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Published: March 2nd 2008
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After Rio we decided to head north to the city of Salvador and it worked out cheaper to fly and a hell of a lot quicker. By bus it was £58 and 25-28 hours, by plane it was £55 and 2 hours! We didn’t have to think long about that one!
The flight was easy enough and had no problems and shortly after landing we got a bus in to the town centre. We stayed in the Pelourinho area of Salvador and were presently surprised, lots of old colonial buildings and cobbled streets with a church on virtually every corner, apparently they have a church for every day of the year! Added to this religious theme you also have the African influence. Lots of big black women dressed in the traditional Salvadorian dress which has its roots from Africa (See pics). Salvador has such a huge African population because this was once a slave selling out post and when the trade was finally abolished they made the place home. They still get a lot of Africans coming over with lots of people from Nigeria and Senegal. I had my haircut in a barbers which just reminded me of the Desmond’s,
View from the Balcony
Artist setting up shop outside our room very funny with us all trying to communicate in Portuguese, Spanish and English! The barber was happy to cut my hair as he likes the English because the late Lady Di came over many years ago to open a hospital and because she was so nice, he now likes the English and he said Salvador and Brazil were very sad when she died.
Another thing I liked here was the food, lots of fresh seafood and spicy sauces so I was more and happy. I have not had spicy food like this since we were last on the Caribbean coast and it was cheap and great. We went shopping around a food market and they had a number of sauces to taste and I was tasting a few but they wasn't very spicey. The owner could tell I wasnt very impressed and told me to wait there whilst he went and got some potent stuff. I tried it and it nearly blown my head off, my tongue was on fire and my eyes started watering straight away! The guy could tell and was just laughing and saying Muy Fuerte, Si, very strong, yes?! This was just a dab and
couldn't imagine what a dish flavored with it would taste like! The worst was still to come after a further 10 minutes walking around whilst wiping the tears away from my eyes I accidently used the finger I put in the sauce and my eye was on fire and it felt like somebody was trying to cut my eye out with a red hot poker! I spent the next 15 minutes rinsing my eye with water!! Thats what I get for trying to be a smart arse!
During the day we explored the winding streets and many churches and museums, some good some not so. The best thing was the atmosphere and we just people watched from seeing the traditional dressed women for the tourist pictures to the Capoeira dancers performing the martial art which originated here. By night they would dance through the streets accompanied by groups of drummers hammering away Samba rhythms to a deafening beat. It was great to sit in the main square which came alive with lots of food and cocktail stalls. We would take a seat with a mixed spicy meat, rice and salad dish and a Caipirinha (sugarcane rum, sugar and lime
juice) all for £2.00 and just take in the atmosphere .
On one of the days we visited the Church of Bonfim, a small 250 year old church in the suburbs of Salvador. The Church is a sacred spot for Catholics and followers of the Candomble religion which originated in Africa. The Church is famous because of the number of miracles that have happened. Believers who have a problem with a part of their body, e.g., heart etc, come to the church and pray, tie a coloured ribbon to the gates afterwards to give thanks. When the body is cured they return to the church with a replica of the body part which is placed in a room with a photo of the person. The room is a very surreal experience. There are moulded legs, arms, hearts, heads, all sorts dangling from the ceiling, the walls are also covered in small photos. People also pray for good luck within their lives and also tie a ribbon which represents their wish to the church gate with 3 knots. You can also tie one to your wrist which traditionally gets tied by a friend or loved one with each of the
Pretty Paintings
In one of the many churches in El Salvador 3 knots being a wish. They say once the ribbon naturally falls off the wishes come true! I cut mine off within 2 days as it did my head in!
From Salvador we booked a trip which included the ferry and hotel for 2 nights for £45 for the 2 of us. We took a 2 hour ferry to Morro De São Paulo a small remote village up the coast where there are no cars and only wheel barrows for transport! From the ferry to the hotel we walked down sand streets and got some more views of gorgeous beaches, soft white sand and bright blue/green sea, just beautiful. We spent the days just chilling on the beach and swimming in the sea! The food here was great too, lots of fresh grilled langoustines, rice and salad for the bargain price of £6 for two. Michelle was happy to top up the tan but I got bored after a while so it was time to move on.
One thing we didn’t like about Salvador was the number of beggars and street sellers, they just wouldn’t leave you alone and it got very annoying. It’s horrible to say, as
most are just trying to earn enough money to eat for the day and here’s me travelling the world looking like Rockefeller! We tried helping out but there is only so much you can give. There was one time when we were sat in the main square and there was a kid of about 13 going through the bin and just eating what ever he found so we went over and took him to one of the food stalls and let him get what ever he wanted, we paid and then left him to it and wait for the food to be cooked. We then seen the owner just give him the money and the kid went away with the money instead of the food! There was also a pregnant women begging who looked very desperate and putting here stomach right next to you to make you even more guilty. We gave her money a number of times and then on the last night we saw her laying in the street totally pissed with a bottle of something next her. I can’t imagine what sort of life that baby is going to have, well if it makes it that far.
Local dress for woman
well for tourist pictures anyway! So sometimes even when you give it backfires, so you never know what is best to do.
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