We arrived in Salvador after a easy 2 hour flight from Rio and a hour bus ride into the city center of Pelurhino, or literally "whipping post". Odd name to keep for a town. We lucked out and wandered to an excellent pousada for the 3 of us which had a large living area which looked out over the town, a hammock, and a stereo. It was called the Hotel Magueira. I would highly recommend it. The hotel also had a pool and an excellent breakfast. We were all quite pleased with this.
We spent most or our afternoons lounging in our living room, drinking beers and listening to music with a view over the lights of the town of Salvador, with a breeze blowing through. It was fantastic. We paid 150 real a night, or 50 bucks.
There was also a bar on the walk between the Hotel and the town that we took a liking to. I donīt know if you could call it a bar, but more closely resembled a garage that they one day decided to sell beer out of, but decided any renovation to make it look like an actual bar would be too much work. The bar always had 2 or 3 looking semi-comatose looking men at whatever time of the day or the night. They also blasted music so loud that it was completely distorted on the speakers so you would have no idea if you were listening to Brazilian music or Neil Diamond.
One day we stopped in to pick up some beers to take back to the hotel. We walked in and I asked the woman who was "working" there-rather actually sitting with one of the customers and playing cards, for 3 beers to go. This woman gave me this look that said, "WHAT the HELL are you doing in here, white boy?" With a big sigh and a lot of drama, she pulled herself up and got us our beers. It was so far from good customer service that it was great. We couldnīt help laughing as she asked in Portuguese to a man by the door who we thought was asleep (who it turned out to be the owner) how much to charge us. The owner raised his head-which looked something like a catcherīs mitt-and shouted something completely slurred and unintelligible, even to her, we imagined. She then told us how much the beers were and started to crack herself up, probably by how much she was charging the clueless turistas. It still worked out to be only a couple bucks.
It was funny because after that every time we came by the owner would run out smiling and waving and patting us on the back. This is the owner who the first time didnīt even budge from his drunken stupor in his lawn chair. We had no idea why this change of heart, but it was interesting and funny. Every time we walked by this bar we would crack up as he ran to the door waving to us..
Our first day in Salvador consisted of a lot of wandering around the old city. The city of Salvador is very beautiful with many hills and multi-color houses. There are dozens of old churches there, seemingly one on every block, which makes you wonder why there were so many and if there could have possibly been that much demand for all of them.
Salvador is very poor, but the people seem to be fairly happy. One day we met a family who had the most beautiful little girl any of us had seen. She was mixed black and white, a very nice mixture that only us other beautiful mixed people can appreciate. Ha! She was fighting with her brother on the street over a bike and saw us with our cameras. She stopped fighting with her brother immediately and smiled at us, inviting us to take her picture. We took several pictures of her and her family that they enjoyed seeing on my digital camera, and we left only after we promised them to send them some of the pictures that we took. They were very sweet.
Another day we took a ferry ride out to the Island of Itaparica, which was interesting, but not spectacular. We spent a lazy day driving around the island and then having lunch at the beach.
Salvador was the place I would say the 3 of us really started to bond, as the service in Salvadorian restaurants is so bad, your dinners are often 3 hour ordeals. If you think service is bad in Rio, you have to try Salvador. There is absolutely no sense of urgency to do anything. No one ever stresses or hurries, but is just used to the incredibly slow pace.
A lot of the time we hung out at our beautiful hotel and amused ourselves with random movie quotes that had Dave and I cracking each other up and Lot looking at us curiously like we were insane. We tried to tell Lot about the importance of such movies such as Airplane, Animal House, Office Space, Caddyshack and Silence of the Lambs in American culture. Most of the time she just looked at us and shook her head like we were from another planet.
Having Lot there with Dave and I brought a real nice mix for our little group, and we gelled together well. I think we were a funny sight to Brazilians- A tall Black guy, A tall Eurasian guy, ad a tall blonde walking around together. We joked that we would make a great pop group! It was also good, since who would have known how much trouble two unaccompanied guys can get into in Brazil. Oh that's right, I do know!