to attach the new one, but without success.  It is too windy to put the baton back (how ironic is that after all those weeks with no bloody wind) and the shackle holding the anchor onto the chain is so rusted through that it will have to be cut through with bolt cutters and although we have some, Mike doesn’t have a new shackle to replace the rusted one.

Johanne and I go over to see Jutta and Chessie.  I want to get some more books and I want Johanne to see the inside of the tardis that is Chessie.  Of course we end up staying for ‘one little drink’ until Mike comes striding down the dock, caveman style, looking for women to cook him and Steve some lunch and we are summoned back to Jeannius.

Photo:  The fleet dwarfed by a cruise liner

 Photo:  Jeannius in Salvador

   Photo:  The old town and elevator behind the marina

Photo:  Steve relaxing on a sunny afternoon

  Photo:  Johanne with the old town behind her

Mike has a nap in the afternoon, and Johanne and Steve relax in the cockpit until it is time to meet up with the crews of Crazy Horse and Chessie to go into the old town.

Photo:  Me and Johanne

We dice with death as we cross the road and crush ourselves into the communal coffin (the elevator) trying to breathe through our mouths as it’s a hot day and bodily smells abound.  I try to forget the fact that smell is particulate as the air goes into my lungs and concentrate instead on clinging on to my bag.  Johanne and I wait in the square while Steve goes off the the bank and Mike goes in search of a local SIM card for his phone.

Photo:  View from Municipal Square at the top of the elevator

While we wait for the boys to return, Johanne is chatted up by Eduardo, who jumps back when she takes her sunglasses off to reveal her stunning eyes and declares himself in love.  Given that he has a fist full of necklaces to sell, I think it’s more likely to be our purses he’s in love with although he makes no attempt to sell to us.

Photo:  Rio Branco Palace (which now houses the Town Hall)

The others arrive and we walk to the old historic part of the upper city.  There is nowhere to sit at the first bar so we choose another one with seats outside so that we can be obvious targets for every street hawker in sight.  Still the city is beautiful.  We drink caiparinos, a local cocktail made from distilled sugar cane, raw sugar and lime and chat until the others go off for their meal and show. laden down with the trinkets that they have been persuaded to buy.

Photo:  Crews from Chessie, Crazy Horse and Jeannius

Photo: Terreiro de Jesus

Photo:  The Basilica Cathedral

We wander slowly back to the boat, doing a spot of window shopping on the way.  Of course, the evening’s entertainment really starts when we get back to the boat and the fiasco of getting Johanne back on board begins.  I step on board (note the word ‘step’) and Mike and Steve follow.  This leaves Johanne, alone, on the pontoon.  Her little legs are unable to make the step across so Steve pulls on the warp to bring the boat in closer.  Hanging on to it he tells her to jump.  She falters and stops.  He pulls the boat in again.  She makes a couple of tottering steps and stops.  He pulls it in a third and fourth time.  She totters backwards and forwards whimpering all the time.  Steve is now starting to get mildly pissed off, Mike steps to the pontoon to help her and I disappear into the confines of the cockpit as I can’t stop laughing.  One of her problems is that she won’t go to the edge of the pontoon to start the step across but starts from about 18 inches away therefore making the step even longer than it really is.  It is on about the tenth time that Steve pulls it in that she finally takes a flying leap, gripping Mike’s fingers in a vice like grip on the way, and lands with a thump on the bottom step.  By this time I am almost convulsed on the floor with laughter although I get myself together enough to give her a ‘well done’ hug, not that it probably seems very sincere!

Johanne and I cook dinner onboard and sit back afterwards with another Amarula.  That’s the first bottle now gone!