Sol Bahia Express Salvador

... from geriatric boozers in tents to 12 year old girls carrying cooler boxes under their arms through the crowd. You can imagine the carnage, especially on the night there were 10,002 people having the time of their lives... he he he... As with all these things there is always the bad element, so MC Camera, DJ Watch and MixMaster Cellphone had to stay home with cocoa, biscuits and the 8pm movie.

Another fascinating experience was ...

... trailer covered in speakers with a band on the top that was pulled by a tractor up and down main street. I t was fantastic. The people were great and the food and drink was cheap. The music wasn't great, kind of pop samba but the atmosphere was brilliant. This continued through out carnaval, when you walk through a city like salvador which is almost entirely african in population and you look like me you feel like a walking lighthouse, heads turn and sometimes people ...

... was not afraid of showing his affection for me in front of his friends and kissed me and hugged me. They also seemed fine with it and respectful - even great with it. When we got a minute I asked what was going on. When he told me the story of what happened, and I looked in his eyes, I realised a profound change had happened for him. His realisation was that life was too short and what was he doing in a dead end relationship - he knew he didnīt want ...

... last year to take a break from making big offerings in return... It also meant the person who sent the rose will also get their wish, as only those flowers that do not return, but get taken out to sea, are the ones that represent successful wishes. All three of my flowers were accepted, but it does help that my father taught me how to spot a rip... so hoopla they were whisked out no dramas. Itīs now 1pm. I have had a quick nap and await Flavianos return, poor dear ...

... tourism industry. I stayed in a pousada owned by a really nice Argentinian couple with the cutest little two year old daughter. They were nice enough to invite me out to a family bbq on the beach once. I think if anyone in the world is more proud of their bbq than brazilians, it's gotta be the Argentinans. Since it's the low season, I stayed in a room for about $20 per night that's triple that in the high season, that had a beautiful ocean view. My second day in ...

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!

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 ...

After we enjoyed a lovely breakfast of fresh bread, cheese, ham, cake, fruit and juice, while sitting at the table on the patio outside our room, we checked out and strolled across the road to the beach. The sun was blistering today and after five minutes in the sun, I felt fried! All I could do was cool off in the sea but even the water was like a luke warm bath! I resorted to sitting in the shade under a palm tree and later, a breeze ...

Think itīs been l*st Wednesd*y since the l*st entry, not re*lly h*d much time to sit down *nd do this properly but here goes...! Wednesd*y w*s * f*irly wet d*y AGAIN so we took the time to get our bus tickets from the Rod*v*ri* *t the other end of town. Got f*irly lost *t one point *nd so de-mounted our bus... on the next thought we h*d t*ken the completely wrong one when we went through * f*vel* (one of the slums) which h*d * f*ir milit ...

... a dark room that night. Felt better for it, despite sleeping through my alarm Tuesday morning. First night out in Pelourinho (historic centre, full of beautiful colonial buildings and churches). Love the live groups of drummers wandering streets. So much music everywhere. Rest of week somehow disppears in a mix of lessons, beach (day and night), trying all the amazing fruit, nabbing tickets for a camarote for next Saturday (Carnaval starts on Thursday-omg!!!!!), a ...

... transpires but then it turns back on itself and I see a grocery store with cabs waiting so I decide to get off. I need water anyways, Iīm as about dehydrated as Jim Carey was in Me Myself and Irene. I buy water, take a cab and curse myself for being so idiotic when it comes to inner-city buses. I put conquering inner-city bus travel at the top of my "things I need to improve at" list. This is a short list by the way since Iīm more or less good ...