Salvador and Chapada Diamantina

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After escaping Rio unscathed I caught a brief flight up to Salvador in the Bahia province. Salvador also hosts arguably as big a Carnival as Rio and it was fun to see the remnants of theirs still lingering around. Salvador was the first colonial capital of Brazil and one of the oldest cities in the Americas. Here you notice the stronger African influence in the people, food and culture. There aren't so many 'sights' to see - more just wandering the old town streets and immersing yourself in the local culture. I caught some nice sunsets here. It's funny when you travel - you become more in touch with the sun than you do at home. You always know the times of sunrise and sunset and see far more of them because they have greater impact on your plans. I'll never become a true earth wandering hippie (never!), but I like that fact.

Salvador has a bit of a reputation as a dangerous city for travellers, but there is a strong police presence in the touristy areas so I felt safe there. A couple of times I got off the tourist trail and ended up in some sketchy areas and I must admit I had my legs primed to run if needed. But I suppose wearing thongs wouldn't be so advantageous to such a theory's success.

I made a detour west from Salvador to the small town of Lencois near the Chapada Diamantina National park. The area experienced a big diamond mining boom back in the mid-19th century, though it was sad to learn about some of the appalling conditions and practises that most of the workers endured. I can't even begin to repeat them here as its pretty depressing.

Thankfully these days its all about tourism and here you'll find Brazil's highest waterfall, though it was dry when I visited disappointingly. I would describe the area as more hilly than mountainous as the peaks are mostly less than 1,000 metres above sea level. But it's a great place to do some easy hiking and there are some nice waterholes and waterfalls to cool off in. I enjoyed the natural rock waterslide. It was very bumpy on the old backside, but its so much fun you ignore that once the adrenalin kicks in. Brazilians have also discovered the truly electric thrills of zip-lining, in very much the same way I've discovered sarcasm. To be used at almost every opportunity. Though it feels like there are some very rich zip-line installers out there, but some very poor and angry zip-line operators. Bust.

There are many cave systems in the area and I visited one that was 14km long in some parts. Many sections still hadn't been explored. At one section we stopped and switched off the torches for 5 minutes and sat quietly in the darkness. It was very cool to experience absolute pitch black and silence like that. A meditator's paradise. We saw some impressive stalactites and mites and then had our minds explode when we learnt they grow only 1cm every 30 years! I always enjoy that moment when your brain tries to comprehend such facts.

Other cool experiences were seeing impossibly clear blue underground pools, and discovering naturally occurring silicon in the rocks. They were incredibly smooth and satisfying to the touch - also very interesting.

After Lencois, I was at the point in my trip where I hadn't planned any further before I'd left home. So after some contemplation I decided to keep heading north along the Brazilian coast. I was very excited to see my first real beach action since the start of my travels.

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