San Marino Hotel Salvador

... of drug activity now and there are countless kids (some as young as 10) hooked on crack cocaine which is readily available just meters from the main sites. It is so terrible to see these wrecked shells of children, totally emaciated, spaced out and useless, crawl out of various holes begging for money for the next hit.<br><br> On a happier note, we arrived in Salvador in time for the start of the Sao Joao (Saint John) festival which, in ...

... of the mother of a friend and she didn't seem to know anything about us. All the same she let us into her house and bid us wait for Catherine. This was an awkward wait since Grasola turned out to be the most disconcertingly languorous woman ever. She would slowly  sashay from one window to another smoke a cigarette out of it and look impossibly bored. All this time, it seemed like an hour, we weren't sure what was going on. Every effort of small talk was met with the ...

... right in front of us and sang us cheese songs... basically Daniella Mercury, Olodum, Carlinhos Brown but they were all about if we want cheese he is our man, he has the best cheese don´t look at anyone elses cheese. We loved him and in turn he looked after us and gave us the heads up about the kids... Last night was hard. As you know I had a bad feeling about the Flaviano thing the day before that somethign was going to end - the swansong I called ...

... the first boarding call, I was positively vibrating with excitement....I was actually the first person on the transit bus to the plane, you couldn´t hold me back... LOL It was great to be greeted at the airport by Flaviano. We spotted each other as I came out the gate and walked together, on each side of the barrier, till the barrier ended, then lept into each others arms. It was as if no time had passed - the sign of a truely great friendship I think. The drive to ...

... and I came by and met a bunch of the artists and producers. All really cool guys. Then we went off and I tried to teach him english for a couple hours. English is really hard when you try to explain it. Not only the grammar, but pronunciation is difficult to explain in places where you wouldn't think it would be. Like, in portuguese, they say "beat", "beachee", and "hot dog" is "hotchee dogee," "hip hop" is "hipee hopee." But when you think about it, when you say ...

We woke up to a glorious morning, but had no real reason to get up early so Katie went for an early breakfast while I went back to sleep for an hour! <br><br>I figured that we don't have long left now so I might as well enjoy the luxury of being able to sleep whenever I want ...

... and then moved on back to Pelourinho, which never seems to sleep. It is incredible - every 2 meters up the cobbled streets you hear different music and beats - no matter what time of day! We also made friends with some of the guys working in the hostel...a guitarist from London, who taught Sonum some flamenco, and an Iranian who lives in Sweden. We had a couple of sheesha nights with them and some other travellers, smoking apple tobacco and talking about politics and ...

... to a distant planet far far away. His studio is amazing - it´s in the lonely planet if you want to look it up - ´Mae´ some thing. Anyway. We all went out to dinner and again went our separate ways. In the am I did my final class with Anderson and he presented me with a whole heap of CDs. So sweet. We did the Caboclino dance (with a bow and arrow) leaping around, up and down left and right. Needless to say on the plane much later I felt it big time. The boys came ...

... of Salvador, 20 mins from school, 30 mins from beach. Arrived pretty wiped out on Saturday, they took me to a beach about 40 mins away by car to meet some family, none of whom I could understand, but who were very patient and plied me with typical local food. As I´ve come to realise, the beach here is an integral part of the culture and their lives. And now mine! Sunday I spent trying desperately to study some grammar, vocab, useful phrases etc. which at least prepared ...

... over 24 knots to reach Rio by 2am on Friday morning. Not sure about the time thing but we were in Lisbon very early as well. Suppose it's to do with getting us all off and the lucky newbies on. Once we're clear of the harbour Captain K is true to his word and the Rotterdam is soon going very fast. I love it, the ship feels alive when it is going fast. It's been asleep for over three weeks! Al has a dinner tray dropped beside him that results in the ...