Ah Brazil, “We are Carnival” can barely put things into perspective after what I've experienced here. Being plopped right into the middle of Carnival, the biggest party in the world sporting over 2 million people, can definately expose you to many things that you would not normally get to see. To be precise, we were docked at Salvador, Brazil, and we stayed there for five days. Amoung my fantastic time experiencing street food and dancing was an all you can eat meat buffet, a Bahia day trip that could have gone better, and a lot of wandering around various shops in the “lower city” of Salvador. I say lower city because it literally is. There's a giant elevator that separates the upper city from the lower city, and if you don't believe me take a look at the pics to the bottom.

Salvador was, and probably will remain one of the biggest culture shocks that I experienced on the entire trip. Not only was it the first port that none of us spoke the native language (Portuguese), but we got to see a completely different side of life that the regular college student isn't neccessarily exposed to. Your average college student wouldn't be going along the streets, seeing the differences in classes, and trying to avoid the pickpockets that come out as a result of Carnival. While it was a giant party, there were plenty of people trying to take advantage of naive tourists, and thus we were advised to not bring anything that we weren't willing to lose. That's why you won't be seeing any pictures of the giant party itself

Salvador, Brazil

Country - Bahia

Founded - March 29, 1549

Mayor - João Henrique
Carneiro

Size - 272.6 square miles

Population - 2,892,625

Elevation - 8 meters