Thank you rainy days. I finally have some free time to do a post. Luckily, I was able to plan a few trips outside of São Paulo due to the long spring break my school is on. A few days ago, some friends and I flew into Salvador, Bahia, rented a car and took a road trip out to Chapada Diamantina (there will be a post on Chapada in the near future) and then drove back to Salvador where I am now. So far everything has been a really good experience. We’re currently staying right in the Historic Center of Salvador so we have been lucky enough to have been close to a lot of popular locations in the city. A pretty interesting fact is that we’re staying in the square where Michael Jackson shot the music video for “they don’t care about us”. I can see why he chose this location, the center is really colorful and has a good energy. There’s always music playing, shops open, and plenty of side stands with various types of food and souveniers . On a food note, the seafood in Salvador is super tasty, especially the shrimp. A traditional Bahian dish that I tried was Moqueca. It was a stew like dish with fish and shrimp and was served with rice in a steamy stone hot dish. I really enjoyed this dish, it’s a must try if you are in Salvador. Besides the city center and the food, the beaches are also some of the best that Brazil has to offer. The ocean is extremely blue almost clear, there’s large palm trees, and theres even really nice boat marinas. Some beaches that stood out to me were “Praia do Flamengo” and “Porto da Barra”. Praia do Flamengo had beautiful palm trees alining the beach, wasn’t crowded, and offered a good surfing spot. Porto da Barra was also a great beach and it was very close to the Farol da Barra lighthouse which made it a really scenic location.
Yesterday, my friends and I decided to take a boat trip to a small near by island that only has 150 residents. We started the day off with a little bit of rain but we ended up with plenty of sun and good weather. The boat trip was worth while and we were able to get some great views of the city, the islands, and the sunset. It really was a relaxing twist to our trip. Unfortunately though our time in Salvador is coming to an end in the morning. If we had more time here I would definitely want to take a trip to “Morro de São Paulo” which is an island that’s about a two hour boat ride from the coast of Bahia. Many Brazilians have told me that I should go there and now I am regretting not planning a few days out of my trip to be dedicated to that island. But hopefully there will be room for a trip there in the next few months.
Like I said the trip is coming to an end, so tomorrow morning I’ll fly back to São Paulo, get some time to relax, and then Friday I’ll be back on the road again, but this time to the south of Brazil, Florianópolis. I’m hoping that I will find the city to be very interesting and that it will offer a lot in terms of night life. That’s one thing I didn’t see a lot of here in Salvador however, this city is really unique and worth taking a trip to. I would definitely return here.
-Sincerely, Tish
Leave a Reply