shayanapraia - Tumblr blog

[shayanapraia]

Ode to the Beach

I love the beach. There are 3 beaches in my neighborhood, they are all a 5-15 min walk from my house.

One of them is super crowded and energetic, just like Tel Aviv beaches that I love. There’s lots of umbrellas, food vendors, music, kids playing, lots of noise and drinks and ENERGY and I loooooove beaches like this.

The other two are more calm, quiet, and scenic. People watch the sunset from the lighthouse (farrol da barra) and it’s a nightly event.

Below is the lighthouse

Every time I am on the coast, I am happy and in awe of how pretty it is. The rocks and the old fortresses and lighthouses and the colorful city and clear water all combine to make it so gorgeous.

In the morning I wake up and go straight to the ocean and I swim. It’s almost like a 200M lap pool because the water is really clear and calm and warm. Lots of people swim open water.

The sunsets are also very nice because they glow vividly. I love the beach here more than LA because it’s way less commercialized. It feels like there are more people yet it’s more intimate. Idk how to exactly describe the effect. I love how the beach is a free public location that everyone can come enjoy in mass amounts.

I love to sit on the beach or stand on the boardwalk and just stare at all the different kinds of people. Lots of hot people. Dare I say, Salvador residents are hotter than Tel Aviv. That’s a high bar. Also lots of people with interesting style, athletic grandmas and grandpas, kids playing, etc. it’s so entertaining to watch all the different people.

One of my favorite parts is that everyone has different kinds of curly hair and I feel like I’m in a special curly club universe. Feels cool. I also like how everyone is racially ambiguous because I also look ambiguous brown, so I’m like in this land of curly racially ambiguous hot people and that’s really nice.

[shayanapraia]

Thorns

I wanted to share some thorns, aka some of the negative updates so that my blog doesn't have like unrealistic vibes.

Sometimes (once or twice so far) there is a torrential downpour for like 5 minutes

Class is boring. Useful but boring

I am getting really frustrated because conjugating verbs in Portuguese is really hard

They don't have a "no glass on the beach" rule and omgggv so much broken glass on the beach I'm so worried that I or a small child will step on it

I am still in this honeymoon phase with Salvador, but I do feel that soon it will lose its initial euphoria/charm and I will kind of get used to (or tired of) it. We will see. But I also feel like you have to reach that point in order to really love a place

These are just some of my small thorns in the journey. As hafez says in one of my favorite poems,

در بیابان گر به شوقِ کعبه خواهی زد قدم

سرزنش‌ها گر کُنَد خارِ مُغیلان غم مخور

[shayanapraia]

Week 1 Recap

Great week. Summary: fun visit from Rhea, lots of bonding with my host brother, referred to hereafter as just my brother, started classes.

This is acareje, a very typical bahian street food. I have no hos to explain what it is. It's pretty good but not in love tbh

A beautiful picture rhea took of Pelourinho, the historic city center. Unesco world heritage site. Gorgeous to see but very touristic and kinda claustrophobic tbh. Meh

Gorgeous sunsets every night. I love to drink my coco and watch the sunset. This place is so so so so so beautiful and photos will not capture it. Everyone claps when the sun sets and its SO cute

Another great rhea photo. Dancers at Sao Joao festival

Beautiful tarciso, my brother and best friend

Me and Augusto (tarciso's boyfriend) living our terrace moment

The skateboard has been coming out more and more. I'd give the coast of barra a 7/10 skateability. That's Mauro my coconut man

[shayanapraia]

Papaya Prose

Please allow me to take you through the incredible experience of eating a brazilian papaya on my terrace.

The journey starts with buying a soft, mature papaya from my local fruit stand on the corner. My dad can rest easy at home knowing that the fruit man is a great fruit selector and is giving me his best fruits.

Then, I take my new child home, cradling it in my arms, daydreaming of the life changing experience that is about to ensue.

After slicing it down the middle, I am intoxicated by the first inhale of sweet, fresh papaya scent blessing my nostrils and brain. Scooping out the seeds with a spoon is a satisfyingly smooth dream. One step closer to heaven.

