Goodbye Rio! Saturday 1st March

Trip Start Feb 11, 2008
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19
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Trip End Ongoing


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Sunday, March 2, 2008

The hostel manager was supposed to arrange with the security guard to give us our 50 Real deposit back in exchange for our key as we were leaving at 06:30 to catch a flight and the hostel would be closed at that time of the morning. Typically, the security guard knew nothing about it and there was nothing we could do except kiss goodbye to 50 Real. I did really rate the hostel and would have recommended it to anyone looking for budget accommodation but their lack of organisation irritated me, what with almost missing the favela tour and now being 50 Real out of pocket, that was the icing on the cake. If you're thinking of staying at Girl from Ipanema hostel then beware of such things and always double confirm any bookings and meeting places.
We arrived at our hotel in Salvador at lunchtime. The hotel is lovely and the nicest accommodation we have stayed in so far. After an afternoon nap, we got a bus into the centre, which is a historic town. It's very different to Rio or anywhere else we have seen so far. With cobbled streets, old buildings, it does feel like you have stepped back in time. Everywhere we went there was live music playing, children singing and playing drums in the street, the sounds of reggae booming out from a reggae bar, a band playing in a building facing one of the squares and all of the bars had loud music playing. It was a lively little town, with an African vibe. We spent a while looking for a restaurant, poor Mike couldn't walk fast as his ankle is still painful. We ended up at a restaurant school called Restaurant do SENAC, which is in a restored colonial mansion. The staff were very friendly and the service was excellent. The food was different, lots of seafood in palm oil but the coconut pudding was delicious!
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