Thursday 1 April 2010

Carnival Recovery!!


Salvador and Lençóis


I blame the vast amount of partying over the last month to be the main cause of not posting anything since just after Carnival. So I need to back track about 5 weeks to Rio de Janeiro where I ventured north to Salvador on an epic 34hr bus ride! I would never commit to such a long bus ride since I experienced this almost 8 years ago when traveling up the west coast of the USA on a shit heap of a bus (never travel Greyhound in the USA!). It was only supposed to take 24hrs but, as you become used to in South America something went wrong. Nothing too serious….just a break down and a drawn out wait for the next bus to turn up. Eventually I arrived in Salvador where I met with a Kiwi compadre (Aaron) who I last partied with in Buenos Aries.


Not too much to rave about in Salvador. I only stayed the 1 night and didn't venture too far from the hostel as I was still sobering up from Carnival. I did have the unfortunate experience of running into a creep with a knife down by the waterfront whilst snapping up some pictures of the sunset. Been a while since I've done a hundred meter sprint but when your got a knife pulled on you it's amazing  how fast everything happens! Anyways…I got away and didn't need to part with my belongings or limbs! This is the 1st knife incident I have had over almost 5 years abroad and over 35 countries so don't let this incident worry you too much if our thinking about heading off to South America!







After meeting with Aaron we ventured to Lencois - hippy-ville which is located on the side of a national park 5 hours due west of Salvador. Very beautiful area but only few days there. It was a perfect spot for chilling after Carnival and a small detox. Some of the best hiking throughout Brazil can be done here however we opted for some rock climbing and just lazing about. I had a friend here who owns a pousada (Brazilian name for guest house) and also runs a school for underprivileged kids so I had the opportunity to work in the school for a few days which was quiet rewarding! My Portuguese was crap so the communication was very limited and I was placed with the youngest kids and was hours of entertainment for them as they would take turns in getting thrown into the air and swung around!

Ok…so too much of nothingness was getting on Aaron's nerves and after the few days detoxing it only seemed fitting to head to another party destination… Perhaps the greatest in Brazil and from my experience so far…one of the best locations I have been to!! So….tune in to the next Blog to hear more!


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