Following a great night at carnival came the painful hangover travel day. Every time I travel hungover I vow not to put myself in this position again. I also tend to make stupid mistakes hungover….like this time I left my brand new denim shorts I’d worn the night before at the hostel trying on the line….doh doh doh! Luckily I was still traveling in the same direction as the two Aussie guys so we shared a taxi cost to the airport, and on arrival in Salvador took the bus the hour and half journey to the old centre. Actually the bus journey was very pleasant all along the coastal front and miles of beaches with surfers and joggers. We were staying in the old historic centre of Pelourinho. We had a five minute walk from getting off the bus across a main square and down some cobbled streets to our hostel; it was Saturday early evening and just getting dark. There was music coming from all around as we walked through, people were gathering enjoying street food and beers, and I fell in love with the place immediately.

The hostel we were staying at had been recommended to me firstly in Buenos Aires by another traveller, and then repeatedly by everyone I’d met who’d come through Salvador. “Galleria 13”, right in the heart of Pelo. It’s two big selling points are an amazing breakfast from 8-12pm! And a happy hour everyday with as many free caipirinhas as you can drink within the hour. We arrived just in time for happy hour, but I wasn’t quite ready to face more drinks and chickened out with a shower, quick dinner and snuck off to watch Netflix. But all night in my room I could hear percussion and singing, and I was kicking myself for not being out exploring at bit.

Next day after the legendary breakfast I joined a walking tour of the neighbourhood. Not the best walking tour I’ve done, and the guy was a little too quiet to hear unless you stood right next to him, but it gave me a good orientation of the area, we had a beautiful sunny day so got lots of photos. The streets were still lined above with flags from one of the big festivals in July, which in the wind made an enchanting fluttering noise. The area was largely abandoned until 1985 when it was declared a UNESCO heritage site. The families that were living in the main square areas were rehoused in new housing and restaurants, hotels, hostels, art and dance studios have moved in to help the regeneration of the area. The immediate surrounding area is very poor, and drug addicts are omnipresent around in the day and night, as well as homeless people sleeping on the street directly opposite our hostel. It’s also an area were street theft is very prevalent. It’s hyped up by lonely planet, (but rightly so as I did meet several people who had been robbed/mugged) and is one of the only places I’ve actually taken the advice and only went out with literally a bit of cash on me. But it’s a area full of life, music, soul, culture, architecture, food and I loved it. Having only really been in touristy destinations of Brazil with the Pantanal, the beach at Jeri and Fortaleza being in Salvador felt like real Brazil to me. The African culture here is extremely important and is remembered and celebrated here in all aspects of life. I was glad I was going to be returning here for some more time.

The following day I headed to one of the beaches in the afternoon with a few girls before taking a nightbus up to Lençóis. Arriving at 5am off the bus I was happy to be able to check straight into a dorm and get some more sleep. Lençóis is an old mining town on the outer edges of one of Brazil’s most beautiful national parks, Chapada Diamantina. I’d journeyed here to get some final hiking in, before more beach and cities in Brazil. I’d met a Scottish lass at the previous hostel and after planning a three day trek commencing the following day we took a short hike out of the small town to a waterfall. The water was very frothy and coloured with minerals so looked a bit like coca cola and not that inviting for a swim. But lying on the rocks watching others enjoy the natural rock slide into the water and dozing in the sun was petty cool anyway. The town is nearly solely dependant on tourism now, but has retained it’s old charm. In the evening restaurants and cafes line the narrow cobble streets and it felt really incredibly safe after Pelo. We had a dinner overlooking the running river before finalising our trek plans and called it an early night.

We met the next day with our guide and took a public bus for an hour and then switched into a 4×4 for a further hour. And then it was the three of us and a steep incline to climb. I should mention that again I’d made this trek as easy a possible and was carrying no more then a small daypack. Our guide carried all our food, and we’d paid a few £$ extra to hire bedding at the places we’d be sleeping versus carrying sleeping bags. The next three days were stunning, plateaus, valleys, canyons, waterfalls, caves, continually changing flora and landscapes really made for maybe my favourite multi day trek I’ve done this year. If you are coming to Brazil I think it’s a huge MUST. Our guide was great, and between my ok Spanish, Abby’s bit of Portuguese we somehow managed to communicate and even teach our guide a few card games. We stayed in some extremely basic houses, very rustic but slept like babies. We were the only ones at both places save for the owners. Our guide made all our food, including a picnic lunch on day two by a stream with a salad served on a plantain leaf. We saw less then ten other people in the whole three days, and after the hoards of the inca trail it felt really special.

Day two was our most technical challenging day with a sharp ascent and descent of a mountain through a cave for a staggering landscape vista. Again I was very happy with my Salomon cross running shoes that served me perfectly, Abby had full on walking boots which plagued her with blisters but also made some of the rocky bouldering sections quite hard to feel her footing. It was great to do a hike in such a small group, stopping and starting as we pleased. At the end of both day one and two we arrived at waterfalls we could go swimming or rather stand/sit and have a power shower which was fabulous and at the end of day three I didn’t even smell! Getting back into the solitude of the great outdoors made me realise that I really do enjoy hiking now. I’ve been a little withdrawn on wether I was sure about that; maybe it’s a little rose tinted for me off the back of this trek with magnificent scenery and perfect weather but I think and hope that its something I’ll continue to pursue back home.

Day three was an earlier start to climb 9km up out of the valley and a further 11km down the other-side to the town of Andari where we had to be by 1.30pm to catch the public bus back to Lençóis. Our final views back up the valley we’d climbed into and around over the previous two days were magnificent, and on straddling the pass to our descent the landscape changed again for some very rocky outcrops that reminded me much of Motopos, one of Zimbabwe’s national parks I’d been to as a teenager. Luckily the scenery remained distracting enough as Abby was in quite a bit of pain from her blisters the last few hours and it was good that our trek was just the three days not four. We got into town in time for a quick per kilo weight buffet which after the mornings 20km walk I was more than ready for. There’s also something about a glass of pop after a few days hard trekking and I smashed two Sprites in five minutes, so good!!

Back in Lençóis Abby and I met for a tasty pizza dinner and a few wines. Enjoyed a few more hours of the charming town, before bed and an early bus back to Salvador for me. Unfortunately the traffic on my way back and took nearly three hours longer, which meant I very nearly missed happy hour back at the Galleria hostel….but not quite..phew! The only problem with the happy hour is it starts at 5:15 and is finished at 6:15…. Having sunk four or five caipirinhas in a hour that early doesn’t make for a very late night, and followed by a huge dinner of the Bahia local speciality Moqueca (fish, prawn and seafood cooked in a cocoanut curry…yum!!!) and a few more caipirinhas I was stuffed, tipsy and exhausted and my massive night out in Salvador ended with me in bed by ten! That will be those thirty-six years catching up on me..