Hilary's Trip 2006-2007

Everywhere in the old town of the city you see African influence--black art, black hairstylists doing braiding or haircutting, black ladies in huge colonial skirts, black young men doing a type of break dancing. Last night, I attended a folklore music and dance show at a theater on the Largo de Prelinho (sp). Young black dancers beat the drums and danced in beautiful costumes, telling of black people`s history, especially when they got to Brazil. After the show, I went upstairs to the Senac culinary school, where, for $14 I ate from a delicious buffet and tasted about 20 different main-course dishes, followed by about 10 desserts, many of them using exotic fruit. Lots of bananas, too. The building also houses a Museum of (local) Gastronomy. I`m really glad I found this place. It was so much more authentic than the tourist shows the travel agencies were proposing at vast expense.