We were pretty happy to arrive in Salvador after the godawful (or amazing according to Jonny) boat trip from Manuas to Santarem and then the 3 flights to take us from Santarem back to Manuas (!), Manuas to Brasilia and Brasilia to Salvador. Miracurously all our bags made it and we rocked up to the hostel about 1am on Sunday morning.

Next day Jonny marked his arrival at the hostel by waking up half the guests by cheering really loudly at the Man United v Liverpool game (cringe). Later we headed down to the beach and as it was a Sunday all the locals were hanging out, listening to music, dancing and there was a proper party atmosphere. There were SO many men, I think the boys were a bit disappointed that for once there was more eye candy for us girls than for them!! However one thing did not change - they still stared and laughed at us lots, seems to be a common way to treat gringos in Brazil! There is a large Afro-Caribbean population in Salvador and seriously have never felt so pasty in my life ... one of the locals actually commented that we mustn't get much sun in England because I was so white. How rude!! That night we headed out to get some cheap tea and ended up at a pizza place that seemed to specialise in semi raw pizzas. Then being Sunday night it was pretty quiet so just had an early night. Monday was spent getting some jobs done like posting stuff back home and generally sorting ourselves out. We had a welcome meeting with the hostel owner- an english guy from Manchester - to tell us about all the stuff to do in Salvador. He seemed to enjoy scare mongering us (do NOT stay out in town after 10pm, do NOT eat street food, do NOT drink Caiprinhas as the ice will make you sick etc etc) - we were getting the impression he wanted us just to stay in the hostel the whole time! That night Jonny took me out for a meal to celebrate passing my exams and we had the local speciality called Muqueca which is a sort of fish stew that had been recommended to us - it was a lucky dip as we could not really understand the menu with it being all in Portugese (I really struggle anywhere outside of France ha) - but it was really good and we were both pleased we got to sample something a bit different! Tuesday we went body boarding which I had been dying to do... have not done it for years and wanted to show Jonny how it was done! However..... the waves were massive so it was dead tiring (not as young as we used to be), and got knocked over lots! Think I only managed to get one good wave the whole time! Cue being heckled (again) by some locals who were somehow doing all sorts of rolls and flips etc on their boards. More practice needed methinks!

Tuesday night is a big night in Salvador so we headed over to the old town to check it out. It turned out to be a huge street party with drinks food music and dancing round all the tiny cobbled streets. We found two guys who were dancing and we started copying their moves, until there was a big crowd of gringos all dancing behind these two guys along to the bongo drums. I managed to pick up the moves a lot quicker than Jonny. It was really good fun and a good workout! It was just getting to our 10pm curfew and we could tell the atmosphere was definitely beginning to change. This crack head girl that we had previously seen fighting another girl snatched 20 reals literally straight out of one of our hands, and this other guy tried to pickpocket Sowers....luckily he has cat like reflexes and managed to fend off this attack. So we were starting to feel a bit uncomfortable and were just getting ready to head back to the hostel, when like a knight in shining armour (or should I say with dread locks) one of the local guys we befriended during our dancing took us to a......SALSA CLUB!!!!! Time for me and Jonny to bust out a few moves. We were a bit rusty at first but soon got into the swing of it. We thought we looked really cool but we had had a few Skols by this point so were probably being laughed at by locals again! Was such a brilliant night we were all still buzzing the next day

Wednesday we decided it was time to hit up some of the local Salvadorian sites so we went to visit the lighthouse (although not the toe path because according to russell we would definitely get mugged) as well as the fort and a mini version of Christ the Redeemer (although again we were told to admire them from afar because we would definitely get mugged here too).

After pottering about a bit longer, we headed into town in the evening to see a traditional Salvadorian show at the theatre which had been recommended to us- however it had already sold out by the time we arrived so we went for more more Muqueca (shrimp this time-v good) in THE most deserted restaurant ever and decided to go to see it the next night instead.
Thursday, after booking flights to rio (result- no 26 hr bus) in the morning we went to visit the old town to take in the sights. We spent the afternoon finally managing to buy tickets fir the show, pottering about and got dragged into a really expensive jewellery shop by a saleswoman (I can't figure out how the woman thought we could afford it based on what we were wearing). All the girls got a free silver charm as a gift but we still made a swift exit!!
That night we went to the traditional show. There was lots of singing and dancing to bongo drums which was good to watch but tbh I didn't really have the foggiest what it was supposed to represent!! The highlight was the Capoeira dancing - which is mock fighting but without hitting each other- lots of men with six packs!!!!
Friday we went to the Itaporeca island which is an hour away by boat from Salvador. There we spent a lot of time on the beach, but not nearly as long as we waited for the food we ordered for our lunch!! Friday night we cooked in the hostel then went out to the local bars for a few drinks and ended up at a music bar. The night ended early when a fight broke out, and the stupid system at the bar meant we ended up losing 20 reals and paying for drinks we didn't even order!! Expensive night but luckily Saturday was a cheap day, packing up and getting ready to move on from Salvador.
Next stop Rio!!!!!