Jacuma - Trancoso

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The following day we left Jacuma, armed with half a cake that we couldn´t resist buying from a little cake store before we left. We caught the bus to Joao Pessoa where we ended up waiting in the bus station for the rest of the day, while armed guards seemed to be running around the place, until it was time to board our night bus to the city of Salvador.

Salvador was a city that from the early planning stages we both wanted to see, but having been to many cities we were worried about it due to the constant fear of muggings etc. Luckily on arrival we were able to get a bus to the Pelourinho (the old colonial city) which instantly felt much safer due to a large tourist presence and the police to protect them! The Pelo was really interesting and full of many beautiful buildings and squares from the days of it being a major black slave port. This meant that the culture there is very rich and the streets were often filled with percussion bands, dancers and capoeira groups (the ´fighting´dance Brazil is famous for). Due to the city being built on different levels, on our adventures we had to get a huge elevator down the side of a cliff to the market, with fantastic views across the new city and sea beyond. After a couple of days there, and staying in what may have been the nicest pousada to date, it was time to leave to try and cram in one final proper beach stop before Rio and Carnival. We took a night bus to the town of Porto Seguro and from there caught another short bus to Trancoso.

Despite all the buses we still arrived in Trancoso early morning and set about finding ourselves a nice, and cheap, hostel. After settling in we headed to the beach, which we were both very glad to see was more than suitable for long, leisurely swims, a first since we´ve been away I think! We´ve spent our time here topping up on the beach, healthy food and I have to admit all the ice cream we could fit (we found a small sorveteria that sold ice cream, self service, for less than £3 a kilo and all the flavours you could imagine!).

Before Rio we have a 19 hour bus journey to look forward to and then hopefully one of the biggest parties we have ever seen, hence we may not update the blog for a little while, apologies!

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