Unfortunately neither of those have been the case for me. I did however activate my "Portuguese Language Reserve" thanks to a friend of mine who had been living here in Salvador Da Bahia for the last 2 and a half months. Having a travel companion for the first week was soooo much help. When it came to getting around and understanding what was going on we really had eachother's backs. Her speaking was definitely at a higher level than mine, but my listening and translating skills were on point. I don't know where I would have been with out her.
My first day in Bahia was full of climbing hills, beach, sunshine and finding a place to sleep for the night. The next morning me and my fellow Capoeirista were off to Lençois to train with Conta Mestre Besouro. I didn't think it was any thing special until I got there. Even though he has filmed a great capoeira movie and featured in many other I just was not star struck. However once we all started discussing capoeira I started to get very excited to train with him.
The one on one feed back on my game was just what I needed to get reinspires to become a bettee capoeirista. I also learned many new songs, movements and historical information about the game. Each day was something new and exciting. And not just capoeira stuff... but nature as well... we were able to go to 3 different waterfalls and dive right in... I guess its representative of my entire experience thus far!
More to come soon!