25/02/20
Under 6 hours of this coach to go. So far I've eaten half a huge bag of sweet giant crunchy maíz and it's kind of gross like eating dried sugar puffs. In my defence, I thought they were salty when I bought them. I've also munched through a pack of fried aipim and some choc chip cookies. Been farting a lot, but quietly so the rest of the coach don't know where the silent-but-deadlies are coming from.
I'm not sure if the antihistamines had the desired effect because I still woke up at 6:30am and lay in diagonal back pain, waiting for our 2pm arrival time to come. Cut to us in a taxi en route to our hostel, favelas flashing past our window and tired faces staring at us from bus stops. I felt lucky and guilty that the luxury of an uber journey was such an affordable option for us. We wondered what Café Kebab Hostel had in store for us. Was it a cafe by day, a kebab shop by night and a hostel 24/7? We rang the doorbell beside the metal gates and waited, peering at the empty tables dotted around the patio on the other side. A slow moving chiller in long beach shorts and a backwards snapback sauntered over to let us in, and let the sound of bossa nova out as it played on the speakers at the reception desk. He welcomed us in Portuguese and gave us a tour. Oddly enough, we understood 90% of what he said because he pronounced every word so calmly and slowly. We soon realised he was the only member of staff, there was no cafe or kebab shop to provide lunch and our dorm was the only one in the hostel. We unpacked in darkness so not to disturb some of our roommates who were sleeping off their hangovers. I slightly envied the nappers as we left to wander through town in search of lunch and Salvador's carnival.
The old town was full of people dressed in colourful outfits matching the painted walls of busy streets. Every square had its own mini parade of dancers and musicians all playing together. We weaved our way through the crowds and found ourselves in the main bloco, watching a big party bus blasting music from the top. We were too tired to get back on the sauce, but realised this too late, as we were stuck behind the party bus and unable to go back the way we came. All the small streets and squares had been blocked off to control the crowd surrounding the bus, which had stopped for a singer and her band to perform. People were going mad for her, so Jem and I guessed we'd maybe stumbled on the equivalent of Lily Allen making a surprise appearance at Notting Hill Carnival. Eventually we walked the long way round, stopped to try a tapioca at a food stand and then surprised the hostel owner with our early and sober return.
The next day we were in the mood for some culture. We peeked in the Cathedral of Salvador to stare at the golden ceilings, ornate shrines and enjoy some shade for a cool minute. We then took the old elevator shaft from the old town down to harbour-front level and walked for ages trying to find a Museum which turned out to be closed. From there we tried to walk to the beach but not before accidentally striding idiotically into somewhere that felt halfway between a residential neighbourhood and a favela. People sitting in the perceived comfort of plastic chairs gave us some strange looks. Laughing nervously and sweating profusely, we doubled back on ourselves, made it to the beach and strolled around the lighthouse looking out to sea.
Most restaurants were closed so we found an overpriced tourist trap where we could waste some money on some substandard food. Jem's bright wotsit-coloured cheese fries were a bit of an eyesore and left a lot to be desired. That said, my carpaccio was quite tasty. We were still suffering our sriracha-sauce-for-skin condition from Rio so after an hour on the beach we decided to ask a pharmacy for something to soothe our poor skin. The cynic in me raised an eyebrow at the basic-looking drogaría and debated whether we would even find something to remedy the soreness, let alone an english speaking pharmacist. We were amazed when the first person we asked replied in good english and told us: "you need a special cream to treat this condition, it is...how you say in english...it is fungos". Apparently, when you get bad sunburn you get white spots on your skin before it peels, and this is aforementioned "foongoos". Anyway, we bought the cream, slapped it on good and thick for the week to come and before long our skin was smooth and sting-free. What a success.
We redeemed our lunchtime gastronomic disappointment by having moqueça for dinner, a delicious traditional stew served with rice, fried banana, sweet potato puree and farofa (breadcrumbs). It was the first proper meal since our coach journey (!) and it was the perfect one to finish Salvador on.
Salvador Carnival
The difference between carnival in Rio and Salvador was mainly the smaller size but the bigger sense of community. Everyone seemed to know everyone and it was far more welcoming and far less overwhelming than the scale of crowds in Rio. It's probably a better idea to start your carnival journey here as a warm up and then move south for Sao Paolo and Rio (we didn't catch carnival in SP sadly).
Accommodation - Cafe Kebab Hostel
This hostel holds a place in my heart mainly thanks to the sweet owner. I would recommend it to any traveller as it is ideally located in the historical centre (5 minutes from all the small squares where the parades were taking place) and it is surrounded by a variety of bars and restaurants.
Food
Tapioca
This is a Brazilian street food must-try. It is a white chewy type of crêpe, served with savoury or sweet fillings. Keep an eye out for them as they are a great snack/filling enough to be a cheap and easy lunch option.
Restaurante Odoya
This simple restaurant was where we tried moqueça for the first time and loved it! We had a veggie one but the chicken one looked very tempting too.
>>>restauranteodoya.com.br
Culture
Catedral Basílica de Salvador
If you need a break from the heat and want to stare at something beautiful, cathedrals are the ideal pit stop to get some shade and feel at peace for a minute. The basilica charged 5R$ entry (only 74p) for the pleasure.
Praia do Farol da Barra
Though there are quite a few beaches to choose from, this one was the easiest for us to get to and had the added bonus of the lighthouse to visit. On the beach, chairs (cadeiras) and umbrellas (sombrinhas) were about 10R$ for the day and worth the investment if you are still getting used to the Brazilian sun.
Next Stop...
27/02/20
At 7am we said farewell to Cafe Kebab Hostel and set off to Itacaré, our next destination. We got a ferry to Itaparica at 8am but our bus to Itacaré was at 11:20 so we had a boring wait. Finally, at 5:30 we arrived in Itacaré, but the ten minute walk to the hostel with our rucksacks on in the boiling heat felt longer than our five hour bus. At last, we were checking into the beautiful beach-facing Casarão Verde and could bask in that warm feeling of post-exhaustion achievement. I instantly fell in love with our new home for the next 4 nights and already dreaded the idea that we would be leaving it behind.
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