The Jewel of Bahia

Salvador...the city raved about as the jewel of Bahia, the heart and soul of Brazilian music, a gleaming gem in tropical waters. I have to disagree. While our stay may have been tainted by not having a lot of cash to throw around and enjoy most of the cuisine and things of the sort that Salvador has to offer, I found it to be too overrun with tourists to really have any authenticity left. The historic center was full of beautiful, colourful colonial buildings, but they were all very obviously recently restored and full of expensive cafes and restaurants, basically catering solely to tourism and nothing else.

The setting of the city was gorgeous, nestled on a tip of the country that juts into the blue/green waters of the Atlantic ocean. With white sand beaches and a warm breeze constantly washing over the city, there's really no room for complaints. My favourite beach we visited was one in Porto do Barra. It was a small cove with warm, calm water and absolutely perfect for swimming.

One of the highlights of my trip so far was during the afternoon we spent at this beach. On one side of the small bay, right next to a lighthouse, there is a stone staircase that goes down into the water. Young boys, around ten years old, were swarming all over it jumping into the ocean and showing off. Daniel and I walked over to jump off, and as soon as I walked down the steps all the boys started chattering to each other in Portuguese and grinning up at me with these wide, mischevious white smiles. One of them reached out and pretended to push me into the water, which I of course shrieked at. That sent them into wild fits of giggles and just then, the same boy wrapped his arms around my waist and jumped into the water, taking me right in with him. As soon as I came up for air, he quickly wrapped his arms around me again and dragged me back to the steps, the whole time shouting to his friends, "eu seu salvavidas!" (I'm the lifeguard!). Once back at the steps, another one of the boys reached his hand down and promptly hoisted my entire self out of the water, only to demonstrate exactly how he wanted me to dive back in and instructing me to follow his example. Their laughter and grins were too cute for words.

I tried one of the typical Bahian delicacies called acaraje, and although interesting, I don't think I'll be purchasing another. It's basically a ball of dough deep fried in palm oil and stuffed with a gooey, orange paste tasting of ocean and fish. Acaraje is topped with small shrimp seasoned with lots of salt and chopped tomato and onion. Basically a fried bomb hitting your stomach and if eaten in the middle of the day at lunchtime, put you right to sleep. But as one of my only variations from a strict diet of ham and cheese sandwiches and mangos, it was not unwelcome. I did think of Katherine and her fetish for fried food while eating it though.

This morning we left Salvador in the company of an Australian girl studying abroad with Daniel in Rio, Zoe, (they randomly bumped into each other at the beach in Salvador) and a Canadian guy she met on the bus called Steve. Zoe won me over when she ate a kilo of mangos in one sitting and Steve won me over because he reminds me a lot of cousin Cata. I won my badge as top negotiator when we got off the bus and were swarmed by people trying to take us to their homes or hostels. They were literally like mosquitos, offering lodgings for R$30. In the end, the four of us ended up in a cute little white house with bright blue trimming with a living room, a bedroom, another random room a table and another mattress on the floor, a kitchen (with a working blender to make fresh juice!!!) and a bathroom off the back. You're probably all imagining it to be much nicer than it really is when in reality it's got dingy cement floors and bare bones furnishing, but it's cheap and comfortable and serves our purpose. And instead of paying the originally quoted R$30, we're each paying 10 a night.

We're in a small town called Lençois right next to a national park that is apparently one of the highlights of the entire country. The town is beautiful, slightly dead, but all cobblestone streets lined with pretty little colourful houses. People are friendly and sincere, unlike people in Salvador trying to take advantage of you constantly. We're nestled about six hours inland in the middle of mountainous jungle and will spend all day tomorrow exploring the surrounding natural beauty.

A capoeira show is starting soon in the town square, so I will now bid farewell. More news from the jungle coming soon...