Salvador 3

It's still raining when I wake up. The hostel owner calls the tour operators and confirms that it is off. He suggests that we go to Praia do Forte (Beach of the Fort), about 1.5 hours up the coast where it might be raining less. We take a taxi to the rodoviaria. The ticket clerk stresses to us that the service will drop us off at the entrance where we would have to make our own way 2.5 km in. Unfortunately by the time we are set down, it is pouring. When the rain abates a bit we start walking in. Eventually a man with a van takes us in for a fee.

The complex was developed around a Tamar (Portuguese acronym for sea turtle) protection site. It has good beaches and rows and rows of tourist shops (lodging, restaurants, stores, etc). Unfortunately rain doesn't make the beach attractive and the shops look overplanned. I'm sure it must be more pleasant in the evening when the daytrippers have gone home and the lodgers come out to stroll.

In the event, we don't get time to enjoy it much. Lunch takes too long because the surge of customers overwhelmed the restaurant we chose. The fish moqueca (spicy coconut cream based stew, a bit like a curry) was decent enough.

Pretty soon it's 1600 and we have to leave or we will arrive in Salvador after dark. We find a direct van service and endure a cramped journey back. They filled the van to the brim, even fitting in a couple of standing passengers. At the rodoviaria no Barra bus comes along, so we cross a long overpass to Shopping Iguatemi and catch a microbus which eventually follows the route that the airport shuttle took and I'm able to spot the right place to get off.

I thought that the side trip was a waste of time, but it turned out the Germans from yesterday had an even worse time of it, bored to tears playing cards while it poured.

While waiting until it's time to go to the rodoviaria for the third time that day, I discover that another backpacker is catching a night bus 45 minutes before mine. I scramble to pack my things and share the taxi. I help her buy her ticket and we chat a little until it's time for her to leave. I get on my service to Palmeiras, and that was the end of my Salvador sojourn. I didn't get to see much of it but then again, most of its attractions didn't catch my fancy. I wish I had the time to attend an African culture night and a music bar but that's the luck of travel.

The hostel seemed to be full of travellers passing through: starting their journey, changing from plane to bus, coming back after a side trip, and so on. Maybe Salvador is that kind of place. I myself would be passing through the rodoviaria for the fourth time in 4 days time, switching to a northbound bus for Aracaju.