Loni and I spent one afternoon visiting a Igreja do Bomfim, a famous Catholic church on the outskirts of Salvador. After navigating around some confusing bus routes for an hour or so, we finally arrived in the small suburb of Ribeira where the church is located.
The architecture was awesome but what really captured my attention were all the little ribbons tied on to any free fence post and rail. Most Brazilians buy a ribbon and then say a prayer or make a wish while they tie on the ribbon. The effect of thousands of colored ribbons blowing around the church was quite stunning.
One room inside the church was particularly interesting as well as there were plastic body parts hanging from all of the walls and ceiling. If believers had gone to the church and prayed for healing and were then healed, they returned to the church with a replica of the body part that was affected. Salvador has a lot of churches and this was only the first of many that we would explore during our time in the city.