19:00 - Today After breakfast and after arranging the pick up time for my 'panoramic' tour in the afternoon, I went off for a walk in the Pelourinho which is just 300/400m from the Pousada I am staying at. In day time it all looks better, although it is evident that the stretch between where I sleep and the start of the historic centre is definately a rough area. It is also very important always to do a left left coming out of the hotel...if you go right it gets even worse! :-) Which is the side I came up with the taxi last night, so no wonder it looked scary. The funniest thing about my walk was having the locals twice advising me to put my camera away (at which point I did and didn't take it out again) and once advising me against going in the direction of the hotel from the Pelourinho. That tells you what they think about their own town...and this area in particular. The Pelourinho itself it's pretty with its cobbled street, art shops and galleries, cafes and shops. It is also very colourful and from what I understood from one of the ladies in the hotel, you are actually not allowed to change the colour of your housemas it is of historic importance. Someven Pousada Redfish that I am staying in, when it was restructured, it was repainted the original colour: green. In had lunch in a cafe/restaurant just up the road from Redfish. The view was spledid, over the bay. What can I say about the food...mmmmm...the choice was limited and I went with the grilled chicken as I thought it the safest option (the place did not look particularly clean but I did not fancy walking all the way back to the top of the Pelourinho). The cutlery was not the cleanest I have ever seen and guess what: my chicken was served with rice and beans! Now I know I am back in Brasil :-). I guess if I don't catch anything from this meal, I should be ok for the rest of the trip...
After lunch I went back fornthe pickup. Two chaps turned up and apparently I was the only client for the afternoon, so I got special treatment and my tour was in Italian! First since I left London! I can't remember their names (I could make them up I guess), but the guide definately isn't into working too hard. He showed me and spoke about the local religion and showed me the sacred lake with the most important divinities. Each divinity has a different colour attached to it. They sell coloured strips that you can buy depending on which divinity you want the help of... Fortune, health, etc... They are also each related to a Cristian saint. So when we visited the church of Bomfin, all round the gates of the church, people at tied strips requesting a miracle of some sort. I left a strip there myself :-). If it gets granted they then leave something (a picture, a wax limb etc) in an annexe of the church dedicated to it. After the church visit, we really saw 2 beaches and an artists workshop (a chap that painted tiles). This guy is apparently pretty famous for his work and even AC Milan when they came over to buy Kaka, commissioned 500 pieces to be given to a select number of people. Even the Vatican buys from here! I did ask why the house of this artisan looked like it was abandoned (look at the picture). He said that the artist kept it as it was when his father had it and that there wasn't much point in painting the houses in general as eventually you woukd have to repaint them! How about that for attitude! He also explained that in Salvador it is not unusual to get robbed (it's happened to him also). If someone points a knife at you, you just give them what they want and say 'go in peace'. It's the best way, and there's not much point in stressing about it. At a certain point he was also singing a song by a chap called Renato Russo (no idea who he is) and said how people here just liked enjoying themselves and are not too keen on working. So, as a demontration, he called a girlfriend of his to see if she was at home, so that we could go around for Caipirinhas and food (at 4 in the afternoon I would have presumed she would be at work)... She was out... So, after showing me the Market Modelo, they dropped me back at the hotel. The sun sets quite early up here this time of year, so I headed off to Cafelier, not far from the Pousada, to whatch it (I think it sets at about 5.30pm). I've just had a shower and I'll head out (left left :-) ) in a little while for dinner in the main square of the Pelourinho in a place I saw when I was walking by today.