On our first full day in Ilhéus, our director, Tatiany, and Shalon, one of the students at the university, took us on a city tour. First we went to the highest part of Ilhéus and looked out over the bay and the ocean. The view was incredible and helped to make sense of where our neighborhood was compared to the downtown. Up near the lookout was an old convent that has since been turned into a school. We stepped inside and took a look around and it was cool to see some rooms preserved with the original furniture of the nuns who used to live there.
We also checked out the main church in the downtown area, the Cathedral of Saint Sebastian. The church, along with the rest of the buildings in the city center, were some of the most colorful that I've ever seen. We stopped in at the Vesuvio Bar to take a picture with Jorge Amado, a famous Brazilian writer from the area and then paid 4 Reais to enter his house which has since been turned into a museum.
Since Ilhéus is on the coast, it was one of the first place that new settlers landed in Brazil. Christ Beach represents this area with a large statue of Jesus Christ opening his arms in welcome. I'm hoping to be able to see the giant version in Rio one of these days.
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