Hi everyone, here's what we've been up to in Salvador since we arrived:

On Wednesday, we left our hostel in Foz do Iguaçu for the airport at around 2. Our flight left slightly behind time for Curitiba, but made it up so that we could make our connection on to Salvador at 5.15. A slight moment of concern passed without hitch, when there was a distinct lack of signage for connectioins, and we nearly left the arrivals section! Other than that the flight went fairly pleasantly. We got into Salvador just after 8, and jumped in a taxi over to our pousada (guesthouse) in Santo Antonio, which seems a really cool area of the city.

As soon as we'd dumped our stuff, we got ready to dash out for dinner. We didn't know how safe it would be, venturing out, as Salvador has a reputation for crime, so when a Brazilian guy in the hotel asked if we wanted him to walk down with us, we agreed. What we didn't realise was that he was a fellow guest, had only arrived three hours before, hadn't got a restaurant in mind, and spoke very confusing English! We also didn't know therefore that he was planning to eat out as well! We picked a place called Ristorante Al Carmo, but he refused to sit with us, eating on his own. This made us feel pretty bad, though attempts to talk to him were difficult to say the least! Our food took an absolute age to come, and we thought he was waiting for us...luckily, when he had finished his dessert before we'd even got our main, he came over to say goodbye and left. Pretty strange! Apart from the slow-service, the restuarant had a really nice ambience, with a balcony overlooking the Lower City and bay, twinkling with lights. We liked it enough to go back on our second night.

Yesterday we did some sightseeing and wandering around the Pelourinho, the main touristy area of Salvador. We started off, however, in the Lower City, and visited a market held in the old customs house, where shipments of slaves were stored in the past, before auction. It was a lively place, full of souvenirs and odd bits and bobs, and Jo and I ended up buying ourselves something. To get up to the Pelourinho from here, we had to take the art-deco Elevador Lacerda, a beautiful building with great views at the top from Praça Municipal. Up here we got a real feel for Salvador, wandering between amazing colonial buildings, bright colours everywhere (both people's clothing and the building's exteriors), fresh coconuts and all manner of fruits on vendors' carts and cobblestone praças (squares) and streets, up and down a very hilly centre. We particularly liked the pretty Praça da Se, which had a fountain in the middle. At the Terreiro de Jesus, a big square with capoeira artists (a form of dance/martial art founded in Bahia, with particular African ex-slave origins), we went inside the Catedral Basilica, a fine example of simple Jesuit architecture. We also went in the Igreja da Ordem Terceira do Carmo, the Igreja e Convento São Francisco and the Igreja da Terceira Ordem de São Francisco, all mouthfuls! They were all impressive in their own ways, but the best was the Igreja e Convento São Francisco, which was extremely opulent. It had a silver chandelier, weighing 80kg and wooden carvings covered in gold leaf.

Today was our final day here in Salvador. This morning we caught a taxi out to the Igreja Ns do Bonfim, possibly the most important church in Salvador. Whilst nothing particularly spectacular, when compared with the buildings in the Pelourinho, there is an interesting 'Room of Miracles', where photos, letters and waxwork body parts are left by those seeking cures from particular ailments. All fairly weird. The church is also the principal sight for Candomblista, the religion African slaves brought with them to the city in the 16th century, which has become syncretisised with Christianity. Brightly coloured ribbons are a souvenir of the church, and were sold outside by pushy vendors. These ribbons adorned the church's front gate. In the afternoon we visited the Barra neighbourhood of the city, where we went on a short walk along the beachside promenade by Praia do Farol da Barra. We stopped for a coconut juice and passionfruit juice, and surveyed from the restaurant the Forte de Santo Antônio da Barra, which contains within its walls South America's oldest lighthouse.

This evening we went to a spectacular and really enjoyable dance show at a theatre, put on by the Fundação Balé Folclórico da Bahia. We watched various dances which were part of the Candomblé religion, where the dancer each took on the form of specific gods. Jo's and my mouths dropped open at the 'Fire Dance', performed by one rather large chap, who carried baking clay trays with fire burning on them, two in his hands, one on his head, as he danced. It got crazier when he walked through fire (you could actually see his foot on fire for a couple of seconds afterwards!), rub fire all over his chest and nonchalanty pick up the paper with the flames on and eat them! The capoeira at the end was also astounding, with the dancers/fighters doing flips, spins and the splits, coming within inches of kicking each other, they were that good. All the dancing was really athletic and nimble, and they literally didn't stop for the whole hour. They were backed up by drummers who almost got as much exercise, the way they continued to pound them, and two women who sang in Yoruba (a Nigerian language). It was a real syncretisation of Portuguese, African and indigenous Indian influences, and could only have happened here in Salvador.

We loved our two full days here, and are now ready to move on tomorrow morning to Morro de São Paulo, which we're hoping is going to be as enjoyable!