Blogs from Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, South America - page 34

My 28 hour bus ride north left Rio at 9am on the morning after Rolling Stones. My plan had been to stay up all night in the hopes of having a decent kip on the journey. As it happened I'd sneaked into the hostel I'd already checked out of and slipped into a coma on the pool table. Waking up at 8:50 I realised I had a problem. Rather conveniently, the only reason I made the bus at all was because unbeknown to me summer time had just ended and the clocks had gone back. After God knows how many weeks in Rio my body must've been pleading with me for a break as I slumped into my seat and slept for 24 hours straight! Salvador's a cool city. It's Brazil's third largest city and was ... read more

A quote from someone else’s website: Salvador's Carnival got into the 2005 edition of the Guinness Book as the biggest Carnival and the biggest street party on earth. Each year, two million people crowd the streets and roads of the city during the six days of Carnival. Yes big, crowded, dirty and smelly it was but it was fun. I arrived safe and secure at my hostel which to my surprise really had a bed for me. I had quite a few problems with the booking and at one stage I had four beds then none and then maybe one. You can imagine that I was really relieved when they had a bed for me. Due to the confusion with the booking I got put into a four bed female dorm (I did not complain ... read more

Finally - The Carnaval! One of the highlights of my trip was supposed to be the carnaval. Having really high expectations, I was afraid of being disappointed, but the reality more than met my expectations (Except the photos - it is not safe to take a camera to the carnaval, so I used a disposable one only form the Camroche, and the quality is disposable also). One thing that surprised me most was the variety - in each region of Brazil Carnaval is celebrated in a different way, and more than that - in Salvador itself there are 3 regions in which the Carnaval takes place - Barra, Pelorinhio and Campo Grande. The image of the Carnaval many people have from TV - an arrayed parade of people in customs of feathers - is of the ... read more

The Salvador Carnival turned out to be a bigger experience than I expected, a huge party, streets buzzing, dancing, millions of people partying, at times you just couldn't move, everyone was involved and Salvador also lived up to its reputation as a pretty dangerous place. This entry is a long one, but lots of stories to tell......... Carnival is a big event all over Brasil every city, town and village has a parade of some sort, everyone gets involved. The Carnival runs in the days leading upto Lent.....we have Pancake Day they party for a week.......says alot about Brasil and the Brasilian way of life. The two big carnivals are Rio and Salvador. Rio is all about Samba Schools parading the most outrageous colourful processions in the city's Samba Dome. Salvador on the other hand is ... read more

I arrived to Salvador, and took a taxi to the hostel. When I told the taxi driver the address, in San Anotnio region, he was a little bit surprised. I asked him if it´s a good hostel, and he said 'more or less'. At this point I started to worry. The neighborhood looked pretty scary to me - some ruined houses, and the hostel itself didn't look to well. But after checking in, I relaxed because the hostel was run by Israelis, and it was like 'Migdal Bavel' over there - people from all around the world - Australian, Canadian, German, British and of course Israelis. It was really interesting to talk with them. Later Rafael (a friend who lives in Salvador, whom I met later in Moro De Sau Paulo), told me that I was ... read more