Oh where, oh where has my ficante gone?

Before leaving for Itaparica, Kellie and I went to an internet shop run by a Nigerian and ended up talking to another Nigerian man about Salvador and Brasilian social relationships. He briefly told us about the relationship between Carnaval and other Brasilian festivals with those in Africa and how well Bahia in particular has preserved some of its African culture. He also told us all about ficar, which is basically a sexual relationship with someone with no strings attached--a noncommittal affair of sorts (he related the concept of ficar or ficante through a pretty nasty story including a married woman and death threat!). As such, he explained, Brasilian men seem to ooze passion and spit out 'I love you' without any thought to the meaning of the phrase, and both Brasilian men and women tend to be very possesive and jealous. I wish I had known about ficar sooner. It would have explained all the offers of marriage and tempts to slip in a tongue kiss when I met new Brasilians!

After our talk with our new Nigerian friend, we agreed to meet him at an African bar for some salsa later that night. We ended up dancing all night and leaving the bar at five in the morning! I also was asked by the bar owner to marry him and have his children so he could treat me like a queen. Hmmm.....ficar anyone!?

We slept through our capoeira lesson the next day and immediately left for Itaparica to visit our friend. He was meant to meet us at the bom despacho, and since I was really just coming along to experience some real, non-touristy Brasilian life, Kellie had been trying to coordinate our meeting. We waited for an hour and a half at a restaurant near the bom despacho, or what we thought was the bom despacho before realizing there are two boat launches on the island and we were at the wrong one! Luckily our friend was still waiting for us at the correct bom despacho and we managed to make some new friends at the restaurant.

Itaparica was nice, slow and local. We were maybe the only two gringas in that part of the island, which tended to have more people who were less well off than around the marina part of the island. The whole island also uses a natural spring (bica) as their water source, so water was free but a bit of a hike from where we were staying. It was interesting getting a new feel for what Brasil is like. Many of the people on Itaparica that we met either couldn't or didn't want to leave the island, and our friend showed us (good heartedly, though) the contrast between the rich and poor all over the island (as he and his friends said: 'we are not hick (rich), we poh (poor).'

Now, I am in Lençois, in the Chapada Diamantina, and planning on leaving for a two day trek tomorrow to a waterfall. It is very beautiful here and has an artsy homey feel.

I am starting to have panic attacks about leaving (literally, my chest seizes up and I get a shortness of breath) and keep worrying that I only have about a week left and still haven't even taken a samba class yet. I have a friend in Rio de Janeiro that I wanted to visit, and some more costal towns to stop in, but I have no time! AHHH! I don't want to leave yet!