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It was hot, even at 9am it was hovering around 35 degrees. We walked sweating to the main road out of Salvador to flag down a local bus to Arembepe.
On the local buses in Brazil you board at the back, pay the man and pass through a small turnstyle. Not an easy thing to do with a massive backpack on, much to the amusement of the entire bus! Once
out of Salvador palm trees took the place of buildings as we cruised along the coconut road. A couple of hours later we arrived in the ex hippie village / fishing port of Arembepe.
Arembepe is a one road village, with life centered around the small square and beach. The small wooden fishing boats coming and going and the men of the village playing dominoes by street light of an
evening. It was definitely going to be a place to relax into the slow pace of Bahian life. We rented a rustic cabana on the beach complete with resident family of cockroaches, much to Emma's disgust,
but with a little forceful persuasion and much blocking up of holes they vacated the premises.
We walked along the beach which was protected from the worst of the Atlantic rollers by a reef, which at one end created a natural lagoon perfect for swimming. Later on, sat in one of the reggae bars
on the beach we realised we hadn't seen a white person all day and that we were the only foreigners in town, perfect! Another moqueca dinner (fish this time) and a spot of star gazing on the beach
before calling it a night and dozing off to the sound of the rumbling waves.
A day of relaxation on the beach punctuated by frequent swims in the warm waters and the odd coconut or Skol at the bar watching the kids, their parents, the grandparents and even the bar staff
dancing the afternoon away. A seriously laid back and happy people, smiles abound and high fives galore. Sat over a Skol we watched as the waiter showed a customer a large live crab, 10 minutes later
it was on his lunch plate. You can't get fresher than that! Seafood was obviously the way to go and we ordered up what we thought was calamaris only to be served a plate of fried sausage, should have
invested in a Portugeuse dictionary! Dinner was much more of a success, you can't get lagosta and lobster mixed up. A delicious lobster salad was served, so big we couldn't finish it, a few
caipirinhas too and all for less than a tenner!
After a massive breakfast of fruit, heart shaped eggs, fried bananas, ham, cheese and chocolate cake cooked up by our hosts (very bizarre!) we took a walk along the red dirt track out of town to
visit Aldeia Hippie. Made famous in the 60's by visits from Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones, today it's no more than a few palm thatched huts sat near a small river mouth. We strolled back along
the deserted golden beach to have a sardine lunch and kick back to the reggae.
Short on time in Brazil we had to move on. We sat in the square where all the buses seemed to pass, clutching a piece of paper with our next destination written on it. We took turns running up to
every passing bus with our bit of paper hoping they were heading our way. At last the mototaxi boys, who had been watching us with great amusement, flagged down an approaching bus and motioned for us
to board. Bless the friendly locals!
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