After six days, several (hundred) Caipirinha, I finally got back from Salvador on Wednesday having had a fantastic trip.
I was out there with the charity, Bottletop, who raise funds for sexual health education in Brazil and Uganda, as well as funding ground roots initiatives to help local people. It may sound worthy, but the way the guys Cameron Saul and Oliver Wayman run the charity is an inspiration, as they use music and fashion as an avenue to generate interest.
During my stay, I interviewed many of the women from a local favela on the outskirts of Brazil who make amazing, intricate bags from discarded ring pulls which are sold in Fenchurch in Covent Garden. Amazing to think how another person's rubbish can prove to be a goldmine for these women whose lives have been changed since their involvement with the charity.
It wasn't all work though while I was there. I managed to fit in several nights of dancing at clubs that seemed miles out of the city. You'd buy a ticket through a tiny hole in the wall, be searched for guns on the way in, and then the hall would open up into a huge, pulsating mass of heaving bodies. And god, can the Brazilians dance. I felt like a granny at a wedding in comparison.
