Fresh from spending the night in Brasilia airport followed by a 22-hour bus journey, we arrived in Salvador da Bahia and took to the lively, colourful streets of the colonial centre to celebrate the festival of Sao Joao with a few caipirinhas.

In 1549, a fleet of Portuguese settlers established Salvador . Built on a high cliff overlooking All Saints Bay it became the first colonial capital of Brazil. The city then quickly established itself as the main seaport and an important centre of the sugar industry and slave trade. The historic centre, the 'Pelourinho' (whipping post) was where the slaves were auctioned. Today the city has a unique blend of Brazilian and African culture creating thriving culinary, religious, musical, dance and martial arts traditions. Barely did a second pass when we didn't hear a drumming procession or see people dancing in the streets.

We stayed along the coast from the city in a homely 8th floor apartment overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Our host, Ubaldo, welcomed us with a potent local spirit and then took us out for a beach lunch of crab and grilled whitefish.

We spent a day in the beautifully located FIFA FanFest alongside the fort Santo Antonio watching Netherlands defeat Chile followed by Brazil beating Cameroon as the sun set.

We had tickets to another game, the much anticipated encounter between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iran. A good contest saw Bosnia come out as 3-1 winners, although both teams were eliminated by the final whistle.

Culinary highlights in Salvador included a moqueca, a seafood stew and acaraje, a Bahian fritter made of brown beans and dried shrimp.

Onward night bus to Recife, 12 hours.