A few photos…

I feel like the blog has been slipping lately, so I went out in search of fodder today and found some interesting offbeat stuff to share.

Artists sell their stuff all around the Pelourinho: not all of them have an Obama tribute.

largo do pelourinho

That’s one of the main entry points to the pelourinho district…it apparently was a place where slaves were publicly punished, or bought and sold. Much of the history behind this place is very dark.

coconut phones

In Brazil pay phones are colloquially known as “orelhoes”, or “big ears” because of their shape. I had walked by these, which were done up as coconuts prepared for drinking, many times without noticing them.

Apart from the Lacerda Elevator, there are a few of these “plano inclinado” to take you down to the lower city. I would have taken a ride down here, but the neighborhood at the bottom didn’t appear too inviting, really.

My apartment is located on the “praca da se”, one of the main entrypoints to the historic center from the modern city. It’s a good place to see neat street performers, and on the way home today I caught a good one. First he was whipping this guy with a bullwhip, cutting sheets of newspaper in half that the guy held out, then whipping the ash of the tip of a cigarette that the guy held in his mouth! Then he cut the cigarette in half with the whip by way of an anti-smoking message.

Then he dove through the ring of knives, with another big knife propped up on the ground on the other side!

Between stunts the guy was like an old fashioned snake oil salesman, peddling miraculous herbal remedies and ointments, of which I picked up a couple…I’ll have to let you know about the effects. He promised they would do a lot for me. I then headed home to get out of the tropical heat.

A fruitful expedition!

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