Just before leaving today, we had the chance to take drumming lessons with one of Salvador's best known Samba drummers. We went to his house, built on a steep hillside in a favela, and walked down several sets of steep and winding stairs, to find ourselves in a fully modern recording studio filled with traditional African drums and instruments. We sat in a circle as we learned about each instrument and had the chance to try them out. We learned 4 of the main beats, for Samba, for Condomble, the main Ghanian beat, and a special rhythm that's local to Salvador. It was a lot of fun, and lets just say that some of us were quicker than others to pick up on the patterns...
Afterward, we have a couple hours now of free time before we leave for the airport. Most students went out shopping for last minute gifts. We have some in the hotel pool. We are all packed up and ready to go. We should be home by mid-afternoon on Sunday. It will definitely be hard to say goodbye to Brazil; this has been an amazing class and an absolutely wonderful group of students. It's been such a pleasure to travel together and share so many new experiences. It's truly been fantastic.
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