cant go wrong with hippies

So, last Sunday I went exploring a new city nearby, Arambepe, with a friend from UFBa and a couple of her friends that I met for the first time. Those of you who know me well know how much I love touring in international groups, and we were: one american, one german, and two norwegians..excellent. and i have NO idea what the norwegian girls were saying between them but it was cool to listen to! Anyways, early Sunday morning I met up with all three of them in front of the Colégio Antônio Vieira which is a high school right next to my building where my host dad works and therefore my two host brothers get to go to for free (it's a private school = good school = I'm so glad they get a better opportunity at a good education!!) and from there my host dad brought us to where we could catch the bus for Arambepe! It was a fairly short ride, about 1 1/2 hours and since we got on in the beginning of the trajectory, we all got seats unlike lots of people who got on later.
When we arrived it was still kind of cloudy and well, 9am, so I suggested we tour around the town a bit to see what was there, and I had heard that there was a sea turtle refuge project much like there is in the Praia de Forte, so when we discovered a sign with a little hatchling turtle on it, we kind of figured we had struck gold. The sign pointed down a red-dirt road lined by a river on one side and not much else on the other except for occasional glimpses of the ocean and a couple worn-down houses. As we walked, another group of kids passed by us, and we eventually came to the reserve where there were a couple of sea turtles in tanks, which was sad to see, just like it was in the Praia de Forte, but what is important is that there were nests there made by the people who run the project, gathering the eggs and placing them there so that they can assure the hatchlings' arrival into the sea. I didn't take pictures because I had left my camera at home so it wouldn't be stolen (I didn't realize the Norwegian girls would be coming and thought it would just be me and Bontje), but they all took pictures so when they put them on Facebook will tag me and you can see!!
After our fill of sea turtles and the CUTEST hatchlings, two of which were locked in a ´pushing war with one of them clearly winning as his little flippers pushed the other one across the pool, we walked a little farther and found the famed Hippie Refuge that Janis Joplin used to hang out at in the '70s where we spent the next couple of hours touring one of the COOLEST, chillest, most artistic house i've ever seen where the second floor was pretty much imperceptible from the first, mostly because you got to it via a ladder propped against the wall and got from one side to the other by walking across a wooden plank, but it led out onto a sheltered ledge where you could admire the ocean and, I'm sure, smoke many a few too joints..yes, the whole house did smell of marijuana and the girl who was showing around was extreeeemely mellow, but it all made for a musical, relaxing morning.
When the sun came out a little while later we headed back to the other side of the town and found a few of the natural pools that are created by the coral in the water where it is much safer to swim, especially since winter just ended when the riptides are the strongest, and what else is there to say? We spent the rest of the day swimming, eating a FABULOUS lunch of clams, salad with fruits and veggies, and fried yams (they make them like french fries!!) that only cost..$6..and swimming one more time (just me this time) before we got back on the bus to Salvador. I would definitely go back to spend the weekend, but I think I'm travelling to Irará this coming weekend and the one after that I may be going to the São Francisco river - we'll see!
lots of love, micha