Back in Salvador and into the Amazon

After leaving Itacaré, I traveled back to Salvador by bus for a couple of nights before heading up to Belém at the mouth of the Amazon.

I have to say, my stay in Salvador this time was far less pleasant than last. It started fairly simple, leaving the bus station I asked a cab driver how much it was to Pelougrinho, which he said was R$15. When we got in the cab he turned on the meter, which I found a bit weird, but figured he’d meant it was around R$15, so I was fine. When we got to Pelougrinho the fair was $R13 at which point he said, “Ok, that’s R$15.” So he had basically put on the meter hoping it would be more than R$15, and charge me whichever was higher - I ended up paying R$14. Not a big deal, but annoying nonetheless.

As soon as I got out of the cab, a young guy came up and, after assuring me he was legit because he was with a capoeira school, started asking if I had accommodation… which I didn’t, but that’s beside the point. I asked him repeatedly to go away and that I was fine, but I was too tired and too hungry to really care. Obviously we ended up at a hotel where he hit me up for a tip then bugged me for more, which I ignored. Again, not a big deal, but annoying.

It was getting pretty late and I was tired so I headed out to get some food. Immediately a guy came up and tied a wish ribbon from Carnaval around my wrist and then proceeded to tell me about his hungry children and asking me to buy some milk for them. I was starting to get a bad feeling about this situation but agreed. He said the store was just on the other side of the plaza, so we started walking across it - yeah, I know, stupid. At that point an older woman who we were walking past tapped me on the arm and gave me the Brasilian no-no sign (shaking her finger) and I knew something dodgy was going on with the guy. I apologized for not being able to help and started walking back to the hotel, still hungry, with the guy asking what was going on, hassling me to buy the milk and yelling at the woman for interfering. As we got closer to the hotel, the guy got more agitated and starting to ask for money for food, at which point the woman said, “You better just buy him some food.” We went into a kilograma, which is a buffet where they weight the food, and I gave the guy R$5 for the “milk” and started to walk out. As I turned around the waiters in the kilograma went up to the guy, started saying something to him and pushed him out the door. He followed me for a little while longer, yelling that he needed more money then walked off.

By this time I was a little shaken and just wanted something to eat so I thanked the woman who had helped me out and started back into the hotel, where they was a restaurant. At that point she said, “Let’s jut sit here and talk.” We sat on a ledge in front of the hotel and straight away she started hassling me to go to a bar and buy her a drink… I’d stumbled from one scam into another. Fortunately this was the expensive kind more than the violent kind, so I said thanks but goodnight and went back into the hostel. She followed me in, but thankfully the girl at reception asked her to leave when I was clear she wasn’t with me.

Exhausted, I ended up in the hotel restaurant and had a great meal and got some sleep… phew.

It was the non-stop nature of the hassling rather than the actual events that bugged me the most. You can see how bad the situations of people here are, but, well… just leave me alone. In a way it was good, as I usually avoid bad situations by being polite, but here you really can’t do that, you have to be blunt, something I better understand now.

The next day I got out, wandered around and had a great time. I didn’t want to take my camera out with me, so I took my sketch pad instead. It’s been many years since I did anything, but I’ve had a few chances so far this trip which has been great. Here’s one of a decaying building in Pelougrinho. The others are, of course, on my Flickr page

The next day I got out, wandered around and had a great time. I didn’t want to take my camera out with me, so I took my sketch pad instead. It’s been many years since I did anything, but I’ve had a few chances so far this trip which has been great. Here’s one of a decaying building in Pelougrinho. The others are, of course, on my Flickr page.


Pelougrinho, Salvador

Today I flew up to Belém, at the mouth of the Amazon River. One second we were in the clouds, nothing but white out the window and the next, the brown waters of the Amazon lay out beneath us. I had to do a double take to realize I was actually in the Amazon. This is somewhere I’ve wanted to go since I was little and constantly read about piranhas (and tigers) in a book about predators from Hornsby library. To actually be here is… really cool.

Belém seems pretty cool so far. I did a tour of the opera house this afternoon then walked around the dock area and caught some traditional dances before heading back to the R$8 per night hotel, which has both character and characters. I’m not sure what the name of the dance was, but it was absolutely beautiful. Many of the dances displayed men and women courting and were much gentler and more graceful than other dances I’ve seen in South America so far... I’m far too cool to have teared up. Little kids were also dancing around, which is always cool.

Tomorrow I have to sort out when and how I get to Manaus. I have to decide whether I can spend 6 days in a hammock on deck crammed in with 300 other people, or if I choose the luxurious option and spend 6 days in a hammock in an air conditioned room with 3 other people. Either way I have to buy a hammock and snacks which will be fun. I also need long pants to keep to mosquitoes away.

Hasta luego!