Another sleepless night and to go with that bloody Mosquitos were biting me all night. I had planned to meet up with a Couchsurfer by the name of Lara today (who is from Salvador) and go check out São Joaquim outdoor fruit and vegetable market. So in the morning I did my exercises, ate some of Brazils delicious fruit and sent out a few couchrequests both for Salvador and French Guiana. Eliane then returned and we had a really nice chat - using google translate and bad Spanish - she gave me some directions to where I could find some cheap little markets nearby and then I set out for a walk. I found a little street in the heart of a little favela and was pleasantly suprised at the reasonable prices on the fruit and vegetables, meats and other bits and pieces - I did however hold-off on buying anything as I will go to Salvador's biggest street market in the afternoon. At midday I returned to the flat and waited to hear from Lara (the local I would be meeting) who I would be going to the market with. We agreed to meet at 1pm just down the road from where I was staying; I arrived early and waited and after nearly 40 minutes I started to worry Lara wasn't coming but then she arrived. First impressions of Lara were great, very happy, nice and talkative and already I could tell we were going to have a great day. We jumped in Lara's car and made our way about 40 minutes out of the city. Lara's story is a very interesting one; having left Brazil 3 years ago to go and live in Ireland and travel Europe and she has recently returned to finish her Masters here. It was quite interesting getting to see the city from a car and I got to glimpse at the traffic problems along with the reckless driving. We made it to the market and it was quite a site, very dirty, smelly, dangerous - all the things that excite me. Lara told me the market was mainly for speciality goods and the average person would never shop here. We wondered around and I had 100s of questions for the poor Lara who had no idea what she had hotten herself into - bringing me to a huge ourdoor market like this. I was amazed by all the different varieties of dried shrimp and had to buy myself some and attempt to cook with them. A guy was very kind and cut open a whole jackfruit for me and let me try and not only because it was delicious but because of his nice act I brought the whole thing. We wondered around some more looking at all the odd bits and pieces - a lot of which were related to religious offerings and ceremonies. We stopped at a little cafe and I attempted to eat the jack fruit - a woman from one of the shops saw my struggles and came over to assist me. The lady was lovely and got me a bowl and then proceeded to cut the thing up and de-seed it for me (a real act of generosity - one of which has not been so prevalent here). When we were leaving a guy came and asked me something in Portuguese and I noticed Lara immediately go onto high alert - the guy was bad news and started following us; as not to risk going out onto the street we went back into the market where the people could somewhat protect us. I realized I wasn't the only target as the stand-out tourist but Lara; being well dressed also made herself stand out as a target. We spent a few more hours wondering around the market and were able to loose the guy that was following us. On leaving the market peak-hour traffic started and we were slowed to an almost crawl. Lara had planned to take me to her favorite place to watch the sunset. We arrived and to my surprise the location was breathtaking - ontop of a hill with a small Christ statue and the best thing barely 10 people were there of which none were tourists. We watched the amazing colours as the sun went down: with the skyscrapers and the city creating an incredible silhouette effect. it turned into one of those pinch yourself moments that I am sure I will keep in my memory for a long time to come. Lara then had to go and meet some friends and was very kind and drove me all the way back to the flat.
I arrived back to the flat around 7pm and Eliane was still sitting where I left her haha and so she had a nice day of rest and surfing the Internet. We chatted a bit or conversed and listened to some typical music. I then made some dinner using the dried shrimp I had brought at the street market - I stirfried some vegetables and then made into a soup type dish adding the dried shrimp last (for flavouring) and letting simmer. The result was quite good; a little salty but all-in-all not bad. It was really hot tonight and even after a cold shower I was sweating again and getting eaten alive by all the Mosquitos. Hoping to get some sleep I was all layed out on the couch and ready for bed by 10:30pm.

OBSERVATIONS:
- Local street markets and fruit shops much better prices
- Tried the delicious Jaca fruit
- Dried Shrimp used for seasoning
- Dangerous men following us in market
- Met really kind people today - true Bahia natured people
- Best sunset in South America so far??
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