Paradise

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- Food: Very tasty. More lovely sucos, the best breakfasts yet, frango (chicken), coconuts, Bahian moqueca (fish cooked in palm oil)

- Area: Very small and laid back with a hippy feel about it. But also very touristy with practically nothing else here except pousadas, restaurants and tourist shops - all of which are quite pricey compared to Rio.
Idyllic paradise beaches with palm trees, cliffs, clear sea, white sand...

- People: Locals friendly but the holiday makers (mostly Brazilian) not so! Hardly anyone speaks English and felt a bit like an alien again! But very nice to have totally chilled out time to myself.

Weather: Incredibly burning bright sun!


Wed 20th: After a bus journey where I was the only English speaker on the bus, there was no food and the films were in Portuguese I realised what luxury the coche cama´s in Argentina had been!

My immediate impression of Porto Seguro was that it´s a lovely little town but very touristy. I immediately got ripped off by a tourist information woman who also ran a pousada (hostel) and seemed to have a deal going with the taxi drivers. They hadn´t heard of the pousada I´d booked and charged me lots to get into town (which was only a few minutes in the taxi).

The man in the internet cafe was unfriendly and I discovered my pousada was actually in the next village along the coast (and a ferry crossing away).
I was already fed up of being ripped off and hassled so walked to the ferry port and got a lovely little ferry across a pretty part of the sea to Arraial D'Ajuga.
A short bus ride the other end took me to the centre and I then got ripped off again by a man who led me to the pousada (which was only a few mins walk away).

The pousada was lovely though with a pool and very relaxed feel. I had a nice big room to myself too. My walk into 'town' later didn´t take long and I realised quickly how small it is here - you can walk the whole village in about 30 minutes!

I found the sweetest, most chilled out restaurant and had the best food I´ve had yet - chicken with coconut and also the best caipirinha made for me with passion fruit added.
The waitress gave me a book of the history of Porto Seguro (it means 'safe harbour' and it´s surrounding villages which was fascinating - the whole area only became accessible in 1972 when a main road was built all along the coast from Rio. Before then, everyone was self sufficient and leading an incredibly unspoilt, happy lifestyle with fishing and craft as the trades. It still has a very relaxed local feel even though it´s hugely built up for the tourists but most of the tourists are Brazilians who holiday here and I haven´t yet heard any other English speakers!

Thur 21st: I found the beach - MUCH calmer than Rio in all ways. The waves are calmer and there aren´t nearly as many bars, people and sellers (although the sellers there are are much more persistant!).

The fruit salads and suco´s (fruit juices) are heaven although pricey and the beaches which stretch on for miles with only a few bars breaking them up are paradise! I walked along to Pitinga beach which was the calmest and most relaxed of them all.

Fri 22nd: Oh my god, breakfast gets better and better. Bananas, melon, toasted bread things with sweetcorn and tomato, little tortillas and chocolate cake. LOVELY.

I decided today to branch out and go to Transcoso which Jane had underlined so I guessed was a gorgeous beach worth visiting.

However, I nearly pulled out when the bus staff were SO unfriendly and completely rude to me. One bus driver (who WAS nice) dropped me off at the correct bus stop and asked the young, trendy looking bus driver to put me on the correct bus. He was sulky and argued for ages (sometimes it´s very useful not understanding the language). The bus pulled away and I was stuck with him and his equally sulky female colleague.
They moved away from me, turned their backs and then just walked off and left me! I sat there for 5 mins wondering what to do and then walked to where I thought the bus terminal was. They were there but I ignored them and eventually some other bus person came over and helped me. He told me I had to get a ticket from 'them' and when I asked them in my best Portuguese, they looked at each other, smirked and laughed at my pronounciation. It just made me more determined to get on the right bloody bus and thank god everyone else around me was friendly enough to help.

My faith in people returned when a bloke on the bus behind me started talking to me and was very nice and friendly.

It took ages to walk through the town and down to the beach at Transcoso but it was worth the hassle to get to. The best beaches yet. Unfortunately I got even more sunburnt but managed to find my way back easily so was proud of myself!

