We really over estimated how much we could do in Brazil with limited time.Once we left Rio, we had two weeks before we had to be back and in that time we wanted to see three places: the Pantanal, Salvador da Bahia, and Ouro Preto (which is fairly close to Rio).Three places in two weeks seemed reasonable until the distances were put into the equation and it was clear that traveling from Rio to the Bolivian border and then going all the way to the Atlantic coast and then back to Rio was perhaps insane.This occurred to us when we were on our second 20+ hour bus ride to Brasilia (the capitol) where we would need to get on another bus that would take us to Salvador 24 hours later. In total it would be 46 hours on a bus from the Pantanel to Salvador and we were feeling pretty down in the dumps.

We decided that what we needed was a break… from everything.So we booked ourselves into a luxury hotel in Brasilia, gratefully accepted an upgrade to suite and didn't leave the building for 24 hours.We spent our time scrubbing off Pantanal grime from our bodies and clothes, slept on our king-size bed, ordered room service, worked out in the gym, uploaded our backlog of blogs and caught up on a lot of American TV shows.It might sound crazy that we didn't explore the city at all but that day in the suite was perfect.Reluctantly, we checked out the next morning and got back on the bus for the second half of the journey to Salvador.

The bus ride was terrible.The bus broke down which caused a delay and the other passengers were very loud and made it difficult to sleep - but this I can deal with.What I could not deal with was waking up in the night to find bugs crawling all over us!After that I couldn't sleep a wink and was desperate to get off.All I kept thinking was that Salvador better be worth it…

Luckily, Salvador was worth it and from the moment we were dropped off in the centre of town (called the Pelourinho) we were blown away by the cobbled streets, colonial architecture and the music playing from every shop and restaurant.This is what I expected Brazil to be like.A friend of ours told us that Salvador is brilliant and terrifying at the same time and we have also found that to be true.Wandering around the city, you instantly become aware of the poverty and you are constantly accosted by people wanting money and this puts you on edge all of the time.But on the other side, the city is fantastic with immeasurable beauty and liveliness.

On our first day we went for a good traditional Bahian meal (always accompanied by white rice, beans and a type of dry cornmeal), went to a capoeira show which was truly incredible (check out the video) though they did require audience participation which was cringy but fun, and drank caipirinhas outside watching a local band play Brazilian pop songs.Music is everywhere and even when the band took a break a guy from the audience picked up the guitar and stated to sing.When he stopped another started! By far, the best night we have had in Brazil yet (with the fancy hotel coming in second).

More from Salvador next time.

Love, R & A