Salvador e Sao Paulo

With great reluctance we left Trancoso. Back to finding our way on local buses we were feeling a bit out of sorts after the last month of family fun. The overnight bus to Salvador was probably the most uncomfortable bus we had come by so far, so we were relieved to arrive in Salvador in the early morning. Only to open the curtain to find pouring rain.

The first day was spent hiding out at our hostel and catching up on our books whilst lying in hammocks – the rain wasn’t all bad! The next morning we awake to blazing sunshine – this was the Salvador we had heard of. We set out early to explore the Pelourinho (old city). We were lucky enough to have Mauricio, a friend we met in Chile, as our local guide - home from Sao Paulo for the weekend.

Everywhere you went the streets were full of kids with a lot more rhythm than me

Street art

Baianas - they charged for photos, so this is a sneaky shot

Mauricio shows us around the old city, filling us in on some history along the way: Salvador was the first capital of Brazil, and also the first slave market in South America, with slaves arriving to work in the sugarcane plantations. The name Pelourinho means pillory – the whipping post on which African slaves were punished was in one of the many plazas. 

Elevador Lacerda - a bargain for  R0.15 to take you down to the waterfront. The large cream building was the original slave market with a holding pen underground.

After an amazing lunch of Bahian food, and we continue around the beautiful beaches near the city, via an ice cream shop for Amazonian fruit flavoured ice creams, delicious! 

Sunset at Forte Mont Serrat

Mauricio and George at Igreja de Nosso Senor do Bonfim

Thousands of ribbons tied to the fence of the church, each one is meant to bring 3 wishes true. It must have worked for George...

An early start the following morning to get to Nicky and Emily’s hotel in time for the RWC final – a nice spot for a very tense game, thankfully the All Blacks came through (it would have been a very long day with George had they lost!). 

Next stop: Sao Paulo – as we fly in over the endless skyscrapers, we wonder what this huge city will be like.

Another friend we met skiing in Chile, Daniel, kindly picks us up from the airport and shows us around for the next few days. We eat our way through Sao Paulo, ticking off a few of the ‘must eats’ of the city: All you can eat Brazilian BBQ, all you can eat Japanese and Sao Paulo pizza (meant to be better than Italy?!). 

Did you know where cashews came from? Unfortunately the fruit is not so nice. 

George meets Nicodemus, Lu's pet turtle (tortoise?)

Eating aside, we also see quite a bit of the city, including a few architectural highlights for George, some beautiful parks and even a spot of shopping. All and all we were pleasantly surprised by Sao Paulo.

Sao Paulo Museum of Art

Hotel Unique, Sao Paulo. 

Panorama from roof of Hotel Unique - skyscrapers literally everywhere you look.

Great path for a walk in the park

Dinner with Daniel on our last night in Sao Paulo

Many thanks again to Mauricio and Daniel for hosting us in your cities. Also thanks to Noely and Liliana for inviting us into your homes, it was lovely to see more of Lu’s family.

We catch a cab to the airport and it’s off to Bolivia (sorry Sao Paulo, but Guarulhos airport is a blemish to your name). Brazil has been a luxurious holiday within a holiday. Now it’s back to long haul buses, hostels, adventure and thankfully, Spanish (who’d have thought?!).