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Published: April 19th 2013
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We arrived via plane from Rio De Janerio in the afternoon, taking a bus from the airport to the Barra district where we were staying. It was hot! Which is what we came for after some disappointing weather in Rio. The buses were very busy, standing room only, not ideal carting around half your possessions in bags but people were helpful and friendly and helped us get to our destination arriving just after sunset.
There was a buzz about the place even though this was in the quieter part of town near the beaches. We heard that Tuesday was the night to go out so got some half recent clothes on and got a taxi up to the main square, Praca de Jesus, a stunning old square flanked either side by beautiful old buildings. We lucked out as there was a free concert in the square, where locals and tourists mixed, sipping on cerveja and caipirinhas for R$5 made by old ladies in full Afro-Brazilian regalia. We sat down and ate some meat on a stick, the local delicacy and soaked up the atmosphere. Then we had a walk around following our noses and the music, taking in the stunning
colonial architecture, where the facades are lit up and dramatise their appearance. We stumbled across some cool samba bars and clubs, the most lively of these was Jeronimo just off the main square. The club is just made up of huge steps between 2 streets with a band playing at the bottom, these and the crowd make it what it is, with old and young dancing the night away. Awesome fun even if BenĀ“s samba dance is a cross between bez from the happy mondays and Michael flatly.
The beaches in barra were nothing to write home about (although technically thats what we are doing now), there is one packed one where you can't move and you are constantly hassled to buy something, but we preferred the other we found around the corner which was nice and quiet got some chairs for R$5 and lounged the day away, our first proper day out at the beach. The day ended with Ben in a whole heap of pain from sunburn in random places, where he missed some spots, which normally you would get away with however the 37 degree heat disagreed violently it turns out.
Our hostel was a funny place, it was a beautiful old colonial house that the owners had decorated themselves in very vibrant, ethnic art. Not exactly our cup of tea but the owners were friendly and breakfast was good, apart from the daily dose of papella, a new and unwelcome experience to Ben but not to Jen, relishing watching the tasting of the foul fruit and saying it reminded her in taste and smell of sick...yum.The best night out we had here was with the owner of the hostel who kindly took us to a jazz night at a dock of a old sugar cane refinery. A really cool setting for some impromptu bossa jam session.
Blocos.
It was the weekend before carnival and the city was getting geared up for the big one. However it felt like Salvador and its population was always ready if not in the full throws of a party. We went down the beach at night and the streets were packed and lined with street vendors selling 3beers for R$5. Skol mainly, awful beer, so
people amble around getting tipsy to the sounds of the occasional random band in the street or the sounds and music from the surrounding bars and restaurants. It's basically one big piss up.
Festival Yemanja is the second of Feb, it was roasting hot but we heard of the festival local to Salvador where people pay respects to the goddess of unconditional love and the sea; Yemanja. Worshipers arrive from all around brazil an take gifts, flowers, soap, brushes or make small boats of other such paraphinallia and send them out to sea. There is also a huge shrine that everyone queues for hours to place their offerings there that then get taken out to sea. We bought a rose and sent it out mainly to be washed back in about a minute later with the rest of the sea compost, but we got involved. It was a big deal to everyone that was there most getting dressed up in white and praying, some going into a passionate almost trance like state as they worshipped. It was so hot there were a few people passing out on the beach. There was a helicopter flying low over the
crowds throwing out flowers, accident waiting to happen we thought and we called it a day there.Pelhorinho.
We went back to the centre in the day which was just as cool as when we arrived at night, we got the bus to the port where there was a market where the slaves used to arrive to the city and it is the place where you can get a boat to the nearby islands, which are meant to be amazing but we didn't have the time to go. The market was ok, selling the usual tourist stuff but next to them is the twin Art Deco lifts that take you up to the town centre, only 20 cents a ride! Bargain. There was a cool view at the top over looking the sea. The centre is very pretty and all the houses are painted amazing colours. We followed a street up to an old building at the top of the street where the locals practice Capoeira on the roof of a turreted building, very cool. In the evening we returned to Barra and back
to the beach for sunset as Salvador is the only place in brazil where you can see the sunset over the sea we were told! Salvador is an incredible place and we left heavy hearted and vowed to return especially as we were short on time and missed out on the Capada Diamantina National Park, which looked amazing.
Safety.We read a lot of bad press about Salvador before we arrived warning tourists to be very careful and that it was one of the worst places for tourists to visit due to crime so we approached with caution. We felt that this was slightly exaggerated, sure there are some shady characters around mainly at night and in the downtown areas, but if you stick to the main areas and don't wave a camera etc around then you shouldn't have any problems.
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