Amazing Salvador, Bahia, Brazil! All these “Afro” folks in South America!
The food is excellent! The people are very welcoming! The history and African culture is a must see! The beaches are amazing!
Here are some of the Afro-Brazilians that are being hidden from the rest of the world! Brazil is the most populous country for people of African descent outside of Africa. Since Brazil received the most of the enslaved captives during the transatlantic slave trade (approx five million), today there are almost 100 million people of African descent in Brazil. Most are concentrated in the state of Bahia. This is more than double the amount of people of African descent in America. Yep, Brazil has more black people than America. For my entire life, I have been told I was a minority. That’s only true within that small bubble called America. Once I stepped outside of those borders and visited other “Afro” areas, I began to see the truth. We are not a minority and we are everywhere.
One thing for sure is that they have not lost their African culture here in Salvador. It’s straight from Africa and they are proud of it. The wildest thing is seeing so much authentic African culture in South America (especially since I was in Ghana 🇬🇭 a few days ago). It’s one thing to read about it. It another thing to see it in person. Amazing!
My Brother - My Brother
The pic with the room service waiter made my day. Placing the order was an adventure because no one spoke English and I don’t speak ANY Portuguese BUT we made it happen 😳. Surprisingly the order was right minus one item but I wasn’t trippin at all. After all, I’m in their land and some adjustments (on my part) should be expected.
My Uber driver couldn’t speak English either. The staff at the front desk spoke some broken English and that was about it. Everyone else speaks straight Portuguese and that’s fine. Please don’t let me come in here and Americanize you.
Why was my day made?
When this young brother (who must be 6’6” tall) came to the door, I was a little shocked because he looks like relatives of mine (not to mention the man in the other pic who looks like he could be my brother). Remember, he doesn’t speak any English. My mind was trying to process in rapid fire what I was seeing. Because we could not communicate verbally, we had to resort to signals, gestures and noises. That was hilarious.
When I pointed to my arm and to the top of his hand 🖐🏾, he immediately understood what I was saying. We were the same complexion with the same hair texture but could not verbally communicate. He didn’t look “foreign” at all. The fact that I am of Portuguese/Spanish descent coupled with numerous African ancestry links made this even more interesting.
The waiter did understand two things however. The first thing he understood was that fat tip I gave him 💰 . The next thing he understood was the universal language of the “selfie” 😆.
Next up on my African Diaspora travels are Sierra Leone, Colombia, Guyana, Senegal, Ivory Coast and Angola (with more to come).
Enjoy and be sure to join us on an upcoming tour to Salvador!