I take my papaya to the sunny, breezy terrace, argue with my brother about closing the window vs leaving it open. Some battles need to be surrendered when such glorious moments are around the corner.

The spoon cuts the flesh like butter. Shortly after my first bite, exclamations can be heard around the house such as "get a room" and "did you really just make that noise for the papaya" ... what can I say? It's really good.

After this moment, I honestly black out because the papaya slaps so hard that I can't even think straight. It's so buttery and meaty and sweet and aromatic. The best part is that its SO GOOD that it still surprises me every time because that's how good it is.

[shayanapraia]

São João

Rhea and I spent São João, the festival of Saint John (?), in Salvador. Lots of street parties, outdoor music and food vendors, etc 10/10 recommend

Left: us with a coconut and a bottle of cravinho, a quintessential drink here that we both really hated

Right: the historic city center, pelourinho, looking beautifully decorated

We followed an Olodum drum parade through pelourinho. Lots of dancing and party

The drums were my favorite part of Sao Joao. They sound so good. And the drummers are having so much fun. If you want a taste of the vibe, watch MJ's They don't care about us music video.

Me eating my beloved almendoin cozido.

I love how everyone of literally all ages, many grandmas included, just show up and dance. It's so fun and everyone is smiling and having a great time. I love Brazil.

I also love how here, catholic beliefs and symbols are casually mixed in with religions that came from Africa with the slave trade. Like a lot of the music and also religious symbols at this originally catholic festival had African roots. Cool

[shayanapraia]

Week 0 recap

I have been going to the beach like 4 times a day. I love it. I will do a whole post about the beach later

Rhea (one of my closest ucla friends) is here!! Here she is enjoying a fresh papaya and coffee on our balcony. I love sitting here because the window breeze feels good. The papayas are earth shattering.

These photos look gross but these two foods are currently in my S Tier category of Brazilian food list. Pirao de aimin (cassava root puree with chicken) and almendoin cocido (boiled peanuts)

In other news this week, I went to chabad and it was cool. All local Brazilian jews. Less than 200 total live in the state of bahia. It is also São João, a big fun festival holiday. Right now. Will post about it later.

[shayanapraia]

Day 1

I loooooove it here. It reminds me of Tel Aviv but everyone is black. The air and ocean are perfect temperature and I love crowded fun beaches with lots of vendors and music and sports. My host family is super nice and sweet: I mostly hang out with my brother Tarciso who is my age and my mãe.

I tried a few bahian and Brazilian foods today: moqueca which is a fish stew, acareje which is like this fried cassava root bun thing with shrimp and toppings, and açaí. TBH the food is good but not groundbreaking. Asian food is better and so is Mexican food. So far…

Some fun facts: 1. Bahia has the largest population of black people outside of Africa 2. Salvador was the first city in Brazil

One of my fav things about Brazil (or maybe just my host family home ) is that all the windows are open all the time and there is fresh warm air coming in, so there is like no barrier between outside and inside and it feels really nice. It’s “winter” here aka really warm sunny and great weather, but my mãe walks around shivering because of the “heavy wind” LMAO aka very light pleasant breeze. I thought LA people couldn’t handle seasons but now I see that really Brazilians literally can’t

Today I thought to myself, wow, I can’t believe people voluntarily live in Santiago CL when there are cities like this in the world. Like no offense and also I know they can’t just move, but …

[shayanapraia]

Day 0

Off I go! The best sister in the world dropped me off and donated two pairs of socks to me because I lost all of mine yesterday (not joking at all).

Feeling excited, not sad or nervous bc it’s just 2 months. Got my Persian tea and my skateboard in my backpack, what more does a girl need?

[shayanapraia]

Day -1

T-1 day until I leave for Brazil. Mental break down because what do I do with my tampons*

*buildup of grad emotions, fatigue, travel nerves, packing frustrations, and being on hold with American Airlines. Tampons were the straw that broke the donkey’s back