Week 13 in Brazil (Jonathon's Update)

We started off this week visiting a small town up the coast from Salvador called Praia do Forte. It is a cute little resort town and home to Brazil's oldest sea turtle sanctuary. They have an area they call the Villa, where cars are not allowed, and they have a bunch of little shops and restaurants/ice cream shops you can visit. We arrived just before noon, so we got lunch at a little cafe and visited several gift shops. At 2pm, we checked in to the hotel, rested a little, and then went to the beach. The beach has a lot of rocks just under the water level and small pools where the water is deeper, causing the fish to congregate in large groups. The snorkeling was great. We then returned to the hotel, and the kids decided they wanted to swim more, so we swam in the pool. Later that night, we got dinner in the Villa and had ice cream for dessert.

The following day we visited the humpback whale institute, where an intern gave us a tour of all the exhibits. We then went to the Tamar sea turtle institute, where we saw many different kinds of sea turtles and even a few sharks. They even had baby sea turtles swimming around. Afterward, we decided to eat ice cream for lunch (healthy, I know), checked out of the hotel, and headed home. It was a short trip, but I am glad we did it. It was great to have a change of pace and check out some of the incredible marine biology diversity they have here.

The next day, our friends Gary and Andie Knapp came to visit. We had a great time showing them around all the places we have come to love, and we even tried a few new things. We took them to the zoo, the historical part of town, snorkeling at the beach, and tried many foods we have come to love. We also went for the first time to the City of Music museum and learned about the rich musical history in Salvador. That night, we saw the Balet Folklorico perform several dances that arose from the mixture of African and European cultures in this area. Finally, we toured the temple under construction here. The design incorporates some beautiful colonial-style stonework in the historical part of town into the facade. The artists of the 17th century were pretty awesome, so it is taking longer to build than they thought. As a result, the inside is completely finished while the outside is still being worked on, which I have never seen before. They are working hard and hope to have it ready to dedicate soon.

It was a busy week playing tourists and tour guides, but we enjoyed every minute.