I had a few more days in Salvador, which I took pretty easy just enjoying the place. One afternoon at the small central Barra beach, which was packed and great fun, “Olodum” live drum show, some excellent Bahia cuisine, one total washout day when it did not stop raining! And the highlight the Tuesday night street party which starts after a mass service (which we didn’t attend), followed by a band playing on the steps of the church and lots of dancing and partying. Unfortunately the rain stopped the band playing a little earlier than planned, but we found a tiny samba club with 10 musicians, that felt a bit like being in someone’s garage, great fun! Salvador is a huge city, but to be honest I only really explored the small old historic area of Pelo. I was glad I had quite a bit of time there, just to mooch and hangout. There is a constant sound of music at all times of the day, street food wafting through the alleys, capoeira being performed on squares, it’s most definitely worth spending some days here on your travels through.

I left Salvador for another hit of sun and sand and took the less then comfortable 2hour catamaran boat ride over the to the Brazilian hot spot of Morro de São Paulo. I wasn’t sick, but plenty of other people I met who made this journey were. I was meeting Abby here, and as I checked into my hostel I bumped into her with a group heading off to catch the sunset. It’s a beautiful little island with several beaches and coves, and watching the sunset with a new group of friendly travellers was another pinch me moment. The plan was to go for a dinner on mass which was scuppered when after walking Abby back to her hostel on the other side of the beaches she realised she’d lost her key from round her ankle to her room. A fruitless hour spent retracing our footsteps up and down the beach front to no avail, an average dinner to kill time and then an hours wait before someone from her reception eventually rocked up at 9pm with a spare key and let her in. After that we called it a night and I walked all the way back to my hostel and settled in with the Count of Monte Cristo.

The next three days were a mix of sun and rain, beach parties, clubs, hostel BBQs, very competitive table tennis, shithead (card game), drinking games, and more caipirinhas. One of the great things about Brazil in these resort areas is the number of Brazilians on holiday, travelling in the hostels which makes for a much better mix then just a bunch of Brits or French. (Both of which I’ve encountered in large numbers in Brazil). The Brazilians are extremely friendly, happy and hospitable…and great at organising big group BBQs! The island is quite developed and touristic, but again no cars, just wheelbarrows ferrying luggage to and from the port. And some really beautiful beaches, including some natural lakes at low tide that you can walk in with hundreds of fishes all around you. My daily beach treat was the BBQ cheese sticks that were sold on the beaches, portable little charcoal grills with fresh grilled cheese covered in herbs…too more-ish! In the evenings stands selling cocktails made with every fruit under the sun lined the beach, and their fruit displays were works of art in themselves. As I approached only two weeks left of my trip I started to view the end as really a holiday and Morra was certainly a nice start!

After four days I left the island for one final stay in Salvador before my flight the next day to Rio. I managed to get a ticket to a very popular folkloric dance music show which my previous stay had been sold out. It’s only an hour long, but really spectacular. It starts off quite tribal before moving into the more modern capoeira. The dancers were amazing, and for the ladies in the audience quite the feast of male flesh on show to..zero % body fat! I had one final Bahian buffet meal with more prawn curry and coconut desert, the food in the north eastern part of Brazil is the star of the show in the country for me.

The following morning I left sunny Salvador and flew to Rio, my final big city destination and I was more then excited about getting stuck into. Very nearly the end of BexB(uenos)A(ires)toRio.com