We had 3 nights in Salvadore, which is the capital of the state Bahia here in Brazil. We had a long drive to get here and were glad to reach the hotel and lie in air con for a while. Met up and went out for dinner. Ended up being about 11 of us in our group and we went to this little cafe and sat out in the street. We ordered pizzas and they took a while to come out. Brought all but 2 pizza's out and said 'no more'. We said 'yes, 2 more'. He replied 'no more pizza'. We guess they ran out of dough and didn't think to tell us before. Michaela and I who were going to share one decided to go elsewhere. Ran into some of the other guys but they had been waiting a while for their food to come out. In the end, we had a rather decent meal from street vendors. From one we had cheese on a stick that he grilled in his little portable grill with hot coals and from another lady we had chicken kebabs with salad and beans. Cost us about US$2,00 and one of the best meals we've had.

Next day wandered down to the historical part of the city which is where most of the touristy things are. Visited a couple of museums and did some window shopping. Lunch in a cafe and some internet where I found out some rather good news about someone I know and a lottery win. Got back to the hotel to find out that those people that had waited until here to extend their Brazilian visa had quite a time of it. First heading to a police station that no longer did it and then making their way to the airport (I had told the tour leader I had read somewhere you could only do it at the airport). Cost them time and taxi money. Had a quiet night in, fighting a battle with the air con. It was either feast or famine. Have it on and freeze (they had removed all the control swithces) or have it off and die of heat.

2nd day in Salvadore and Michaela and I did some shopping. We bought some leather shoes from the markets and picked up a few gifts. Lots of other window shopping, nice little lunch, a visit to the San Francisco church which definitely had a WOW factor. It was only a small church but inside there was so much gold leaf, cherubs, angels - some of which were pregnant and more gold leaf. Quite over whelming. Someone obviously didn't know how to say NO MORE.

We spent the arvo in the movie theatre watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button which we enjoyed. At the end of the movie we just looked at each other and laughed at each others red eyes (we cried just a little at the end of the movie). Another quiet night in, another battle with the air con.