Quiet Salvador

And now, for my touristic experience of Salvador…

As you know, Salvador de Bahia is renowned for its massively festive carnival earlier in the year. Due to my reluctance to be in a crowded environs (mostly having to do with ridiculous accommodation fees), I'm now here during the quiet, off season.

I arrived a couple of nights ago, on a relatively uncomfortable bus ride. The quality of buses in this country is definitely not up to par with Chile and Argentina. Considering the high fares, I was expecting much better treatment! Slightly disappointing…

Anyways, took the taxi (15BRL) from there to my hostel. Well, actually, because cars aren't allowed in some parts of the old town Pelourinho district, the driver dropped me off in front of the main church square. I had no clue which direction to head from there, but the guy handed me over to another guy who happened to be in the square who also happened to be the owner of the hostel to take me to the hostel. Huh… suspicious. But I followed. And turns out that he was telling the truth.

~ Please read my earlier entry for my "interesting" experience at the hostel. But don't be deterred from staying there - it's an awesome, friendly guesthouse : ) ~

Because Pelourinho = old town, you can imagine what it's like - cobblestoned streets lined with old, colorful buildings, and many churches. Very touristy area, I admit. Still beautiful and enjoyable : ) Reminded me a bit of Cuba.Here's my favorite shot:This one in the main area can be some European city, huh?!I didn't go into the museum on the left, but there's a nice, modern cafe on the ground floor for some refreshments.

So, I spent the majority of my time here just wandering around the historical district. There's supposed to be a wonderful beach nearby, but I didn't bother, having been beached out in this country.

And I was a bit too lazy to even take the "elevador" down to the port area, where the main market is located, although I did walk over to check out the "elevador" itself. Then it hit me… "huh, this is like Portugal! same function, same concept." And then it dawned on me… "duuuuuhhhhhhh, they speak Portugese here!"

(Traveling on my own, I often have these one man conversations by myself. Not out loud, though…well, rarely…)

The food here is fantastic! Categorized as "African-Brazilian" cuisine, it's spicy and to my liking! Probably not very healthy, considering that the local women selling these snacks were often on the heavier/bigger side of the scale…

Yet, I tried some street food as well as some buffet style joints for variety. Yummy everything.

The acaraje (I think): Easiest description would be fried dough with spice paste and veggies. TAAAAASTYYYYY : )

The artwork here was intriguing as well. Lots of small stalls selling funky stuff. Wish I had backpack space and money to buy some…

It makes me sad to realize that I haven't bought any artsy souvenirs throughout my whole trip. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a house decorated with local crafts and memorabelias?! (I need to work on the "house" part soon…)

Tomorrow morning, I'm heading down to Rio. Yaaaaaaay!

Flying, as a bus ride would've been too time consuming.