Off to Salvador

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Am off to Salvador today which will involve me in retracing my steps of three days ago - 1 pm bus to Belo Horizonte bus station and then out to the airport with a flight leaving at 6.35 which I have already managed to check in for online.

After my last experience am a bit nervous about whether all will go smoothly when I arrive at my accommodation. One of the problems with Airbnb is that you can only access their contact number to use in an emergency by going onto their web-site. This of course involves being online, for which I require Wi-Fi as have data roaming switched off. So one possible scenario is that you are standing outside your Airbnb accommodation with your luggage and can't make contact with your host but you then need to leave to go and connect to the Internet so you can phone Airbnb - which, I guess must happen with some frequency.

Breakfast was as good as ever: lovely rolls. One day had pâo de queijo which is the regional speciality- tiny little cheese rolls, cheese and jam, lots of fresh fruit - I usually have the papaya or mango and fruit juice , unfortunately of the variety in a carton. As I had some time to kill before leaving Ouro Preto I went for a walk to one of its most important churches - N.S. de Pilar. They had scaffolding up and were doing emergency repairs to part of the chancel but unfortunately couldn't see what what they were doing as the workers were screened off. The most remarkable thing about the churches here, apart from the way everything is decorated in gold is the ceilings. This church had an elaborately carved dome with inlaid pictures. The others have painted domes, some very beautiful. However here my attention was particularly caught by a display encouraging people to help in recovering their lost patrimony in the form of religious artefacts that had been stolen or otherwise gone missing from the state of Minas Gerais - about 60% of their total stock they reckoned. There were pictures of the missing statutes or other artefacts and a display explaining the different types of crime involved in acquiring this property from outright theft, couvert or violent, to receiving and handling. There was a number for people to phone if they recognised any of the missing items identified in the pictures.

The other plan this morning was to go for a walk in what LP describes as 'OP's lovely verdant park'. I had already tried to find the entrance to this but thought that I had been looking in the wrong place. However it turned out that the park was closed. Didn't get the full explanation but it could be summed up as lack of money to maintain it - again. On the way back to the guesthouse called in at a house which had been home to one of OP's most famous poets who had been exiled to Mozambique as a result of his involvement in the 1789 insurrection against the Portuguese. It was a lovely house and the attendant was delighted to tell me bit of the history when he realised I could speak some Portuguese. I think they are all a but bored at this time of the year.

Sheila arrived on time and ordered a taxi to take me to the bus station as requested. IIt didn't come immediately and I thought I was cutting it a bit fine, even more so when the credit card machine in the ticket office refused the card I have been using for all purchases since arriving in Brazil. Fortunately it accepted another and even more fortunately I had brought a total of four ( three credit and one debit) with me. Only afterwards did it occur to me that I was lucky this had happened when I was travelling as I had other cards with me. If my card had been rejected after eating out, when I normally have only a little cash and the one card with me, I could have ended up doing the washing up! This has taught me about the importance of minimising credit card use, since fraud is so widespread. Along with everybody else here, I have been using it for transactions worth about £2.50, which now seems ridiculous, although have been keeping a separate card for cash withdrawals.

Got both buses without incident and also the flight. Was a bit worried that I had forgotten to leave the email open with my boarding card on it so when I got to the airport it wouldn't work. However there were machines at the airport to check in and print boarding cards,and indeed a queue for these, and they actually worked. Of course being a low cost airline they didn't announce the flight in English but I always ask other passengers where they are flying to and just follow one taking the same flight as me when board.

I got to the taxi offices in arrivals where you can pay in advance - as in Rio this is supposed to be a more secure way of travelling- but still nearly fell over at the cost - about 30! Got into the taxi and the driver had a look at the address of my lodgings and announced that this address didn't exist! Fortunately I no longer believe statements like this from taxi-drivers. Rita, my host, had helpfully put the detailed directions in English but these were for where to get off a bus rather than for going via taxi. However when he phoned her she was able to convince him that her address did exist. Apparently taxi drivers don't use GPS here.



I arrived starving as didn't fancy another sandwich on the flight as that was what I'd had for lunch. Asked Rita if it was safe to go out to find somewhere to eat at this time (about 9 pm). She said,yes, as long as I took my watch off (must be worth all of about £2 pounds) and she would watch for me at the window. It turns out that her flat is about 50 yards from the road running alongside the promenade which was quite busy, whereas her road was not, But was it safe, I asked (silly question). Oh yes, she said! So I left everything behind. put a 50 Reais note in one pocket (about £10) and the flat keys in another and walked very rapidly towards the front. Then of course, without a phone or tablet, there was nothing to do in the bar/restaurant except eat and stare into space. Had prawn bolhinos - a sort of croquette - very nice and a beer. The waitress appeared with a bottle of beer which must have contained at least a litre which I sent away.




The flat is sweltering. What was I doing choosing somewhere to stay without air conditioning? If I thought that Sheila's flat in Rio was hot , this is much worse. Not surprising really as Salvador is nearer the equator. There is a fan in my room but I have been warned not to leave the light on when I go out as it is very expensive and the fan must be a lot more!

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Photos

Café/ cultural centre, Ouro Preto
Had an indulgent ice-cream here!

Comments

[Carol Staton]

Airbnb accommodation
Hi Judy Hope you've reached Salvador safely by now. I agree re the problems peculiar to airbnb. Before I left for Oz I took a private phone number for all of my hosts and phoned them as soon as I arrived at the Greyhound Bus stop.train station or ferry terminal. Obviously that meant an international call each time but I was only on the phone for about a minute. With the exception of one place where the owner was on a long-distance bike ride I was then picked up by car, so never had to find my way to the accommodation on my own. It seems much harder in Brazil where the hosts don't pick guests up. I also did a lot of self-catering in the evenings, as I had access to a kitchen and eating out in Oz is quite expensive. I wasn't bold enough to go out on my own in the evenings anyway and was usually too tired from sight-seeing/hiking during the day. Looking forward to your next blog. Love Carol