Salvador - April 2nd

After another bad night’s sleep on a bus, we begin our approach into Salvador at about 06:00.  Like any big city it takes an hour to get into the centre, so we arrive at the bus station at about 07:00.  You get so many warnings about Salvador that it is fair to say we were a bit nervous about getting from the bus station to our hostel, but actually it was fairly easy to get a taxi and find it. 

One of our best decisions of the trip was not to cancel our room for the night we travelled on the bus when we discovered that we could only get an overnight bus.  This is because when we arrive at the hostel we are able to get a breakfast, and then go straight to the room where we catch up on the lost sleep from the night before.  It was worth the extra R$90 (about £33) to keep the room, rather than have to hang around until the 14:00 check-in time.

After that we just headed out locally for a bite to eat.  Although the hostel, like so many others, is behind massive walls, and the area doesn’t look great, it does feel a bit safer than the one in Belo, mostly because there are a few shops and a restaurant on the street.  We go to the restaurant for a late lunch/early dinner, and then we walk a few blocks to a nearby large shopping centre.  But to be honest we know already what shops are going to be in there, all the shopping centres are the same.  I think when you have been in a country long enough to recognise all the shops it is time to move on, so I think we are rightly reaching the end of our trip.  We leave the shopping centre before it gets dark, because although the road seemed OK in the day, we still don’t want to risk it in the dark.

In the evening we watch TV with some of the other guests.  It is strange but there are very few people venturing out after dark.  Everyone seems wary here, which does make you wonder why any of us are here at all.  There is little point in travelling to a place if you can’t enjoy it.  Tomorrow we will get a tour of the city and we will see.