Salvador da Bahia, Brazil
Wow, what a place! We're in Salvador in the North East of Brazil on the Atlantic coast. It is hot as hell here with 100% humidity. The North East of Brazil was where all the African slaves were brought to, and this is the city where their descendants have settled. If you didn't know you were in Brazil, you'd think you were somewhere in North Africa. The people of Salvador have very distinct passions - music, capoeira (an African dance art form), drinks (capirenhias [which come in different flavours here - delicious] and beer), and of course Jesus. The streets are chaotic with markets, shops, live music, drums, capoeira displays, and restaurants and bars on every street. All of this is concentrated in Pelourinho, the old town where we're staying, which is at the top of the hill with views over the Atlantic. The old town looks very much like any European old town, but with this African/Brazilian vibe, and very much more rundown. But the streets are cobble stoned, and the buildings beautiful although derelict. The beaches are nice, but are more like city beaches so not phenomenal, but still very nice for swimming and cooling down. The mosquitoes here are hectic - I have so many bites - they don't seem to take any notice of mosquito repellent. I am hesitant to buy the local repellent as apparently it can melt plastic so not sure it would be too good for my skin or clothes!
Most days we tend to go out in the morning walking around the city or to the main market at the port, and then spend the afternoon at the hostel on the balcony or on one of the hammocks waiting for the heat to subside. In the evening we walk around town as things really get going here after the sun goes down. All the shops, restaurants and bars are open and there is lots of live music. Last night we went to watch live music. Later in the evening this Brazilian band came on which sang English cover songs. It was a bit disappointing as I prefer the authentic music, but they were very good and they really sung some blasts from the past.
Other than that, we've spent a full day at Barra beach, one of the city beaches, and today we went to the beach on an island off Salvador. Today was quite a day. We took a 45 minute ferry to the port, and then a 15 minute taxi bus to the beach. The taxi's reminded me exactly of the taxis in South Africa. They are mini vans where they cram as many people in as possible, and drive on the edge of the road hooting as they go along in case they may miss a potential customer. At one point there was a local family of 4 adults and 4 children, all squashed onto the back seat. Very entertaining. We finally got the beach, which was very nice and the water was really warm. I am still not completely taken by Salvador's beaches - but this one was better than the city beach we'd been to. We went with a group of people from the hostel, so was nice to spend the day in a big crowd.
Just for some drama, I thought I'd share our journey back to Salvador with you. On the ferry a woman fell overboard. Juliet had seen her staggering around so we think she must have been drunk. Anyway she fell into the water and was obviously unconscious as she was just lying in the water face down. Everyone starting screaming and they threw in a life jacket (not that that helped at all) and turned the boat around. Two guys jumped in to get her out. So there we were in the sea bobbing up and down trying to get an unconscious woman back onto the boat. In the meantime, the locals on the boat were hysterical. They were all screaming and praying at the top of their voices and there was absolute chaos. Everyone also moved to one side of the boat to see what was going on which then caused the boat to tilt to the one side, so there was more shouting to get people to move to the other side to balance the boat. I got a bit nervous at one point because people were so frantic and I couldn't understand what they were saying. Anyway, they finally got this woman back on board and revived her. She then spent the rest of the trip vomiting - which managed to cover the entire boat floor. So it was really a pleasant journey.
Anyway, back onto better topics. We've met some nice people in Salvador - there are lots of travellers of a similar age here, many of which have also quit their jobs and are taking time out. Some are working as they go. These tend to be the more noble of the travellers - for example, one Social Worker who is working in rehabilitation centres around the country. I am sure that they are not looking for any project managers in rural Brazil so I'll stick to having a holiday!
After our exciting day, we are staying at the hostel tonight and just relaxing here. There is a deck with hammocks, cushions, chairs and music so it's not a bad place to be.
We leave Salvador tomorrow morning for Itacare which is about an 8-9 hour bus ride down the coast towards Rio. Apparently it's an awesome small beach town with magnificent beaches. I am looking forward to being in a smaller place for a change.
So that's it for Salvador...
