Hotel Pousadas Costa Do Sauipe

... to south. People eat at table with their feet in the water. Local food is mainly seafood. Moqueca´s - seafood stew served in small woklike pan. Delicious (eg Prawn moqueca). Note: In Brazil, beer served in 600 ml bottle (kept cold in plastic container)

... has to offer, ocean, sky and mountains in every shade of blue imaginable and some that I had never ever seen before. The waves breaking, the shimmering sand, the boats of all shapes and sizes, the mist completely enveloping the scene, the sun slowing rising in the sky, the only thing that was missing to make this truly the greatest sight I had even scene would have been Christ the Redeemer looking down over the whole symphony of nature, I searched for Christ, but he was ...

... back of another bloco (there would have been 20 or so along the parade at any one time) and then happened to notice that he´d done the same thing. Trying really hard not to be seen (so he didn´t think I´d followed), I went round to the front of the bloco. Turned out that this was a Capoeira Trio and there were a group at the front doing simple choreographed moves. They looked great so naturally, I joined in from outside the ropes. Soon I was invited in by one of the guys ...

... o coração não está intrinsecamente errado, errado é endurecer de novo para o resto do ano - a data fixada na cultura permite que as pessoas se encontrem, porque passam o ano todo planejando esse dia. E pude ver, nessa posição estranha de observador externo de minha família, que aqui as coisas foram diferentes. Pude ver que, embora o natal aqui tenha sido pretexto para o encontro familiar, o conceito de família é extremamente forte e ...

... check out all the hummingbirgs, I have seen so many species in the last few weeks, they really are the coolest little characters, buzzing around. Loving Brazil and the Brazilian people. Thinking only Brazilian women look good in Brazilian bikinis. But where are all the women, the (very buff) men are playing volleyball, beach tennis, walking around... where are the women??? We went for a great walk to the fort and got totally rained out ...

After a shower we looked really pretty with our dresses: we are prepared to dance all night in Salvador de Bahia, the ´Happiness City´. We met Raul and Juan Ignacio in the restaurant to have dinner. Fantastic time with this handsome and nice guys, who share with us the whole night and they made us smile. We planned to go to dance all night and to know every street and bar but ... it is Good Friday (viernes santo) Easter week so no open bars, no drinks, no music ...

... forts and castles along "runners trails", snorkeling around the sunken wreck of the SS Papanui which burnt to the water in James Bay, touring the historical and natural land marks of the island in a local taxi, fishing the waters aboard a local work boat, and just relaxing at anchor. I recall a question that we were asked near the end of our stay by a passing yacht..."How can you spend so long HERE?" Well we believe that you cannot say you know a place until you have made a ...

... our ´Bloco´arrives...which is a massive semi trailer all done up with a live band on top and Brazilian music and a lot of bass pumping out of it...We are told to jump under the ropes that section it off, into a crowd of 3 thousand people!! For the first two hours we have a ball, dancing non stop as we slowly progress around the city along the beach side, people running through the crowd selling cans Cerveza (Brazilian beer) and other drinks for less ...

... trying to flog anything and everything to every tourist they see. It can get annoying, you get pretty used to saying "Não Obrigado" (no thankyou). The hostel where I stayed was awesome, called the Nega Maluca (crazy old woman), had a great vibe and most of the people got to know each other pretty well, we were like a big family for a week which was great for me when travelling alone. It was in the 'old city' area of Salvador, called the Pelourinho, which had one of the carnaval circuits ...

... ears seemed to go temporarily deaf. I even saw one girl begin to cry as she reached up to these demigods. I, on the other hand, had no idea and still have no idea who they were and therefore felt extremely out of place but the excitement seemed to rub off onto me and I bounced up and down with the crowds (as if i had a choice!). And now, to give you a break, I will pause here and tell the rest in another entry...