Bahia: Where the fruits have no name

Oi, oi. I hope you are keeping up with the Portuguese lessons. If so, you are probably doing better than us, who are still struggling. We have taken to speaking to people in Spanish whether they understand it or not. To them it makes as much difference as us speaking English, but to us we feel like we are putting in more effort!

The Pantanal had left us in particularly good spirits. We had loved what we had seen of Brazil thus far, so decided we should see more of it than just Rio. We also figured it was nearly 5 months since we had sunned our selves on a beach so we were in definite need of a holiday. All this travelling can be hard work you know ... So we found ourselves a cheap flight and headed up the country to Salvador de Bahia. The plan was to then travel down the Brazilian coast overland and end up in Rio 10 days later. But first we needed to check out Salvador itself. It is currently the third largest city in Brazil, but back in colonial times it was not only the capital of Brazil but also considered one of the key cities in the Portuguese empire. This was mainly due to its importance in both the sugar industry and the slave trade. As a result of the latter, Salvador has a massive African influence, which was part of the attraction for both of us. On every street corner you can find ladies in full African dress selling delicious street food such as acaraje (kidney bean dumpling) with vatapa (shrimp and coconut paste) and hot sauce. It wasn´t just the street food that was good. The speciality of the region is a moqueca, a delicious stew of seafood, coconut, vegetables and dende oil. It was right up our street.

Following a lovely few days exploring the city it was time to start our journey down the coast. We didn´t have to head too far for our first stop, just a two hour boat trip across to the island of Morro de Sao Paulo. Morro is a stunning tropical island, surrounded by white beaches and crystal waters and containing a small town where cars don´t exist and the streets are made of sand. This also gave us our first taste of Brazilian beach life, and let me tell you the Brazilians love the beach! The main beach of the island was dotted with barracas which are small huts serving food, beers, freshly squeezed exotic juices and come equipped with a sound system. Then on the main beach itself were several volleyball courts. Now I don´t want to take anything away from the volleyball players, who were all excellent and great to watch, but on the other court were a bunch guys playing a different version of the game. Instead of using their hands they just used their feet, heads and chests, kind of like advanced headers and volleys. The skill these folk had was INCREDIBLE! I have no idea what these guys would be like on the football pitch but I reckon a scout from a certain south London football club should get his butt to a Brazilian beach pronto. Skills like that at Selhurst Park would be a much needed change.

Our final stop in the state of Bahia was Arrial da Ajuda back on the mainland. We were well and truly settled into hot weather life again by now. Those evenings at altitude, wearing of woolly hats and fleeces seemed a thing of the past. We were back in our flip flops again! Our beach holiday was turning out well and we were really getting into these fresh exotic juices. Some of them so exotic that not only had we never seen them before, but they don´t even have an English translation of their names. It wasn´t just the juices that were good. When night falls on a Brazilian beach town out come the Caipifruita stalls. These are basically mini bars lined up along the beach, but instead of mixers they just have fruit. So you pitch up, choose a selection of incredible tropical fruit, many of which you cannot say, and then request your choice of liquor to accompany it - normally cachaça, vodka or rum. It is then all blended up for you in a matter of seconds and served with a smile. "I know you´ll be back for more¨the lady at the first stall said, she was not wrong about that.

Portuguese Word(s) of the Week: Segunda, terça, quarta, quinta, sexta. Meaning Monday to Friday. Imaginative stuff. "Want to go out for dinner on 3", "No I can´t sorry, what about on 6 instead".

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This Week Likes:

• Due to
  
  You put the lime in the coconut
  and mix it all up
  the nature of our cheap flight, we ended up having an unexpected day in Sao Paulo. It was much nicer than we expected too. Also it has one the biggest Japanese population outside of Japan, so we took full advantage with some tasty sushi.
  
• Fresh milk and real coffee. Brazil is the most developed country we have been in for a long time and that means we don´t have to get our milk from powder any more.
  
• Leaving a restaurant in Salvador one night we heard the sound of a samba band rounding the corner towards us. They were incredible and when they came into sight it turned out that it was a bunch of 8 and 9 year olds. These people have rhythm!
  
  
  

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This Weeks Dislikes:

• During our first walk around Salvador we forgot the camera (it was early). They were clearing up from a big street party and some excellent photo opportunities were missed.
  
• The problem with the extra wealth of Brazil is that there are many more unsavory characters on the street. On one particular day we got threatened by one guy who "had a big knife" and another
  
  Second beach by day
  
  who wanted to cut his own hand open with a fork and give us AIDS if we didn´t give him the equivalent of a pound. Charming.
  
• It might have sounded like a nice way to travel, but the boat trip over to Morro was on some seriously rough water. At some points the boat was dipping so much the horizon was obscured by the crest of a wave. People were chucking up everywhere ... luckily our seasickness tablets worked a treat.
  

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