After a sleep-free 12 hour bus ride from Recife thanks to the Snorosaurus next to me, I arrived delerious and disorientated in one of the most dangerous cities in one of the most dangerous countries in the World! Despite this I can't remember the last time a city grabbed me by the balls and seeped into my soul so quickly and deeply as Salvador has done. Prior to arriving here I had heard so many negative things and had been bombarded constantly with warnings of its dangers. With all this in mind, I was fairly apprehensive and my expectations were low... falling for Salvador was a fantastic surprise for me. My sleepless journey to Salvador had also afforded me the opportunity to watch cartoon adaptions of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Moses and Hercules, all dubbed AND subtitled in Portuguese... amazingly I understood the majority of it.

Before arriving in Salvador I had consulted the trusty LP bible to select a hostel to aim for, this way I figured I would arrive with a vague idea of where to head. With my target in my sight I headed for the local bus station. So far in Brazil I have found the bus conductors to be very knowledgeable about their cities, and very helpful to a lost blonde gringa with a nice big backpack. Unfortunately the one on the bus which I decided to take was not one of the friendliest people I have met in Brazil, and even though I was speaking to him in Portuguese he did not seem to want to help me... maybe he didn't appreciate recounting the tale of Quasimodo?!

Anyway... after he wouldn't help me, I found a very friendly woman on the bus who even called a friend of hers who speaks English in an attempt to help me out. His advice was "get off the bus with this lady, and she will bring you to me and I can help you from there". Hmmm, after all the warnings of Salvador and its dangers this seemed like a rather dubious option, but looking at the alternatives available to me this seemed like my best one. So, I got off the bus with her and I seemed to be vaguely in the right area. As soon as we were off the bus she started to warn me not to trust anyone, to always keep my eye on my things and not to carry anything of value with me. She was giving me this advice just as she lead me off the main road and into an unmarked building behind a locked gate! Fantastic!

As you can guess by the fact that I am able to write this blog, everything was fine; those of you who were expecting a wild tale of danger will be sadly disappointed! I had actually just entered the premises of a small sewing company and the lady who had taken me there got straight to work making doctors' coats with the fatest sewing machine I've ever seen in my life. Then after a few minutes a tall, curly-haired, smiley Mika-like fella came mincing through the door having just had a shower. This was the guy that I had spoken to on the phone and was concerned I may be in danger from! Introducing Ronaldo... one of the nicest and funniest people I've met since I've been in Brazil. Once he had finished his preening regime it was time to leave. He kindly offered to help me carry my stuff, and he took the small almost empty bag, as I threw my big 20kg+ backpack onto my back once more. One short walk later and we arrived at a supermarket where we bumped into a few other tourists that Ronaldo knew; a Finnish brother-sister combo (Laura & Sami), their Austrian friend (Astrid), and a Portuguese guy (Luciano). They were also staying at the hostel that Ronaldo was taking me to, so we all went back together and I checked in. This was not the hostel that I had inteded to come to, but it was on the same road and seemed like a nice place to stay. Plus it was owned and run by a guy from Manchester with a fantabulous mullet, so obviously I was in!

That day I went along with my new hostel friends into the old city (Pelourinho). The trip's intended purpose was sight-seeing, but it quickly developed into a souvenir shop tour. This was fine as it was really interesting to look at some of the artwork and creations of the local area. The essence of Salvador is captured perfectly on the streets of Pelourinho, with the atmosphere encapsulating you as you walk the streets. It is very different to any other part of Brazil that I have visited and there is a very strong African influence all over the city which gives it such depth, character and soul.

