My Swiss travel buddy Sven and I lived the life in Salvador, Brazil. Albeit temporary, our rented apartment just one block from Salvador’s waterfront meant time spent on the beach every morning for the ten days we stayed.
We were not in Brazil for sightseeing. I had done that on my last vacation to Brazil
five years before. That made it easier to laze around doing nothing every day. When all you want to do is nothing a tropical city beach is the best way to do that. Sven would walk past the health club
to the beach to swim laps around the ocean as his daily exercise. Each time he would boast about how much better his life would be if he could do this every day back at home.
I, on the other hand, would sit back on the beach pretending to watch Sven, while beautiful half naked bodies would strut past me.
The beach is the center of life in Brazil. I think so at least. People exercise, eat meals, relax, socialize, and even learn. One day as I walk walking down the beach I saw some elementary school children huddled together with the teachers watching a historical reenactment of something. What it was exactly is still a mystery.
Ten days spending 24/7 with the same travel buddy is more time spent together than if I were married to someone. Sven and I have discussed this together and it really is a unique thing, spending that much time with the same person in a foreign land where everyone else is a stranger. We do get along surprisingly well after spending so much time together. I am not just talking about our Brazilian trip, but also a three week California road trip
last December, a weekend in Colombia, etc.
On this trip to Salvador we stayed in the same city the entire time so making new friends was not much of an issue. Though speaking Portuguese was a struggle! They call people like me attempting to mix Spanish with limited Portuguese as a Portunal speaker. I didn’t mind the limited communication because Brazilian Portuguese will always sound the best to me. Even if it is just jibberish, it’s the best sounding nonsense to me.
Of course one afternoon our new friend and I went to the beach together, as its one of the popular ways for Brazilians to hang out as I explained earlier. Since we were with company I could not act as my often lazy self who prefers to drink coconuts on the sand and soak in the warm waters of the Atlantic.
This time we sought adventure.
That adventure is kayaking through the rough waves. I admit those waves were non-existent.
I count this as two days worth of exercise because my friend was not much help with the paddle. That counts for 2/10 days spent exercising in Brazil.
I am back home in Philadelphia now writing this and if it is not clear to you yet, I really miss this beach lifestyle. Can someone please build a Dubai style indoor tropical beach here?