Since this year I am away for my birthday, I wanted to try and get away from work for a few days to celebrate. Because of the way my work has turned out, it happened that it was better logistically to go a little early, however, so I headed to Salvador 8 days before my birthday, to spend a long weekend in the famous capital of Bahia. A had a great hostel in the center of the historic Cidade Alta recommended by a friend, and on Thursday morning (a day earlier than planned because my host in Campo Formoso came down with flu) I packed my bags and took the 7 hour bus ride across Bahia.
Arriving around 8pm, I got a taxi from the bus station, checked in and quickly headed down to the hostel bar for a Caipirinha. That cocktail turned into a second and I got chatting to the irish bar tender who offered to take me out to another bar and show me around a little after his shift. He and his completely crazy Brazilian friend were a lot of fun so I agreed and at about 11pm we headed out to an African bar down the street which had live music. The music was vibrant and interesting and we had a lot of fun dancing and drinking a few beers. I finally made it back to my room at 4am and tried to get some sleep for the following day.
I managed to drag myself down to breakfast at 9.50am the following morning (breakfast served 8am – 10am) and rather annoyed the lady serving the food who had already packed everything way. But she managed to get me a bread roll and some cheese and I gulped down a few glasses of water in an attempt to feel a little more human again. Having partly recovered from my hangover, I forced myself to head out into the town and explore a little. Salvadors upper city (Cidade Alta) is a UNESCO world heritage site and its thin, cobble stone streets are lined with, slightly decrepid, but truly beautiful old portuguese colonial buildings. There are also an astonishing array of old, elaborately decorated churches in the city (one around almost every corner) so I spent the day wandering the streets, admiring the architecture and investigating some of these. That evening turned into another lengthy drinking session in the hotel bar – unfortunately for me the Capirinhas were delicious and relatively cheap, and I found it difficult to resist. I met some other English people on a gap year trip around South America and hung out and drank together for the rest of the evening. Feeling slightly more disciplined, I managed to get to sleep by 1am that night.
On my second full day in Salvador, I wanted a beach day. I had heard that the beach closest to the city was not so nice, and usually painfully busy, so I decided to take a bus to a beach a little down the coast called Itapua. It was only about 50 minutes on the bus, and when I arrived it was definitely worth it. A long white-sand beach with palm trees dotted along it and rocks jutting out of the ocean creating wonderful rockpools at low tide – it was beautiful. On top of this, my concerns about the weather (the forecast had been for rain showers all day in Salvador) were quickly dispelled, it was gloriously sunny almost all day, and the sun only dipped behind a few light clouds once or twice.
That night turned into another lengthy drinking session, first at the hostel bar with the English friends I had made, and then moving on to another bar up the street with two Swedish guys, and American and a Canadian girl. We returned to the hostel at about 2am, to find that the bar was still open and in full party mode, so we stayed for another couple of drinks before I finally turned in at about 4am. Needless to say, I slept through breakfast the following morning. By about midday I felt capable of dragging myself out of bed, and went up the street to a small cafe with my new found English friends were we got a burger and the boys attempted to watch the football (but failed). We decided to try and make something of the day, and since I had been planing to head over to an island in the bay, we decided to go ahead and try this, despite the relative late departure.
By 2pm we had made it down to the ferry port and got tickets for the 50 minute boat ride across the bay. The water was extremely rough, however, and it was rather unnerving as the boat tilted dramatically from side to side with each wave. We made it to shore unharmed, if a little shaken, though. Once on Itaparica island, we found out that the nearest beach, supposedly very beautiful, was 15km away, and we would need to take a taxi there. We negotiated a reasonable price with a taxi driver there, and despite my concerns about the fact that there were 5 of us and only 4 spare seats in the car, he bundled us in. Just to top it off, the middle-man who had sold us the taxi ride proceeded to jump into the boot, occasionally opening the door to shout directions at the driver, who at this point was driving, in true Brazilian style, ridiculously fast down the dirt roads and overtaking cars and motorbikes on blind corners at every available opportunity. The 10 minute ride was terrifying, and I spent most of the time wondering how I had managed to get myself into this situation, and whether I was going to survive to see the beach at all. Remarkably, we made it there completely unharmed, and the taxi driver arranged with me a time for them to take us back again.
As we strolled out onto the soft, white sand of the beach, Ponto de Araea, I felt like the traumatic journey might almost have been worth it. It was totally idyllic here – an almost completely deserted, white sandy beach, dotted with palm trees, and a view of an even more beautiful looking island across the water. We had almost a full hour here, relaxing in the sun, before we had to head back to catch the last ferry across to Salvador. Thankfully, the taxi ride back was a little less hairy, if only because the driver was somewhat more cautious and drove at what most English people would consider a sensible speed. The boat ride back was also a little calmer, and finally we were back in Salvador, safe and sound.
It was Sunday night, and most of the bars closed early, so we had a couple of beers at the hostel, and I managed to actually get an early night. There was one, almost incident, while we were looking for an open bar, in which some, seriously dodgy looking, locals began to approach us, and I got the distinct feeling they were trying to separate me from the group. However, we stuck together and, probably realising we were on to them, they backed off.
My final day in Salvador was supposed to be the best – I had planned to head a couple of hours up the coast to Praia de Forte, where, alongside beautiful beaches, is a sea turtle sanctuary. However, the day started off badly, when just after breakfast it began to absolutely poor with rain. Since it was my last day, I decided to try and go anyway, since the weather forecast seemed more favourable out of Salvador anyway. The rain seemed to be easing of a little, so I gathered my things and headed out. Only a few minutes after I left the rain became heavier again though, and within minutes I was completely drenched. Determined not to give up, I continued to battle my way up the hill, over cobblestone streets in flip flops, through the rain. It was awful, and by the time I reached the lift down to the lower city, I was miserable and completely soaked. After a quick cigarette I felt a little better, took the lift down to where the bus stop was. The rain finally stopped, and I began to try and find the bus I needed. Both my guide book and the hostel staff had said there were, fairly regular buses from here to the beach. But the bus stop consisted of several shelters in a row with an almost constant stream of buses coming through, with no intelligible system which determined which buses stopped where. After over an hour of waiting, with no sign of the correct bus, I gave up. I just wasn’t meant to go there today. Instead I spent the afternoon wandering the streets of the historic upper city, taking in the architecture, and doing a little gift shopping.