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  MESTRE PASTINHA

  Mestre Pastinha, mestre of capoeira Angola and bahian warmth, a being of high civilizations, man of the people with all his craftiness, is one the greats of Bahia, one of its famous, one of its obás, of its leaders. He is the first in his art; he guards the great tradition and transmits it; a man of agility and courage, of loyalty and fraternal familiarity. In his School, in Pelourinho, Mestre Pastinha built brazilian culture, the realest and best. Every time I watch this 85 year old man, blind and hemiplegic, play capoeira, dance samba, show his art with the drive of an adolescent, I feel all the invincible strength of the people of Bahia, surviving and building despite the infinite poverty, the misery, the abandonment. In itself the people the strength and make its greatness. Mestre Pastinha is the symbol and face of this people.

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  Romélia acarajés, in Pelourinho and on the Pelourinho Square, on the City Museum's pavement, or on the patio of the Pelourinho Hotel - the most beautiful of Salvador and not for this is it the most expensive - behind the board of colourful and fragrancy coconut sweets, abarás, punhetas, couz-couz of tapioca and puba, pés-de-moleque, of the marvellous ginger sweet that is called "the fashion", sits Romélia, mestre Pastinha's wife, a cheerful and yet smart mulatta, frying acarajés to make the mouth water. The visitors should try everything. The women shouldn't be scared: a well-done acarajé doesn't make you fat. Also don't be scared of the pepper and dendê-oil, these don't cause indigestion nor stomach ache. Try everything, like this when returning home you will take in your mouth the taste of the delicious things made by Pastinha's Romélia, my friend, and in the eyes the sight of her smile which is also made of sugar, a sweetness.

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  Peri-Peri, September 1944 [the time he wrote the book - velhosmestres.com]
  Londres, June 1976