I arrived in Salvador around 8pm, and took a taxi to a hostel called Nega Maluca, which had been recommended to me by loads of people. When I got there, the staff were really friendly and the place seemed nice.

After chatting and getting to know some of the people, some of us went out for food at one of the many per-kilo restaurants. It wasn�t great food but it was cheapish and did a job. It wasn�t the weekend yet, so the parties hadn�t really started yet but after a few drinks we headed back to hostel to chat some more. There were some good places to meet people, as well as a cool area to lie down on some cushions and chill out.

The next day, a few of us went to explore the town, so walked for some distance to see some of the local markets and one of the main churches. Salvador isn�t a pretty town, but it does have much culture, which has been maintained through the prominent religion �candomble� (mix between African religion and Catholicism), Capoeira and their love of music (samba and forro).

Over the weekend I was there, there was an international Capoeira competition, so there were loads of people dressed in white around town, and also some impromtu street Capoeria which was cool to see.

I spent the next couple of days going to the beach with some of the people from the hostel. It was good to actually see the sun extensively on consecutive days, which saw my tan improve a fair bit, all the while being careful with the sun lotion!

One night, I decided to go to see a ?Candomble? sevice. Candomble is an African based religion, which was maintained during the Portugese slave trade expansion into the Brasils. It was allowed to remain since they allocated a Catholic Saint to each of their current gods. We were waiting around a good while beforeit all started, but I have to say, even though it was a bit boring, I?ve never seen anything like it, and it did keep my attention for some time.

It involved a group of local women dancing around a purpose-built room open to the outside. On the floor were straw and remnants of food offerings from other services. A hen and a little chick were looking for food at the start, and the thought they might sacrifice them did enter my mind, but it didn?t come to pass, at least while I was there. While the traditional music was played to a beat in the background, the women slowly marched to each song. Each time a new song was played, a subtly different dance was done. I looked into the faces of some of the younger women, who just looked a bit bored, at first. Later, they all entered a trance (supposedly), and did some really crazy dancing and shouting, while the spirits whom they had called during the dance were making themselves heard. After this, they were led to one of the several small houses down the path from the main building for the spirits to be exorcised. We were there from around 8pm until 11pm, but the ceremony can go on until morning sometimes. I was glad when we left as I?d been standing the while time, and bored for much of it. Although, at times I became more lively when one of the women would shout and do a crazy dance every now and then.

The day before I left Salvador, a few of us went to an island 30 minutes by boat off the coast, for a change of scenery and to bask in the sun for the afternoon. It wasn't too sunny, but it did make a nice change, where we were just about the only ones on that beach. By this time, I'd made good progress on the book I was reading, Robinson Crusoe, which I thought was quite apt for the destinations I'd been travelling in, since Defoe writes about the coast of 'the Brasils' so much.

So, the next day, I took the boat from Salvador to Morro de Sau Paulo, which I'd heard was really nice. It took around two hours and although the ride was a bit bumpy, it was nice to stand on the deck and take in the sun while we travelled over the sea to my penultimate destination in Brazil.