We arrived in Salvador, Bahia Brazil safe and sound, and hungry! We needed to get checked in and settled, but food was on our minds. My first reality check was when I attempted to exchange money at the Airport. Myself and the lady behind the glass both spoke, shrugged, smiled, and said I don’t understand. It was a funny moment, but I knew there would be more encounters like that. She held up the calculator with the exchange amount displayed. I was thankful for the simplicity of her cooperation.

As we made our way to town, we took in the scenery. The land had greenery all over, including a bamboo archway that extends the equivalent length of a few street blocks. When we made it to the historic district, I realized that drivers drove on the right hand side, just like the US. Also, there are several extensive walking bridges for people to pass over main roadways safely. I’ve scene a couple of walking bridges here and there, usually by transit stations in the US, but feet apparently do a lot more walking in Brazil than in Georgia come rain or shine. When we finally made it to our day 1 destination, I ate good and napped hard. Beautiful and enthusiastic are the two adjectives I would use to describe day 1 in Salvador. My biggest limitation as of day 1 is the language barrier. I hope that by the first day of Portuguese class I can remark to people about how highly I think of Salvador, without turning to google translate first.