I love Salvador! I was gutted to leave on Saturday, and if I´d been able to change my flights and just stopped off at Sao Paulo on the way to Peru, I would´ve done. Had so much fun there - I met three girls at the hostel and we took off for 2 days to an eco resort a couple of hours up the coast. It was kind of manufactured - a bit Stepford-wives-y and full of couples, but had the most beautiful beaches and a kind of reef, which meant you could walk out for miles and the sea was only ankle-deep. The water was warm and there were loads of rock pools full of tropical brightly coloured fish and crabs. Anyone that knows me can imagine my excitement - I spent AGES crouched down watching the fish, as my sunburnt back will testify. At night there were lots of very well-to-do restaurants and quiet bars, so we gave in and relaxed.
I left there on Thursday afternoon as I wanted a full day in Salvador before flying here to Sao Paulo. Unfortunately spent most of that last day on the internet, the phone and even at the TAM airline shop in downtown Salvador, fruitlessly trying to change my flight. Still, I managed to get another capoeira lesson in and we saw plenty of live samba bands in the square that night.
I had low expectations of Sao Paulo, mainly cos the weather forecast said it was 16 degrees and raining, compared to glorious 30 degrees and great beaches in Salvador! But as luck would have it, I left Salvador on a cloudy and drizzly morning and arrived in Sao Paulo to a nice sunny day. The hostel I´m in now is at Praca da Arvore and is an Albergue HI (hosteling international) hostel. Its mainly Brazilians here and its fairly quiet, but that suits me as I just feel like taking it easy for a couple of days.
I fly to Lima on Tuesday morning at 7:30am, which means a very early departure from the hostel... or rather, a night at the airport which makes more sense as I´m an hour and a half away from the airport here by train. I hear the seating at Sao Paulo airport is very comfortable though, and I have my iPod... :-/
