Recovery and Thrills

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Due to a before unknown sinus infection, Sarah was in tremendous pain during each of the three descents, but she made it to Salvador, incredibly tired and sneezing at every opportunity.

We eventually made our way to an air conditioned room at the Hostelling International. I then went out and bought ourselves quite possibly the most expensive falafel plate ever at the Lebanese Restaurant next door. She then slept, and slept.

We had to move ourselves to the Pousada (guesthouse) across the street, where Sarah slept for a few more days, and recovered from her illness. I explored the Pelourinho (the old city of Salvador) and helped Sarah recover.

While we spent five nights in Salvador, we really only needed to spend one. While the Pelourinho is charming, unique, and full of music and life, I do not enjoy vacationing in places where you feel confined to certain places due to the danger of violent crime lurking very close by. Good food for vegetarians is either difficult to come by or very expensive, especially compared with Peru.
But we found a snack bar which served Gluten Hamburgers, and ate about 10 meals there. They also served tasty pure juices.

Brazil also seems to lack good beer. I would rather have a Coors than a Brahma, Bohemia, Sol, Skol, or a Nova Schin (double yuck). Kaiser and Bavaria Premium are halfway decent.

The one reason to visit Salvador is the Bale Folklorico Da Bahia - which the New York Times dubbed the best folk dance group in the world. They actually live up to the hype - one act features a guy very artfully eating fire; another features some of the best crafted Capoeira (the martial art of Bahia) I have ever seen (not that I have seen much). And they never mess up.

We headed to Lençois, a small town about 6 hours inland from Salvador. While it has about 1/300 of the population of Salvador, it has about 300 times the number of vegetarian food options. Lençois is the seat of the Chapada Diamantina, an adventure travel-friendly region previously known for its diamond mines.

Lençois is well worth the detour. Within a 45 minute hike from our Pousada, we could go to a natural swimming pool, featuring a natural waterslide down a slippery rock slope. On another day, we swam in another natural pool flanked by waterfalls, climbed to the top of a hill that enabled us to have a panoramic view of the area, and toured a local cave system, only to be greeted by rain once we returned to the surface.

We are currently in a city called Porto Seguro. It rained and we spent the prior 24 hours before we arrived in transit. We met plenty of nice Brazilians along the way in transit centers such as Feira Da Santana and Itabuna. There is a definite language barrier - we speak more Portuguese than they speak English, but their curiosity enables them to have the patience to talk with us.

Tomorrow, if the weather is decent, we will take a ferry to a town to Arrial DÁjuda and then continue down the coast to some sort of hippie town called Trancoso that the Lonely Planet likes. I hope to find an internet cafe where we can easily publish photos soon.

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Comments

[lisa]

Goooooo lencios
hey there i just wanted to say that i have bn to lencios in 2002 and funnily enough with out a guide book did all the things you did:the cave man that was neat, water slide super annnnnnnd the treck up the hill, peace out of New Zealand annnnnd safe travels