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Published: October 6th 2011
Hello all!
It´s time for a first real blog update! A lot has happened since I´ve arrived here so I hope to be able to summarize it neatly.
The moment I arrived in Salvador I realized how two-sided things are here. People are extremely relaxed and friendly, but they also realize the dangers of the city since there is a lot of Poverty around.
I stayed in a hostel called Nega Maluca, which means ´crazy black woman.' It´s located in Santo Antonio, just outside of the Pelourinho, which is the historical center of Salvador. Incidentally it´s also in the middle of a favela. In other words not the safest of places to be. During the day it´s fine though, there is a lot of Police around to keep it safe for the tourists. But at night you either want to take a taxi, or go with a group of people, otherwise you run the risk of getting robbed. The Pelourinho is very nice though, with a lot of tiny, winding streets, people doing capoeira on the main square and with a generally good atmosphere. There are a lot of gift shops and people selling stuff on the streets,
so despite the ´not so good´ surroundings, it´s still quite touristy. The main religion in Salvador is Candomble, in which there are a number of demi-gods that they worship, if I understand correctly.
When you go outside of the Pelourinho to neighbourhoods such a Barra, it´s already very different. There is a large shopping mall where people with money go to spend it. Still, people are wary, and I´ve been told that they don´t let their kids play on the streets. Instead they are confined to a safe, closed-off space. People from outside of Salvador don´t much like the city because it´s like living in a prison.
Still I had a really good time there. I went to the beach, an outdoors samba party, a club in Rio Vermelho (the more bohemian area of Salvador), ate lots of good food like Acai ice-cream/juice, Acaraje, and some homemade brazilian food at the hostel. Also I met some great people at the hostel: Simon – Canadian –, Fabio, Diego and Carlos – Brazilian – and Anna – Australian. When I was not out touring the city I was mainly hanging out with them.
After Salvador I decided to go
to Lencois, an old diamond mining village about 6 hours West of Salvador. While I was waiting for the bus a guy came over and started talking to me. He was French and is traveling for 10 months with his two buddies. They were also going to Lencois, so when we arrived there we decided to stick together and see if we could get a good deal for a hiking guide through the mountains. Normally it´s supposed to be from about 100 Reais a day (roughly 50 euros), which we though was too much, but because we were with 4 we managed to get a guide called Washington who charged only 50 Reais per day, all inclusive. We thought we couldn´t get a better deal than that so we did it! After arriving at 5 in the morning we organized ourselves and left for the mountains at 9 the same day.
We walked through forests, waterfalls, Canyons, and all kinds of other landscapes for 3 days and 2 nights. The sights were magnificent, the swimming refreshing and the food was great! We carried a lot of food in our bags and Washington made great meals for breakfast, lunch and
dinner. Also I spent the second night sleeping under the open night sky. It was fantastic!
Now, after an exhausting 3 days I´m back in beautiful Lencois, a small town in a valley surrounded by foresty mountains. Tonight I head back to Salvador where I will do some Capoeira (haven’t been able to yet) and then head down Porto Seguro. But more on that later!
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El Eterno Caminante
Greg
very cool!
Hey Ian..Just came accross your blog about some places I will be going to in South America, hope you don't mind if I follow along! Greg