Salvador, Brazil, South America

I got a taxi into the city center today to meet Rafael, and it was really good having a local with me. I could have taken the bus, but I wasn’t too comfortable getting the right bus on the way there, so I opted for a taxi. The first night I arrived in Salvador I saw about 30 people get on a bus, and every one of them either jumped the turnstile in the bus, or came in through the window so they wouldn’t have to pay the R$3.50 (£0.75) for the fare. It didn’t look like the most welcoming of journeys.

I got the taxi to the Lacerda Elevator and waited for Rafael there. I only had to wait for about five minutes before he got there, and then I got the chance to actually take a look at the nice part of Salvador. We took the elevator down to the lower level of the city at first, and checked out the local market. It was full of artesian crafts and the normal magnets, t-shirts, and other crap. We walked down to the main church of the city and it was pretty nice looking, especially compared to its surroundings. There were a lot of buildings that look like they were beautiful when they were first built about fifty years ago, but they have been neglected and look pretty bad now. It reminded me a bit of Havana, Cuba in that way.

We took the elevator back up to the top part of the city and had a walk around Pelorinho. It’s a very nice looking part of the city, the only bad thing about it is that it’s so small. The only place I felt really safe in the city of Salvador was like a three block radius. There were all kinds of decorations for Carnaval that were still up, so the city center was looking very festive. We walked around for a while and checked out a couple of Olodum places. It’s a kind of drumming school and they perform out in the streets. Michael Jackson had come to Salvador and made a music video called “They Don’t Care About Us” back in 1996. There are posters of him all over the place and a shop even had this music video on loop. I guess it was a pretty big deal that he came here.

After walking around the city for a few hours we grabbed a bus from the city center and it took me straight back to the apartment. Rafael’s house was right on the way so he got off and I continued on by myself. He told me to stay in the aisle seat instead of taking the window seat because it’s safer that way. No one can pin you in against the window and try to mug you that way. Nice city. That’s what you have to think about when you get on a bus. Crazy.

I got back to the apartment around 2pm and have just chilled here for the rest of the day. There’s not much else I wanted to check out here, so the apartment is the nicest place I can think of to hang out here. Tomorrow I’m heading out to Manaus, so hopefully I’ll feel a bit safer there. I can’t believe that’s going to be the last new place I see on this one year trip! It really has flown by!!