Fiesta Time In Bahia De Salvador!

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Salvador was celebrating the Fiesta do San Juan the weekend we were there. This was good and bad, good because everybody was in party spirit with massive celebrations in the street, bad because nobody wanted to work so shops, restaurants, cafes and supermarkets were pretty much closed the whole time...

Salvador was probably the most on edge we have been, regarding security. 2 of the people in our hostel were mugged in the first 12 hours of us being there. Its usually just a snatch and grab approach so we just prepared ourselves by going out with minimum cash in our pocket and nothing else. In reality Rio (in a week's time) would probably be worse but we had got used to it by then.

Our hostel had an outside terrace with tables and hammocks which became the centre of our life for the following 2 days. There we met James & Susan, 2 brits about to return to the UK after 9 months travelling, and Andy & Shannon, 2 aussies on a few months travel before starting work in the UK for a year or so.

Salvador has a strong african heritage and as such dance and music are everywhere. Capoeira is a martial arts based dance that, mostly the men, practice, and is amazing to watch. Not only is it a highly skilled dance, the men have perhaps the most fit bodies we have seen on our trip - marvellous all round!!

There were a couple of kids joining in the performance too. One looked like a brit, and it really was a case of enthusiasm outweighing ability ;-) Sometimes, you should just leave things to the locals.

After getting carried away with making Caiprinhas at the hostel, on our first night we headed into town around 1am. We found that Salvador didnt quite keep the same hours as other cities, and the first bar we headed to shut at 2am, giving us just 1 hour to shake our booties with the Samba crowd. Fortunately Susan picked up a couple of locals, who found us another Salsa club that was still open and the frenzied dancing continued. Some of these women really know how to shake their asses. Rich, James & Andy reluctantly joined in as the local men were just as keen for them to get involved as the girls!!

The second night started with a superb meal. We had the traditional Mocqueca, a fish stew made with oil from an amzonian tree and coconut milk. Absolutely the best local dish we have had to date. After more dancing in the street later on, the boys made friends with a local restauranteur conveniently offering late-night beers. His three kids entertained the girls, mostly by throwing fire-crackers off each others heads - another example of health and safety in South America...

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Comments

[Amanda]

Stay safe.
Wonderful shots of the animals in the previous blog. Bit worried for you going to Rio now. Stay safe, but have fun too.

[The Capo]

Capoeira Inspector
I am very suspicious that this 'British kid' who got involved in the Capo dancing was in fact Mr Richard Shaw. I remember him dancing at Jerusalem. Not a pretty sight. And can I also congratulate Catrin for the wonderful photos, and also for allowing Richard to take at least one comedy shot in each set of snaps. I enjoy searching it out - it's never Where's Wally-esque in it's difficulty though. Today's was a particularly good example of the genre: a dozen lovely images then a shot straight into the sunshine with Catrin chopped off at the knees! Priceless stuff My Old Son!