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Monday 25th August: 34 hours on a bus and kate-isms.
After a mammoth 34 hour bus journey, we eventually arrived at Salvador. The journey should have taken 26 hours, but we were delayed with a major accident and rocked up at Salvador after 34 hours on a bus. We travelled through the night and somehow I managed to sleep through the bumpy off-road ride trying to ignore the WEIRDO on the bus which kept staring at us, making a journey through the night off the beaten track even more uncomfortable. Relieved to finally arrive at Salvador much later than expected at rush hour on Monday, we somehow managed to find the local bus to Pelourinho where we were staying and finally checked in a hostel around 8pm - after leaving Rio at 8am on Sunday morning!
The hostel which was nice with good facilities but the rooms were so tiny and most of the guests were unfriendly Brazilians. Tuesday we met a guy from the UK who was running a hostel just a couple of doors away which we decided to move to, as the rooms were huge, it was really clean and he served delicious watermelon capirinhas and homemade food! And also had a puppy Boxer dog called Spartan which I kept calling Sparticus by mistake (Ellie has started a list of things she's aptly named 'kate-isms' - such as me calling desiccated coconut - designated coconut, asking if Holland was in the Netherlands and if I could borrow her dulux (instead of deluxe) sewing kit, haha!!).
Tuesday 26th August: Blessing Tuesday!
Every tuesday is 'Blessing Tuesday' in Salvador, which is their biggest night of the week, so everywhere was rammed and playing live music. I danced with a Rastafarian man not knowing this means you will sleep with them apparently?! But i didn't see that one through, mmwah?!
Wednesday 27th August: breath-taking capoeira.
Wednesday we had a walk around the city, there are people trying to sell you something everywhere you turn and lots of street kids which is really sad to see. You can also see capoeira being performed in the town square which is a mixture of dance and martial arts developed by the slaves in Salvador - the street dance you see on some of the BBC adverts. We went to a recommended show that night which had the most breath-taking capoeira in at - the perfectly lean muscular men performed quadruple somersaults, continuous back flips and all in time with one another - very VERY impressive!!
A few of us from the hostel went down to the beach and the famous ice cream parlour there. The beaches are more of a fishing type bays, as opposed to the vast white sandy coastline of Rio.Then on Friday we had a day out to 'Praia de Forte'; a beautiful beach town with a turtle reserve. There were local tours there for around £20 but to try save money we attempted to get make our own way there and back. We headed to the local bus stop with the name of the bus station on a piece of paper, and the friendly locals (despite speaking NO English) showed us the right bus to get on. Somehow, we managed to get there and had an entertaining day at the turtle reserve and on the beach on a budget of £7!
Saturday 30th August: leave Salvador on the night bus.
Is our last day in Salvador with Sparticus and the very hospitable host Paulo, we're getting a 6 hour night bus heading back south to a place called Lencois to have a couple of days trekking - no beaches or capirinhas for a while!
- comments
Caffe Did you figure the photo out? We dtienfeily need to find some things to hang on those all white walls or else I'll help you fashion some padding.
Vanessa Did you figure the photo out? We dlftniieey need to find some things to hang on those all white walls or else I'll help you fashion some padding.
Amandio Wow! Nice work you two. Amazing video, music, and commentary. It was nice to at least be a small part of this inteserting project I wish you a happy and adventurous marriage! Safe travels, Dan