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I keep meaning to write this but then something really good happens or I get chatting to someone really interesting and it gets put to one side.
We're now in Salvador da Bahia (although leaving tonight) after an epic 33 hour bus journey but more on that later. Last time I wrote we were heading off for a night out in Rio to a place called Lapa, with lots of other hostellers. We were meant to be going to a club to dance forra but none of us had ID and it was too expensive so we made our own party on the street in front of one of the clubs. It was ace - we had a street seller making us amazing caiprinhas for less than £2 and a live samba band playing right next to us! We then headed to some ghetto club led by some "secret Brazilian policeman(?)" who reckoned he had taken it upon himself to look after us for the night! To be fair he did just that questioning anyone who came to speak to us, even thought there were enough of us to look after each other. In fact the club was only small and I reckon we took up half of it!
Again we've met some amazing people including a fab couple who we are meeting up with on new years eve at a bar in Sydney and also a guy who has just spent 15 years designing and building a concept race car (0-60 in 3 seconds for those into cars! Seen the pics and it is very cool). We've also experienced the crazy bus and taxi drivers who drive like they stole it. It's like whacky races on the roads.
The pic I have chosen for this blog is quite apt (although the choice isn't great and I haven't yet had a chance to put any piccies up) as we have tried every street food going. We've had the melted cheese on a stick, shrimps with lime, street meat, fried shrimp and bean fritters...and I still, fingers crossed, haven't been ill. It's so cheap and literally everywhere you go you can find something including expressos, coconuts (good for hydration and hangovers), popcorn and corn on the cob. Some of the carts the sellers have made are ingenious but it must still be really hard work manoeuvering them around all day.
The part of Rio we were staying in was Ipanema (meaning 'bad water') and it is the showy part of Rio where people go to be seen. Lots of really posh shops-we were staying round the corner from Luis Vuitton and most of the shops have guys in suits guarding them. There is such a huge contrast between the rich and the poor with posh shops on one street, favelas and street kids on the next. It is really hard seeing the poverty here and you can only hope that the govt will get better at sorting out these massive social problems.
We spent a couple more days wandering around the beaches and the city and of course the shops. Pretty expensive here though (girls -Mango is soo much cheaper at home!) and I haven't really bought anything yet....apart from a couple of pairs of Haivainas (flip flops to those not in the know) as it'd be rude not to. Also some essential travellers beads! They are made from acai berries found in the amazon (which makes the nicest sucos but is extremely calorific) and I haggled and got them for about £2 -bet you couldn't even get them in Primark for that!
Went to Lapa again on the Friday night for the weekly street party. Think the whole hostel went and by the time Orlando had taken us all across in his VW campervan it was around midnight but this is best time to go as it just gets started then. It was crazy! There were so many people there completely filling the streets with loads of local live music in all the different streets. We met some lovely lovely Brazilians and danced til dawn!
Saturday was spent recovering on the beach and packing for our early morning bus. Then in the evening we went to Mangueira to the samba school to get involved with the carnaval rehearsals. The school is on the edge of a favela and so we went for a drink in one of the favela bars first (with a tour so perfectly safe) and it was really interesting to see. It's a proper community with bars, shops etc and according to our guide nobod causes trouble within the favela as the drug lord will just kill them. They don't want any trouble and definitely rule over the police who are paid off. The samba school was incredible -everybody comes together in what looks like a school gym and there are about 50-100 people with drums and everyone dances, sings and does this procession with flags. Had some amazing fruit caiprioskas and some not so great FFC (favela fried chicken).
So we reluctantly left Rio on Sun morn and pretty much slept for the entire journey to Salvador (the coaches are soo comfy -I'm def not talking National Express). It was supposed to take 26 hours but took 33 as there was an accident en route which meant traffic had backed up in the middle of nowhere, so the driver just switched off his engine and we sat there for 4 hours. Glad we had an onboard toilet.When you are travelling across Brazil you do get a sense of just how huge it is -we travelled for miles without passing a sole.
Salvador is a really interesting place, known as the African soul of Brazil -where African slave descendants have really preserved there culture. We're staying in Pelourinho in Cidade Alte, which is very pretty with beautiful colonial buildings and where most of the history and tourism is. We've spent a lot of time just wandering around this week exploring and being a lot more chilled out and cultural! I was a bit nervous about coming here as according to the guide book if you are going to get mugged or pickpocketed in Brazil this is the place for it! Even though the world and his mother is trying to sell you something or asks you for money or even some of the food you are eating I've felt pretty safe and it's all been fine.
We stayed in an international hostel for the first two nights and even though it was ok and the communal areas were nice the rooms were tiny and everyone kept themselves to themselves apart from one ozzy dude who we hung around with. Then we met this English guy called Paulo who happened to run a hostel down the road with his beautiful boxerdog puppy Spartan (or Sparticus as Kate has taken to calling him) and he told us he did good cheap food-both of which sold it to me! It is brilliant here I love it! The people we've met have all been really friendly and it's like being in someone's home but in a good unintruding way. Paulo is an amazing cook and we have had delicious cheap food every night (£2 for a big veg stew anyone?!) He's even taken to testing new dishes on us since we've pretty much worked our way down the menu. If you come to Salvador you have to stay at Galeria 13 (no I'm not on commission).
Anyway on the Tuesday we went out as it is the big night in Salvador called Blessed Tuesday. Lots of live music sand dancing all for free around the city, including a concert on the church steps. We bumped into Claire who we met in Rio and spent some time with her and some other guys we had met at the hostel. One of the guys is like the next Bear Grylls - he's a real adventurer. "Did I tell you about the time I camped in the Amazon and wolves were outside my tent? Or the time I was shot in Cambodia?!" A brilliant person to explore with though as he's so open and interested you see a lot of things. Went to a capoeira school, had a nosey in a place they are going to be holding concerts in but not allowed to take pics as top secret. Only cos we were foreign and travelling that they let us in! Ate in a delicious backstreet per kilo restaurant and wandered into the Escola de Danca to watch rehearsals (3 muscly men dancing around in their pants -not something I was going to say no to). Took a trip to some local beaches and we were the only tourists which was great and even though we did get stared at everyone was so friendly and just wanted to find out what we were doing there. Went to a famous ice cream place and tried lots of different flavours including tapioca and caju (the fruit from the cashew nut).
In the evening we went to watch Bali Folclorico da Bahia which as a dance show with all the different traditional African dances including the most incredible capoeira -these guys were also doing backflips in such quick succession it was unbelievable to watch. Yesterday we went to a turtle reserve in Prai do Forte about an hour and a half away and were very chuffed with ourselves since we rebelled against the tour companies and did what they were charging 60 reals for 20! Chilled on the beautiful beach, wandered around and felt very local when we were the only gringos on the mini bus back! Also bought a pen from a guy on the bus who we thought was preaching until he pulled out his array of pens. It really was a good sales pitch especially when he tapped it on the window to show it wouldn't break. Had nothing too do with the fact the pen was 30p and I needed one..
We heading to Lincoise to do some trekking and climbing today.
Hope you are all well and sorry this is so long once I start I can't stop!
Lots of love Ellie xxxx
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