Unfortunately my sleepless nights and my 2am wake-up has followed me to Salvador. To go with waking up constantly during the night I also had ants crawling all over me and one of the worst couches to sleep on ever - with beams sticking up and piercing into my back. I made some mate, did my exercises and worked out a plan for the day - unfortunately Eliane was out at a friends today so I couldn't hang-out with her or get some tips. I figured I would just walk along the coast a bit and then take a bus to the old city. Walking down the street I felt a real sense of uneasiness and the need to be on high-alert - partly due to all the robbery stories you hear about Salvador and partly due to the extreme gap of wealth and poverty here. The bus is half price on Sundays which was a nice suprise and when we drove past the Modelo Market I got off. The Modelo Market is an indoor fair where vendors sell various goods from the region which included jewelry, clothing, musical instruments, sweets, alcohol and everything else you can imagine. I usually don't like these markets but I was pleasantly suprised by this one and was even treated to a sample of this pure cacao and coconut sweet chocolate thing. When I had finished looking around I exited out the back of the market and just my luck there was a capoeira demonstration happening and a bunch of people sitting around drinking beer and watching. When I was about to walk through - the guy playing the drums ran-up to me and grabbed me by the hand and made me get up on stage - Awsome: he introduced me to everyone in his band and then to the Capoiera Master. The Master then took me through the basic steps and I mimicked his steps - I couldn't believe how lucky I had got; getting to try Capoiera for the first time from one of its original birthplaces. I learned the spin kicks and next thing I was ducking the masters kicks and then roundhouse kicking over his head in time and sync with the music - it got more and more interesting and it was quite funny at the same time. Next came the cartwheels and I think I shocked the master at how well I could do these and ended up outdoing him walking in circles on my hands - after just 20 minutes I was exhausted and sweating profusely. After the little class the guys from the band then asked for a donation and got quite forceful when I said no - I didnt like this and simply walked away; but with a huge smile ear-ear having just completed my first Capoiera session. I then stumbled across a tourist info boost and picked up a map and got some ideas on what else I could do today. There is a famous old elevator that takes you up the hill to the Old historic centre and the price for this service - about 7 cents (cheapest thing in Brazil so far). At the top I was presented with a perfect panoramic view of the coast and managed to take a few nice photos. I had a moment of panic when I touched my pocket and my wallet had disappeared - a sense of fright and disbelief came over me but luckily it was short lived and my wallet I had slipped into my backpack. I made my way into the old city a very colorful area with many many churches. There were street performers, women making and selling arcaje and cocada along with other things. To be honest there were not so many people around and I wasn't feeling overly comfortable. I spent a few hours walking around; looking at different shops, resteraunts and people watching - coming to the conclusion this was the tourist area of the city. I headed back down the elevator and started walking back in the direction of the area I was staying in the hope I might find a bus. Unfortunately not one bus was going in my direction and I ended up walking all the way to the centre in the extreme 30 degree heat. I walked passed flash hotels, nice resteraunts and then slums - signifying the extreme class gap present here. Walking around the centre was nicer and I definitely felt safer and after drinking some water my energy returned so I kept walking. I stopped in at the huge supermarket Bompreco and picked up a fresh mango for lunch before continuing on. I managed to find the apartment no worries and the walk had only just taken me over 2 hours but the heat had zapped my energy. I did some yoga, got some fluid and then later in the afternoon I walked north along the coast in search of the supermarket and passed some very interesting bars, cafes and stalls selling local food. The supermarket here is called Bompreco and this translates to Good Price - which in turn is not the case at all and is actually more expensive then Rio de Janeiro. After picking up a few things the sun had disappeared and I figured I should head back to the flat, Eliane had still not returned so I took a cold bucket shower, made some dinner and surfed the Internet a little.

OBSERVATIONS:
- Temperature increase 30 degree plus
- Lots of insects, flys ants, Mosquitos
- 90% African people
- Capoiera class at Modelo market - good fun and quite acrobatic
- Old Historic centre / very colorful
- Not a lot of Police presence
- Very poor people
- Supermarket prices very high (higher then Rio)