In the evening I discovered a new street in Arraial D'Ajuga which is the beachy, touristy street. I was like a little hippy village and had lots of bars, restaurants and shops and a very nice, relaxed feel about it. The temptation to spend though is huge....

Sat 23rd: I wanted a lie in but the pull of breakfast won and it was EVEN BETTER! Lots more cake of varying sweetness and more variety of fruit.
I caught the balsa (ferry) to Porto Seguro as I´d decided my burnt body needed at least a day of recovery out of the sun. Unfortunately everything was shut (I still can´t get the hang of places being shut on a Saturday).

I wandered around the town a bit which is much bigger than Arraial D'Ajuga but not as nice, booked my overnight bus ticket to Salvador to make sure I don´t extend my stay here even longer than I already have, and found the historical part of town.

It was lovely but I was frustrated as I didn´t know enough history of the place to know what all the buildings were and couldn´t really understand the signs.
A tourist guide rescued me and gave me a long tour of the town which was very interesting but a rip off (what a surprise) and he was getting a bit too friendly!
I saw 3 churches, one prison where the right side had been for the men and the windows were made of iron but the left side had been for women so the windows were made of wood as women aren´t as dangerous (what did they know?!).
I saw a row of original houses that were painted all different colours. They never used to number the houses and could tell who lived there by the colour. Only 50 people still live in the historical town but they are not allowed to change the colour of the house. The highlight was being shown the chocolate making process and tasting it along the way, from cocoa bean to the finished thing.

I caught the ferry back at sunset and had a ´big night out´which consisted of dancing around my room with a beer (I miss my friends!), putting make up on for once (it took 3 mins) and eating in the gorgeous 'Rosa dos Ventos' restaurant - fish this time with shrimps. Heaven.

Sun 24th: Decided to lie around the pool but changed my mind when the other holiday makers were unfriendly and annoying. I´m amazed by the unfriendliness I´ve come across here but it only seems to be the Brazilians on holiday.
Those that work here (apart from the 2 bus staff) have been lovely.

The beach was busy as it´s the weekend but after walking to Pitinga beach again I found the spot I´d been looking for... by a natural pool, red cliffs, big stretch of practically deserted sand, palm trees rustling in the breeze and birds singing. I stayed there so long I nearly got cut off by the tide when walking back.

A nice sizzling meat meal in the hippy street with a friendly waiter finished my day perfectly.

Mon 25th: Started badly as there wasn´t any breakfast laid out!!!! The breakfast I had on the beach just wasn´t the same but I was glad to have got to the beach early as the tide was right out to reveal lots of rock pools. Fantastic. I spent hours wandering between them watching the crabs, fish and being amazed by the beauty of nature!
It´s lovely to have nothing else to think about except how the waves make such pretty patterns on the sand - I´d never studied a beach in so much detail before! I found the same spot as yesterday and had another incredibly peaceful, chilled out day.

Tue 26th: I discovered just how little everyone here really does speak English when I booked a tour to 'Recife de Fora' - coral island. Luckily the guide had found a girl on the tour who did speak English so she translated everything for me.

It took about an hour by boat to get there and then we had a few hours on walking on the sand island amongst the corals and snorkelling. Saw some colourful fish and some big ones which I wasn´t expecting just by snorkelling. Got lost in the magic of it and before I knew it time had run out.
Lots of free fruit was served on the boat and it was a worthwhile trip.

Had a local Bahian dish in the evening - a fish moqueca which is like a stew cooked in palm oil sauce. Gorgeous. The warning to go easy on the pimenta wasn´t needed as it was so nice to have hot food for once!

Wed 27th: My last day in this paradise was rainy so it gave me a chance to find the little church which overlooks the most breathtaking view of palm trees and coast line - I could see all the way over to Porto Seguro. Not much to do here when it´s raining so slowly made my way to Porto Seguro, got collared by a waitress to have a salad that wasn´t great and caught the bus to Salvador.

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