Salvador and Itacare

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After the wildlife of the Pantanal it was off to Salvador for some beach action as Jane is determined to come home with a tan for Lizzie´s wedding.

Salvador was the capital of Brazil and the Portugese empire (apparently they had one?) for a number of years as well as being a major slave centre back in the day. Due to all these factors it has great colonial architecture and a massive African culture. We arrived on Tuesday evening which was a stroke of luck as this is the one week night when the carnival groups all rehearse in the streets, continuing our lucky streak we also bumped into a Swiss couple we had met in the Pantanal who spoke Portugese. We spent the evening listening and watching the most amazing drum band and dancers parade through the streets whilst drinking incredibly strong Caiprihinas.

The rest of our time in Salvador was spent between sightseeing, shopping for earrings and trying to find a beach with sun!

One highlight was an all you can eat bbq where you have an incredible buffet of salads, veg etc and the waiters come round with just about every kind of meat imaginable on huge skewers, perfectly cooked (ie bloody) and carve off as much as you want. You have a red and green tab which you turn over depending on whether you want more meat or not (though they tend to ignore this and just carve away anyway). Needless to say we stuffed ourselves like pigs and missed the last bus home but luckily our Portuguese speaker got us home in one piece. Overall we really enjoyed Salvador, a real African feel with great architecture and v friendly people, though the historical centre was a bit overrun with beggars and does highlight the big gap between the poor and better off.

With the rain becoming a bit too frequent in Salvador we hopped on a bus to a small fishing town called Itacare which we heard had great beaches - Jane practically frog marched me onto it!

Itacare is a great chilled out (surfing) town with a small touristy centre and about 6 beaches within walking distance. There is not a great deal to do apart from sit in the sun and drink beer which is just what we wanted after all our hardcore traveling. All the locals are amazingly friendly and unlike the other countries we have been to, not just so they can flog us some crappy tour or piece of tat, though Jane has bought about 5 pairs of earrings taking her tally into the stratosphere - or is that just what it feels like due to all earring shops / stalls / guys with briefcases we have stopped to look at?

As it has rained all day today I am being forced into another bus journey in search of the sun, this time to Rio which is unfortunately our last stop before heading home, though we do have a month of chilling in the UK and then Oz to look forward to. Rio should be good fun but the prices in Brazil have been at least double everywhere else and Rio is on a par with London so it will be rice and beans from now on, unless I manage to sell Jane for two cows and a bag of charcoal.

Will try and do a quick blog from Rio, if not see you all back in Blighty soon. Flight lands on the 24th.

Laters
Steve & his two cows and bag of charcoal.

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