The last bit of Salvador.....

---

Right, ive been a bit slack with my blog so im going to try and catch up as best I can!

I will start by summarising the last few days in Salvador where we were staying at Barra Guest Hostel. The place was really lovely, and on the Monday we decided to venture in to the old city of Pelorinho, which is a colonial town with a huge african-brazilian influence. We pottered around the city centre, visited many a church (some with scary plastic limbs hanging from the ceiling and others with the creepiest mannequins) and genrally took in the sights and sounds of this interesting place. It was in this town that we met yet another very friendly Brazilian, our taxi driver named Noel. In a mix of broken english/spanish and portugese we managed to get our very own private tour of the town, where he showed some beautiful spots that as ignorant tourists we would never be able to find by ourselves. We tried and failed miserably to get tickets to a cultural dance show (gutted) but this was made up for on Tuesday when we attened an amazing street party.

About 15 people from our hostel headed to the streets of Pelorinho which from day to night had transformed to be a loud, vibrant area. We listened to Brazils answer to drum and bass (an amazing drumming troupe) with a guy MCing over the top - pure brilliance. Then with two Brazilian girls leading the way we traipsed through the streets of the town and were greeted by various drumming troups, dance groups and concerts. The atmosphere was electrifying and its such a shame we couldnt take cameras (due to high risk of pockpockets and strangle muggings!) so its hard to convey what it was really like. We attempted to head to a concert but it was so busy that we had to leave that area shortly after. It was at this time that a man stroked my hair and commetned ´your black hair looks beautiful against your pale skin´- gutted, all this did was confirm that I am still without a tan and am the same pasty foreigner I was when I arrived in Brazil!

On our way back up the town we encountered an amazing drumming troupe with 3 brazilian guys dancing behind them (one looked like Mr Motivator, the other a dead ringer for Vanilla Ice) and in true British spirit, we made complete tits of ourselves and decided to join in with the dancing. So we got behind them and tried to keep up with the moves, some of which were much easier than others! This continued for around 1.5 hours, whereby at this time over 200 people had joined the procession which moved through the streets. What trendsetters us Gringo´s can be at times! It was an amazing experience, one I wont forget soon. There were moments when with sweat dripping all over me, a can of skol in my hand, and throwing some amazing Brazilian style shapes that I thought ´this is why i´m here.´Unfortunately, not all of us got out in one piece. My flip flop was the victim of some uncoordinated moves from a very drunk boy and was literally ripped from my foot. However, with a bit of ingenuity from Rosie, it was tied together and lasted the end of the night.

The next couple of days in Salvador were very chilled and consisted of more wandering round museums, the town and lazing on the beach. In this hostel we met some great people including -

Tim , a hilarious German in our room with extremely sharp wit.
Rachel and Stephanie - two lovely american girls who had been studying in Rio
Andrew - another US student studying in Rio who challenged my stereotypical view of Americans. A really nice interesting guy.
Alex and wife (forgotten her name)
and not forgetting Zohar - the Israeli Columbian who had us constantly in stitches with his one liners. My favourite being - óh you are Polish? In Hebrew we have many jokes about Polish women, they are cold in bed no?´

It was sad to leave such a lovely hostel but it was time to head to adventures new - so on Thursday we caught a 6 hour overnight bus to Lencois, the gateway to the national park Chapada Diamantina! Please read next entry to learn about mine and Amy´s crazy mishaps.

Tasha (Idiot Abroad)

---