Central Salvador is split into the upper city (including Pelourinho), and the lower city. The two parts are connected by a network of very steep, narrow, dirty (and apparently dangerous) streets. You can also take a lift between the two for next to nothing, so once we had finished walking around 'upstairs' we took the lift down to a nice little market (Modelo market) with all kinds of handicarfts for sale. I also tried Caldo da Cana (sugar cane juice) for the first time, and was amazed I found something that is maybe too sweet for even me! Once we got back to the upper city it was already getting dark and I was getting incredibly tired. As we were walking back to the bus stop I was approached by a Brazilian guy who tried to get us to go and watch him and his friends doing capoeira. We exchanged a few words and he started asking me where I learnt to speak Portuguese... em, I don't speak Portuguese, but never mind! He mentioned a streeet party laster that night, which would be going on in some the dangerous streets of central Salvador; sounds like fun to me.

A free caiprinha and a BBQ was awaiting us as we got back to the hostel, then after a quick shower and no time to rest I was being whisked back into Pelourinho for live music and drinks in the square. We were accompanied on this night by a Brazilian guy who works at the hostel (Junior), so when he suggested we join the samba drum street party I figured it must be safe enough. After taking the sensible decision to start on the water rather than alcohol I got the energy to join the dancers in the street behind the drummers. There was a guy at the front who had been leading the dancers all night - he was fantastic and seemed to have samba running through his veins. With an uber-tired blonde white girl at his side, his talents were highlighted even further!

Further towards the end of the night I was reunited with the Brazilian guy I had been talking to earlier... he had been asking after me and seemed a bit too keen to dance too closely. I explained I wasn't interested, but he didn't seem to want to hear this. So, my last resort was to tell him that the nearest guy to me was my boyfriend... Luciano was to hand and very kindly assisted me with an obliging kiss to make sure the other guy was convinced! After a little more dancing it was time to call it a night and finally get some sleep.

The following day called for me to get some rest, so I just went to the local beach and had fun people watching. There was a middle-aged white Brazilian man wo spent the whole day emptying and piling up cans of lager whilst singing and dancing with a group of young black Brazilian boys. At one point he fell over and cut his head open, but this didn't seem to stop him. He even continued after one of his young 'friends' poured a bucket of water over his head! The day was rounded off nicely with a beautiful sunset by the lighthouse of Barra.

After two days apart I was reunited with Maaike as she arrived in Salvador and came along to see the magical mullet of the hostel owner. We went back to Pelourinho so that I could actually rake some of it in a but better than when I was sleepwalking around a couple of days previous. I went again to the market, and this time there was a band playing some tradtion music which was quite a fun experience. That evening we were invited out for a non-touristy night of fun with Junior and a friend of his, which sounded like an opportunity not to be missed. It also gave us chance to practice our amazing Portuguese skills as his friend does not speak any English. Much vodka and beer was consumed as I danced away to a live band and then a DJ whilst people looked at the strange foreign girls that had invaded their bar!

Needless to say my head was a little sore the next day as we embarked on a group day out to Praia Do Forte and the turtle "sanctuary" there. I thought hat this place was going to be amazing as I love turtles, and that seeing them wandering around happily would justify the 2.5 hour bus ride there. Unfortunately it was just a couple of nicely kept swimming pools with a turtle or two floating around in them. There were also some Nurse Sharks and an insane stingray who did not look particularly happy to be there either. The stingray just went around and around his pond, flapping up the side all the way around the edge as if he was attempting a great escape. Although the turtles were beautiful, I was not a fan of the zoo-like setting in which they were kept.

The afternoon was spent at the beach. When we first arrived the tide was very low and the water was shallow and warm. By the time we left it had became much more rough, deep and cooler which was quite an interesting thing to watch. We had a few drinks and nibbles at the beachfront. At one point we were accompanied by a random artist who wanted to show us his work, with no obligation to buy anything. He had a blank piece of card and a few fingerpaints, within a couple of minutes he had created a very nice painting of a beach and wiped the slate clean before anyone even had the chance to say they didn't want to buy it! He spoke a little English and asked the question "You like to f*%k?!"  At least that's what we think he said... very odd character!

All in all I had a great time in Salvador, and shared it with some lovely people. I would've loved to have stayed longer, but time is ticking on and I need to get my skates on if I want to make it to all the places I intend to visit.