Salvador da Bahía

The bitter-sweet taste of Salvador de Bahia

Salvador de Bahía, known as the african capital Brazil, is defintiely a difficult place to calibrate. You either love it or hate it. I think I am sort of halfway between these two feelings but probably closer to the second. Lively is a word that gets short to describe this place, music coming from every corner in the city, drums keep sounding all the time and beaches are full of brazilians and foreigns surfing, playing football, drinking beer… The proximity of the Karnival also adds up to the atmposphere, there is an event scheduled almost every day.

The city is organized around the Pelourinho, the old town, declared world heritage by the UNESCO. The place is a labyrinth of portuguesse colonia style stone made streets, churches, colourful houses and open air restaurants. It sit downs in the so called Cidade Alta and from there you can see an important area of the city down hill. The Pelourinho is also the cultural heart of Salvador with its museums, capoeira schools and music clubs. Parades with people playing drums go around here most of the time but it is on Tuesdays when the show reach its climax. The different music schools go all over the Pelourinho streets with the guys playing drums on the first rows and then a bunch of very big and muscle black guys dancing. Anybody can join the parade after them and it gets pretty crowded, specially white women, who knows why… A pity that you have to be watching your pockets all the time cause the locals tend to stick their hands in there taking advantage of the crowded situation. Thats kind of a funny moment, you feel it, you turn around and find yourself face to face with the guy who just tried to rob. You look at him, he looks at you and you feel like hitting him but then think it is not probably the best idea and just continue walking. That´s the way Salvador is, that´s the Pelourinho.

From the Pelourinho, four elevators (Lacerda elevator) can take you down to the Ciudade Baixa, where the port and the market are located. Not much to see here in my opinion. The place where we really spent most of the time was the seaside neighborhood of Barra. The best beaches are located here and the atmosphere is less typical and more touristic but also safer. Salvador beaches are definitely one of the best attraction of the city. Amazingly clean in spite of so many people hanging around there, white sand and great weaves. Barra, 15 minutes away from Pelourinho by bus is the place to take a bath.

Mary, the american girl, had rented an apartment right in the center of the Pelourinho where she planned to stay for a while. Small place, two rooms with four beds and no hot water but it was a nice chance to keep sharing my trip with my former couchsurfing band so I decided to stay there for 6 days. Pedro and Vicky did the same so our little backpackers “family” was set up. I still remember with a smile those low budgets dinners we had there, normally pasta or rice but always served with home-made caipirinha

So days in Salvador went away swimming, walking around and taking care of different stuff. In the first place, I needed a phone and thanks to Gustavo, an argentinian guy in charge of a nearby hostel, I got one in the black market. Great person this Gustavo, he took me there and helped getting the price down. Every time I needed some information during my time there he was always willing to help. Talking about phones, it is kind of weird the way the work in Brazil. Buying the SIM card is not enough, you need a brazilian id to set it up. Again, Gustavo got me the solution to this problem so I became reachable again. Appart from this we had to deal with the landlady who wanted to overcharge us and plenty of more other issues that made me realize that traveller life is not only fun. There is also a part of work on this with all these things you have to take care of, specially if there is pending stuff to worry about back in Spain…

Thursday was definitely the best day that week. I had been a few days planning to do something different so I suggest the others the idea of doing a one day trip to Praia da Forte, 2 hours North of Salvador. Vicky and Pedro liked the idea so we took the bus to get there. Praia da Forte is a very well organized touristic place with plenty of luxury houses for rich tourist and also amazing tropical beaches. The water was amazingly warm, you get the impression of been in a huge jacuzzi. So far the best ones I have seen but I am sure I will have the chance to improve that In Praia da Forte we saw turtles, rode bycicles and visit a castle. It was a very complete day to which the best night in Brazil so far would follow…

Right after the beach we went to the Salvador Summer Festival, the biggest event on the “bahiano” summer, with plenty of very famous brazilian groups playing inside this big place. This might be hard to believe but two old guys like Pedro and me got in with a half price student ticket. A few beers after we were enjoying a very good regaee and we even managed to (finally!) socialize with some brazilian people, two sisters we were hanging around with till we headed home after a very tiring day. The day had been so amazing and than the new robbery attempt did not spoil it. This time it was a bunch of youngster pointing a bottle at Pedro´s face. Not really professional anyway, we just run away and they didnt follow us. That´s the way Salvador is, that´s the Pelourinho.

So, as you can imagine, security is the real big problem down here and the reason why I dont think I am going to miss this place too much. The fact that they try to rob you almost every night you go out (3 out of 4) makes you thing. It is true that they were quite amateur tries; this guy approaching to speak to you and then trying to reach your pocket, these youngster with bottles and stuff like that. However, you get the feeling that if you stay long enough something serious will eventually happen. Hanging around at night in Pelourinho is a constant danger and going out there, at least in my personal experience, not exactly the funniest thing. You have to deal all the time with these assholes who come to you trying to sell you drugs or getting you to this bar where they will probably steal all your stuff. Maybe we should have gone to more relaxed and international places like Barra or Rio Vermehlo, maybe we didnt hit the right sptots but the fact is that, appart from the festival night, my nightlife that week in Brazil was dissapointing. The idea of getting drunk is totally out of the question, you are just to worry watching around you to do it. Socializing with the locals (at least with the ones who dont want to rob you or rip you off) looks hard. I consider myself like of having left that place with all my belongings.

The best

• The Pelourinho: the colors, the music, the view, the stoned streets..
• To have had the chance to stay in one place a bit longer than a couple of days. It gives you a different feeling, to be more familiar with the place and knowing your way around, a bit less tourist and more local.
• To have had the chance to spend more time with Pedro, Vicky and Mary in our “luxury” place in Pelourinho.
• Beaches in Barra: beautiful, warm and with a great atmosphere.
• Brazilian juices: just made of fruits you never heard of, cheap and very refreshing.
• Restaurants serving food you pay per kilo. You just have to fill your plate with all kind of stuff, if you are very hungry you pay more, if not it gets cheaper.
• The Lonely Planet guide: it is been a basic tool in this trip.

The worst

• The Pelourinho: appart from the security problem I wrote about before there is also this poverty everywhere. Children sleeping in the floor and begging for money, dirt, rubish… That makes you feel sad when you walk around there.
• The nightlife: so far is not up to my expectations.

Paco, master of disaster

• After arriving in Salvador I just realized I didnt have my wonderful Lonely Planet guide with me. Apparently someone has stolen it from the back of my bag in the bus station. Fuck! that guide was a present I really liked. I get very pissed off and curses myself once again for been so messy. Next day Vicky has to go to the station so I tell her to ask for it, not too much hope but just in case and…they have it! It seems it wasnt stole but I just lost it in the bus. So good
• I lost my copy of the keys for the apartment.
• I lost my sun cream and I end up red like a danish in southern Spain.

Pictures

Salvador de Bahia
Praia da Forte & Summer Festival

More Info

Tags: Bahía, Beach, Salvador