Most of our time in Salvador was spent buying food and cooking it. We felt like cooking our own food for a while and Alpha Hostel´s kitchen was a great place to do so. It had a massive kitchen where guests could cook all day long and where our delicious Brazilian breakfast was made each morning. Breakfast always included juice, tea, coffee, cake, fresh fruit, sausages, bread and jam.

We made a variety of dishes in Salvador, but most incorporated mango because we had bought a bag for 5 reals (around AU$3). Mangoes were not the only cheap food we bought there. We made burger patties from minced meat bought at the local butcher for 3 reals. A dinner of mango salad and garlic prawns cost next to nothing. We had to admit - Brazilians had it good in terms of food and drink.

The other major task we accomplished in Salvador was finding someone to give Matt dreadlocks. The Mercado Modelo was a famous tourist attraction where people sold souvenirs and hand crafts. Here we found a man with excellent looking dreadlocks who sold earrings. He agreed to dread Matt´s hair for 100 reals because that was all we had on us. What a bargain!

He used crochet hooks and rubbing to force Matt´s hair to lock together. It looked painful and sometimes Matt winced. The guy simply laughed and grinned in response. The only down sides to this impromptu activity were that it took 7 hours and resulted in a week-long hunt for residue free soap. For me, it was a boring day. For some time afterwards the dreads were rigid and would not drop - Matt looked like a palm tree. Matt promised to come back to the market with me the next day to buy bead necklaces. A fair request after waiting for so long.

With no more cash to spend we had to go straight home. The market was located in the lower part of town near the port, called the Cidade Baixa, while the rest of the city and the bus terminal was located above the cliff and is called Cidade Alta. To travel between the two levels everyone takes the Elevator Lacerda for 0.15 reals.

At the top we were greeted by a throng of people dancing, eating, drinking and singing to live samba music. It looked like a lot of fun, it was colourful and the food and drink was cheap. With many regretful looks towards the food stalls we pushed our way through the crowd towards the bus terminal.

That was our only night out in Salvador, a fact I regret because the street parties looked like fun. It seemed more sincere than the parties we went to in Rio because the locals actually attended! I do wish we had made the effort to go out, but we were lazy and probably a little bit spooked by all the bad stories we had heard on our arrival.

In Recife we had done nearly everything with Fabiana or someone else in her family, but in Salvador we were by ourselves. The first people we had met in Salvador had been robbed and went on to further discuss the dangers of going anywhere in Salvador with valuables or anything that identified us as tourists (i.e. Bluey). This made us cautious and so we didn´t take Bluey out at all...we left him hiding in the the cupboard with my camera. I didn´t take any photos, while Matt wasn´t as worried about his camera and took it out as often as possible.

It quickly dawned on me that the local women went out everywhere with large handbags, cameras, mobile phones, money and wallets. Eventually we got over it and went around our business normally.

Near the end of our time here we went on a day trip to see some turtles in Praia do Forte. The Project TAMAR Centre at Praia do Forte had a strong educational component and was really aimed at school children and families, but we had a good enough time. We learnt a bit more about the project itself and I was surprised by how large it was; Project TAMAR had breeding centres located all along the Brazilian Coast and it seemed very successful.

This centre kept turtles, fishes and sharks in pools for people to observe, photograph and learn from. In another tank they had the most massive fish (probably a Grouper) I had every seen!

Location