A number of us who arrived about the same time decided to visit the Pelourinho, which is the old part of Salvador. When we arrived, we were greeted by the most aggressive panhandlers I’ve ever seen. The first opened the door to the cab as I was paying the driver, and then kept trying to give me R$ 2 bills and asking for a larger bill in return. I ended up putting the R$ 2 on the ground and walking away. Other people would just come up to us, grab our arms or tug on our sleeves, and ask for money. It was just a gauntlet. We finally ended up in this restaurant area where a portly gentleman in a white suit came up to the panhandler that was still with it and chased him off — clearly the bouncer.

We then had a nice dinner with some folks from UMD at Mama Bahiia, a nice restaurant in the area. It was some great local food, and we enjoyed their hospitality greatly.

We left, and thought about hanging out around the Pelourinho a bit more, but after another 5 minutes with the pan-handlers and not seeing much (it was 6 PM, so a bit early for night life), we bugged out and played some cards by the pool in the hotel until we had stayed up long enough to get a good night sleep and get past the jetlag.

Well, we took off from Bogota after about an hour. The guy on the plane should be OK; he wasn’t doing great, but looks like they got him off in time. And I’m OK with being delayed for that kind of thing… I know I’d want it done if it were me!

I managed to make my Varig flight, only because it was delayed 2 hours itself. My 4-hour layover turned into a 1 hour layover and an extra 4 hours on the plane (we were 1.5 hours south of Bogota, so an extra 3 hours flight time + 1 hour on the ground). The flight was fine, and we arrived in Salvador without incident. I found myself an ATM and got cash, and found a taxi stand that shipped me out, so all is well.

The Pestana is right on the beach, and provides lovely views from every room. It also has a small balcony and a wide door to let in a lot of light and see the ocean. I’ll see about uploading some pics when I get an opportunity.

Welp, off to dinner!

The plane ride from Dallas to São Paulo was relatively smooth. I ended up sitting next to a woman with a beautiful 9-month old, Amanda, and she did pretty well, considering she was a lap-baby for a 10 hour flight. Or a 7 hour flight followed by a 3 hour flight. About 3 AM Brazil Time (definitely 11 PM PDT, but I may be off by an hour or two) the plane was diverted to Bogota, Columbia. One of the passengers was having medical difficulties — diabetic shock, I think (the captain had asked for some device and mentioned if you were a diabetic you’d know what it was). Two paramedics boarded the plane, and they wheeled a guy off in a wheelchair, and looks like his wife or girlfriend followed him off the plane. We still ended up camping out in Bogota on the plane for another 30 minutes or so — that’s where I’m writing this, as we all have some time to kill on the ground.

Bogota is interesting at 2 AM… it looks like a quiet city, and clearly in a valley of some sorts as there are lights on the hill. We appear to be out in the boondocks, as there aren’t many lights nearby. The airport looks like every other airport from the outside… the familiar walkways are there, and there’s another American Airlines jet parked to one side. Looks like a 757, although perhaps it’s a 767 (what we’re on now… aka the FedEx Cargo Special). It’s interesting to me how a city sleeps…. Even though it’s a completely different country, and has its share of problems, at night and from the air, it looks like any other city.

Amanda and her mother have finally sacked out… luckily, her mother is getting some sleep as well. They’re also heading to Salvador, although they may have a tougher trip than I. I was scheduled to have about a 4-hour layover, so with this side trip I’ll probably arrive in time to make my connection onto Varig. I don’t think they’ll be as lucky, as they only had about an hour and a half to catch a flight on TAM, the other local airline to Brazil. Which means delays and re-routing… I hope they’ll be able to get onto the Varig flight. So far, Amanda’s done well, but clearly hasn’t been happy – there have been a couple crying fits, which you might expect on a 10.5 hour flight. It makes me wonder how well Laura would do on an international flight… probably ok, as at least she’d have her own seat, but it’d still be hard for her, I think.

Anyway, more when we leave… for now, nothing much to do but kick back and wait. Yee-haw!