Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stopped her typically fast-moving motorcade on Friday to stroll the streets of Salvador, a Brazilian town known historically for its slave trade.

It was a rare move for Rice, who is busy trying to re-ignite Middle East peace talks and disarm the North Koreans. On Sunday, one day after she was to return from Latin America, Rice planned to travel to Moscow to persuade the Russians to back U.S. missile radars in Europe.

Instead of blowing through Brazil after meeting with political officials, as would normally be the case, Rice insisted on taking a side trip to the country's Bahia region, where slaves were once brought from West Africa.

During her visit, Rice signed an agreement with Brazil to promote education on racial equality.

In Salvador's historic Pelourinho town square, she visited a church built by slaves in the 18th century. She clapped along to a song by church members that told of a day when blacks have "no opponents" and women have equal rights.

Later, after touring a museum of Afro-Brazilian culture, Rice told reporters that she had been struck by the parallels with the slave struggle in the United States. Like in America, slaves relied on their church for hope, she said.

"It reminds me how faith can help people overcome anything," she said.

Rice's visit to South America was not entirely free of controversy. In both Brazil and Chile, small groups convened to protest U.S. policies, particularly against the war in Iraq.

In Brasilia, one Rice protester held up a sign outside the presidential palace that said in Portuguese: "A trillion dollars for war. Not one cent for peace. Get out of Brazil Condoleezza Rice."

In Santiago, some 90 people gathered at a plaza in front of the presidential palace and set a hat painted with the U.S. flag colors on fire. A sign by the protesters read, "Condoleezza, persona non-grata in our country."