Bahiacafe Hotel Salvador

10-09-09

Last night was my first night in Barra district of Salvador.

After having asked the Bahian on reception if it was all safe to venture out after a jet-lagged snooze I went to find some food. Seafood is obviously a big hit on the menu as it's a coastal town. I found an expensive restaurant but because of wanting a meal with a view en lieu of the lack of company I stayed. I bought the cheapest thing on the menu which was 'Casquinas de Siri ...

... around also. While eating, we met a guy from Mozambique who was very nice. He spoke perfect English and was part of the group partying the night before. He and a group of 10 or so college students from Mozambique and Angola were studying in Bahia for a couple months and half of the group had just left before we got up, so they were celebrating. The other half would be leaving in a couple days. We grabbed a bus along the coastal road to go up ...

... The boys had a buffet lunch and I meanly refused to accompany them on a bus tour of the local town, even though the tour leader said I could have a free ticket if I acted as their interpreter (he only spoke Portuguese or Spanish and they only speak English and German). Arnold and Helle, who are keen on culture and activities, decided to go anyway, and I bought a new bikini and arranged myself in the sun, watching lizards chase each other through the grass. Too ...

... me up to dance with him. We did a small roda and got a big round of applause from the ever growing audience. Dors tells me my pink recorder boyfriend tried to cut in a few times, but accepted that I could dance with others... Just before we left he presented me with ´´a presente do amor´ a present of love, a roll of toilet paper. And I accepted it as if it were a diamond ring, with much pagentry and ceremony. I placed it beside me. Others sitting near us joined ...

... Well, that doesn`t help to practice my portugese, but as I am travelling on to Chile anyway it might be better to stick to german, english and spanisch. It`s so easy to get confused in this babylonian mixture of languages. I seem to have forgotten my french totally...

Actually I thought the spanish language should be so similar to the brazilian portuguese that I should get along with my basic spanish. Well, it is more a matter ...

... waterfall picture came from and it was just to the right of the waterfall that we ran the boat under. After hiking for quite awhile we got to an area to break for lunch and we had.... Brazilian barbecue. I didn't know it at the time but this was going to be a reoccurring theme for the entire trip because the bbq's were conveniently stationed along all the tourist areas we were and left little else to eat. They are expensive, but they are worth it. After lunch we took ...

... ride for the 30km journey for R25 (about A$17), after some canny bargaining. (He started at R50!) My Hostel is quite cute, with a gorgeous breakfast balcony, but is a bit pricy R27. Walked around a local market in an extremely dodgy part of twon, and got some very strange looks from the locals who seemed to see a gringo here at dusk. Had a couple of beers and people watched. 70% of the people in Salvador are ...

... summer! Apparently I have weak ankles? So that was a little painful, but the next day I was already going to the doctor to get my sea egg checked out so I got an ace bandage there and hobbled around that day. My sea egg is pretty much healed now, yay! The second to last day Kelsey and I went on a Semester at Sea sponsored program to the favela (what they call a slum) Calabar Community which is one of the slums that has organized and is working together to better their ...

... different meats: rumpsteak, top sirloin, sirloin, tender sirloin, bottom sirloin, strip loin, baby-beef, lamb French rack, chicken thighs, and salmon. Many of which I had 2 or more servings of, and each serving was probably about half the size of a normal steak at a decent restaurant in the states. The best was definitely the rumpsteak and this garlic coated sirloin they had. In addition, I had risotto, rice, beans, bread and fried bananas. Needless to say, it was ...

... is *lso * very convenient *ttribute of this festiv*l. In 7 d*ys *t the festiv*l I h*ve seen no violence, no police, no problems *nd no *nnoying people. Security gu*rds didn't bother *nd were p*trolling *round the festiv*l borders to ensure * s*fe st*y. Also the medic*l tent w*s more like * hospit*l with *lmost 20 sep*r*te rooms for tre*ting the people's sunburns *nd injuries. Doctors *nd nurses gu*r*nteed * medic*l c*re equ*l to the hospit*l in the ne*r town of ...