Brazil: Week 1. Itaparica
Awelina of Sweden
James Collier
Fri 4 Mar 2016 22:43
It's just under a week since arrival here: the Friday night was spent at anchor off the 'Iate Clube' since there were so many small unlit fishing boats. We have since been told that it's a miracle we weren't mugged that very night as foreign yachts are considered fair game. But such tales seem to be part of the mystique and must be considered tales: nobody seems to have experienced it themselves, it's always a friend of a friend.
Anyway Salvador is huge, several million people, and skyscrapers all round. We went to a v expensive marina which the pilot book says will have lots of space. It doesn't: it's full to bursting with motorboats. We weren't that at home there although the staff were as helpful and pleasant as possible. Since arriving on Saturday we had to wait 'til Monday to check in to the country. We did manage to get some money from an ATM at a bank a few miles away (luckily for the taxi driver as well as otherwise he wasn't getting paid!).
Monday saw us going to the port by taxi to be dropped at the headquarters of the Policia Federal (which all crew have to attend: after that only the captain is needed). But they directed us to another office of theirs elsewhere in the port. This is a rough area of town and not at all the sort of place you'd expect foreigners so walking along a few hundred meters of non-existent pavement was dodgy. Luckily there was a demonstration happening with much shouting and honking of horns which we involuntarily tagged on to. No idea what it was about: the signs had to be read in mirror writing and were all abbreviations anyway: whether about dock workers rights or a crack down on prostitution (it needs one btw) we were glad to support it as it meant lots of police around! The immigration policeman in the office we eventually found was fine however and stamped passports giving 3 month entry to Brazil. Next was customs. The police office didn’t exactly know here it was but thought it would be along towards the naval base (all this in Portuguese – really very very difficult). We asked a few times on the way of any security guards we passed at the various port exits and entrances and by a process of warmer/colder got to the Alfandega Federal, aka customs. Who were as friendly as possible and really helpful and even found an English speaking lady who came along and chatted: not at all like customs usually are! We were there for ages as there was a form to be filled in which needed to be done ’on-line’ via a connection to their HQ in Brasilia. The computer wouldn’t boot for the first 30 minutes and then there was a power cut 90% of the way through the form filling and we had to start all over again. But eventually it was done, then the printer in their office was broken / out of ink and had been since the last millennium. So the girls had to come and note down the numbers the on-line form gave and then take these numbers up stairs to some boss-man who duly issued a temporary importation paper for Awelina. It can’t have taken more than 2 hours (so we had lots of time to chat to the Anglophone young lady). The pilot book says that one then has to go and see the ministry of health, but the customs people told us that this isn’t necessary and so we didn’t: I hope without complications in future. Next was the port captain, but that was very straight forward and efficient.
The next few days passed a bit slowly: it’s v hot and nothing seems to work as you’d expect. We bought a fan from a sort of Argos: oh but it was complicated! Firstly they have two Voltages, 110V and 220V here but the salesman didn’t seem to understand why we’d care and could only show us the plug as a guide. This was complicated (but i didn’t realise it at the time) by the fact that 110V stuff has European 220V plugs. Then they wanted a passport (in Argos, to buy a fan, really?) but I had that. Then directed a a guichet where I paid up and got a receipt. This to be taken upstairs to be presented to a warehouseman who, after a few minutes, brought a coffee maker. My Portuguese is really not up to this level of complexity! But all was eventually sorted and a fan proudly taken back to the boat. To find that they’d given me the wrong Voltage. Never mind, I coped (I’ve got a 110V inverter). A night out in the Pelhourino district was quite fun with lots of music, restaurants and activity (but is why I commented earlier about the possible causes of demonstrations: it’s a pretty blatant place).
We left the marina on the Thursday and came to Itaparica where we now are at anchor. So far we’ve seen not a single other foreign boat or yachtsman. We did run across an Australian who has lived here for nearly 10 years. In addition to giving us much excellent advice (he spent 8 months in Ushiaia after sailing round the Horn from Australia), he says that at any time there used to be 30 odd yachts anchored around where we are but all have gone away as a result of muggings and attacks having sky-rocketed in recent years. I’m not sure that this can be the sole explanation, possibly recession has something to do with it also, but it’s a bit unsettling nonetheless.
Tomorrow morning we hope to get going with the dawn at around 6 am and take the flood tide up a river to a small rural market town called Maragogipe which has a Saturday market day which is not to be missed – I’ll try not to buy any oxen). After that to revisit the police and the port captain’s offices in Salvador on Monday to check put of the state of Bahia and then set sail for Vitoria in the State of Espirito Santo which is 450 miles south of here. Then to go on to the state of Rio de Janeiro where, in the region of Isla Grande we will find marinas which wan look after Awelina (a legal process taking several visits to myriad customs offices and port captains) while we fly home for month or more.