Salvador Praia

What an incredible place. I spent three days there, the latter two on a two-day trek to various waterfalls. It was perfect to recharge my batteries after the excesses of big cities. Highly, highly recommended.

Hint: The treks are a bit expensive. If you want to save some money, walk back to Lencois (if that's where you're based) instead of getting the 4x4

... Salvidor, and I'm now in Itacare, but Salvidor was really a blast. Lareina summed it up nicely, before she left. She said "The jungle was the most interesting, Fortaleza was the most relaxing, and Salvidor was the most fun." I'd just like to add that the boat was the most..something haha. The food in Salvidor was really cool, we ended up going to the buffet put on by the local culinary school ...

Following a recommendation from people we met in Paraty, we decided to take a detour from our original itinerary.

We headed 600km west from Salvador to a town called Lencois, which is the base for exploring the Chapada Diamantina National Park.

We had an action packed 3 days in the most stunning landscapes (some parts reminded us ...

... 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.

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 ...

... its way to the ocean to swim and dance. Meanwhile, on the beach, dogs scratched their balls, yawned and found cool places to lie down. Vendors shouted ´cerveja e agua´ or tried to sell flowers or perfume de aqua floresta to unsuspecting tourists for 5 reais - I got 1 real price! . A lone rooster strutted around, crowing occasionally and the tourists (the ones with cameras) took lots of photos. Its funny how the sacred and the profane often go hand in hand. I decided ...

Caros parentes, amigos, colegas, etc,

Para aqueles que queriam notícias minhas em Mundo Novo, seja para saber sobre a cidade, sobre o trabalho ou sobre mim mesmo, escrevo esta carta.

Mundo Novo fica no sertão da Bahia, ao norte da chapada Diamantina. É um microclima tropical de altitude dentro do agreste de caatinga. Quando se chega por aqui, observa-se claramente a rápida mudança dos galhos secos e retorcidos para as verdes ...

... trail from the town, then bouldering up and across the river before finally reaching it some 3 hours later. Back down near the town, there is another great waterfall that I went sliding down. I spent a couple hours here! The area is a hiking mecca. There are many hikes, ranging from one day up to seven. I could only go on single hikes/tours as I had only 3 days there. One of the most popular hikes is 3 days into the city of Capao.

... br>
Pictures here:
www.pbase.com/cile/brazil