Para Salvador!

So we flew on a 2.5 hour flight via Avianca to Salvador. Avianca was waaayyyyy more classy than American Airlines- we had personal televisions, comfortable chairs, good food..... Etc.

Before meeting my host family, I stayed a night in the Sheraton with all the other people from my program! 

The second day, I met my host parents:

I was soooo nervous to meet them, mainly because of the language barrier. However I learned that my host pai (dad) speaks English , as does my host sister. My host brother speaks little English, and my host mom and the host cool do not speak English at all. 

These are the nicest people I've ever met ! They've made me feel so at home! I'm also really happy because I live right next door to the school (however I'm still late to class sometimes) lol!

I'm taking two classes out here - a language class and a culture class. The culture class mainly consists of field trips around the city. This was our first trip where we learned about Candombles (A religion brought from Africa). 

I learned that Candombles and Catholocism peacefully coincide in some instances- although many don't agree with the mixture. Long story short, this relationship began when people who practiced Candombles were forced to hide their religious rituals and practice them as if they were practicing Catholocism (in fear of religious prosecution ofcourse). Eventually , Candombles was accepted and is now an extremely popular religion in Bahia. 

I personally love to learn about other religions. Candombles is a very interesting and beautiful practice. However I've learned that many of the traditional aspects of Candombles can be easily misunderstood . My advice : if you ever want to learn about another religion, ask someone who actually practices it . I can't wait to write about the other things I've learned about this religion, but I'm going in order so that'll have to wait! Lol

This was a house dedicated to an Orixa (a female divinity) named Yemenja. She is associated with the sea, which is why there are many mermaid pictures around her altar. There are over 1,000 Orixas in this religion, however they still believe in one supreme power. There is no devil, and no sin. Later, I'll post pictures of an area I visited with many houses dedicated to many other Orixas..... Definitely a cool experience.