The splendor of old Brazil is on display

By Stan Grossfeld, Globe Staff, 01/25/98

ALVADOR, Brazil -- A pretty woman in a white hoop dress glides along the cobblestones, pausing in the shade of the pastel-colored colonial houses. Prayers rise in an 18th-century gold-leafed church. Children greet visitors with a piece of colorful ribbon. Wear it around your wrist until it falls off, they say, and your wish will come true.

Such is life in the historic Pelourinho section of Salvador, but it wasn't always that way. Pelourinho, which means ``The Whipping Post'' in Portuguese, was once where thousands of African slaves were tortured and sold. Even today, Brazil has the highest black population outside Nigeria.

Nowhere in Brazil is the African influence felt stronger than in Salvador, the coastal capital of the state of Bahia. But until several years ago, many tourists were wary of traveling here. Every tour book warns of thieves operating in tourist areas.

``I get sick and tired of everybody coming here totally paranoid about crime,'' said Patricia Portela, a local journalist. ``This is a city of over 2 million people and of course there is some crime, but actually it's very safe, especially Pelourinho.''

In 1993, with the help of a $30 million grant, restoration began on the historic Pelourinho district. Today, Pelourinho has gone through the same metamorphisis as the Art Deco district of Miami Beach. But instead of turning back the clock several decades, they've turned it back several centuries. The governor of Bahia ordered beret-headed and revolver-equipped military police on almost every street corner. Now safe and restored to its colonial splendor, Pelourinho is an eclectic mix of boutiques, museums, art galleries, antiques shops, and restaurants. Wander these cobblestone streets and you can find everything from Brazilian rain-forest art to a Sao Paulo taxicab meter to a New Hampshire ``Live Free or Die'' license plate.

The restaurants have an international flair, but the best advice is to go local. Bahian cuisine is a combination of the best of Africa and Brazil, using such staples as ginger, coriander, and hot pepper. In Pelourinho, try Tempero Da Dada, in which codfish is cooked in banana leaf with herbs and then buried under huge mounds of roasted peppers, tomatoes, onions, shrimp, and mussels. Portions here are double-sized. If you are on a tight budget, visit one of the Comida-a-kilo cafeterias, where you serve yourself and then pay the weight. Espresso coffee is usually included.

The churches of Salvador are magnificent. It's worth a dollar to see the marble in the Catedral Basilica (open 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday) or the amazing detail in the Igreja Sao Francisco made by slaves who, forced to build their oppressors' church, crafted the adorning faces with distorted expressions and the angels with larger-than-life sex organs.

The music of Salvador is world-renowned. That's Olodum, a Salvador samba-reggae drum corps, playing with Paul Simon on ``Rythym of the Saints.'' Pass by the Olodum Creative School and listen to a rehearsal or attend one of the free concerts. That's Michael Jackson gliding on the streets of Pelourinho in the video ``They Don't Care About Us.'' Night life in Pelourinho is passionate, especially Tuesday nights, when churchgoers at Igreja Sao Francisco receive their traditional ``Tuesday Blessing '' and then go out and celebrate.

This is, after all, a party town. Salvador's Carnival, a three-day and four-night blowout, draws 2 million people, including 600,000 tourists and more than 2,500 musicians. These partygoers consume 5 million liters of beer and 300 tons of ice cream. Carnival associations practice all year for the February or March date, the largest of many festivals held here yearly.

The city, perched on a V-shaped peninsula, is divided into two main sections. The Upper City, or Cidade Alta, is perched on a hillside with dramatic views of the Bay of All Saints. This area includes Pelourinho and the colonial neighborhood of Terreiro de Jesus. It is connected to the Lower City, or Cidade Baixa, by the Art Deco Lacerda Elevator.

The lower city houses the business district and the Mercado Modelo, a gigantic 19th-century warehouse converted into a two-level, one-stop shopping tourist mecca. Here you can purchase local handicrafts like hand-made lace tablecloths, carnival masks, Madonna and Child painted statues, precious stones, and those handpainted sand scenes that are enclosed in a clear bottle. The merchants expect you to bargain.

While in Salvador, try to take in a capoeira exhibition, a sort of kick-fighting martial arts dance that slaves, who were prohibited from fighting by their masters, used to settle disputes.

After years of wild inflation, Brazil has a new currency, the Real (pronounced RE-al), and it is slightly less than the dollar. Prices are reasonable, even for deluxe hotels, but quality may be less than you are accustomed to. The good news is that at the Meridien Hotel, every room has a sweeping ocean view, and the corporate rate is only $84, breakfast included. The bad news is that the hotel room may come with swarms of little brown ants at no additional charge. A better choice might be the Othon Palace, where Nelson Mandela stayed when he visited.

The city beaches are for those who can't travel to the more pristine beaches along the coast. Beach bars, soccer in the sand, and those dental floss bikinis are more than adequate distractions to the polluted water. The beach bars always have good music and serve cold beer in individually wrapped Styrofoam coolers.

For those who prefer group excursions, there are several. An ecological tour of the nesting grounds of sea turtles of the northern shoreline can be combined with a visit to the nearby quartz caves. There are also excursions around the Bay of All Saints with stops at Frades Island and Itaparica Islands.

But not everything is beautiful in Bahia. Brazil was the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery in 1888, and subtle racism and severe poverty still exists. Child prostitution remains a problem, although UNICEF and local authorities have strategically placed pamphlets warning sex-tour foreigners that child sex crimes will be severely punished.

Bahians are friendly, but they do have their limits. Consider what the native Caete Indians did to the Portuguese who invaded Salvador in 1549. They killed the governor and the first bishop and then ate them.