Tuesday 11th August Morro de Sao paulo via costa
verde and Valencia [2 boats and a bus]
even though the area we stayed in seemed super dodgy (the old historcial part of Salvador), it was
beautiful the next morning when we got up to get the elevator down to the port
- only 0.15 BR its super cheap and the fastest way down with only a short 5
minute walk to the port. there are 2 ports in Salvador, we wanted the one near
the elevator as we planned to go to Morro De Sao Paulo island. the area of the
historic quarter is beautiful. lots of churches, the governors house, old
houses and cobbled roads, all in Portuguese villa style, as Salvador was the
capital some of the buildings are very beautiful, however its in a lot of
disrepair, the buildings, abandoned, run down ruin, black with age and dirt
etc. its sad, its like something from a beautiful abandoned city from the olden
days film, however, its not, it's the 3rd largest city and its sad to see the
beauty being wasted and not refreshed to its former glory. there's some vendors
selling jewellery up a the top, be careful, they also give you Salvador ribbons
for your wrist and tie them on, these are free and you are under no obligation
to buy anything. (i have a couple now, all brightly coloured) can easily
understand why the island is called costa verde, its completely green and
rural, like a miniature jungle which is lovely
had a good while travelling before we got here, there's no cars, no scooters, its all urban and on foot! a small island. we got a final boat here and paid some sort of nature clean up tax. then found a hostel, unpacked, chilled and checked out the localities.
Wednesday 12th August Morro de São Paulo
The juice is great at black and white hostel, also had some great breakfast pastries, miniature ones, a sweet sort of one and a cheese one, plus there's a own hammock at the room, awesome! I want one, or I could steal the one I
got mŷ brother from Thailand haha. Mario has been, recomended to us through our hostel for diving courses and not too far from our hostel (then again everything is close on this island), he went to his first pool lesson (he's
getting it all for a reasonable price, however if the weather is bad and causes
dirty water it might take longer, but it might be ok to do in Salvador. He got
it for a decent price approx 1300br)
I went around the shops before chilling at the beach , dipping in
the cooling water and lying on my Brazil flag (the only thing i wanted to buy, and a very conventional buy - can be used asscarf, blanket, towel, beach matt, cape, dress, head scarf etc!). Tasty Acai and granola has become an addicition and like Rio, they all come offering their wares, food,
jewellery and drinks. The guys here are the best though - one guys yells it out and really
annunciates and adds fun to each syllable - ass-sai-e-ah!
'funny bar' is great for acai, full of granola and fruit, it's amazing with a
fruit salad! chilled for a while (and could actually swim in the sea here unlike in Rio! i dont get why Copacabana is so awesome, you cant swim just avoid being drowned! )we joined a couple and I learnt - sort of, how to play volleyball. We did a
team game and then they let us play. Around 4 we went for a stroll, climbing on
the island like section between beach 2 and 3. Huge beautiful waves crashing
against the rocks with the sun in the sky and the lighthouse high on the cliff,
a beautiful image. We attempted to make some stuffed aubergine, and with
practise and more time it would have been tasty - but it was a bit of a fail haha. i need to find out how they do it in china at the side of the street on the BBQ, it great!. I chilled in the hammock and got a glorious hot shower - they aren't
the warmest elsewhere I later discovered, and i love my hot showers!
Later, around midnight went to Teatro do Morro,
on a Wednesday night, there's live local music, amazing singers, drinks, an
area that played tomorrow land, caperiah fighting which is amazing to
watch, such strength and power in the men able to control their bodies to look
graceful and agile. It was a long walk up to it but we walked with the caperiah
musicians which was cool. There was fire throwing too, we only stayed a while
as we were tired but it was really cool! And probably a good thing it was
outside as the air was thick with the smell of weed
Discovered after my shower that I was burnt again - my ass is like
a baboons! AGAIN
Thursday 13th August
lots and lots of sun lotion on, but skyped the fam for a bit
anyway. don't want to be in the sun so much today thats for sure. though it did
become a bit overcast and raining later on. we decided to walk down towards the
4th beach which is supposed to be super empty. we waded through a bit of water
at one point and there are some resorts down there too but i think being where
we are is best. its local to everything. although a bit cold and rainy we had
lots of fun. found a swing and spent ages playing on it like kids. there
were coconut trees and tried to get more and failed haha. clearly would die on
a deserted island, and i also pinched one and ended up slicing my leg on barbed
wire, oops. (and nearly 5 months on, looks like i have a slight scar, well done there Kells!)
there were more
animals and we passed ourselves making stranger and stranger noises - (that
sounded more like dying animals in dire need of veterinary help than anything
else haha). we then walked round to the old fort to watch the sunset as it and
the bar, Toca are meant to be the best places for this. There was some
cloud due to the overcast day but it was still lovely, not so many people meant we spotted dolphins in the water (sometimes theres even whales!) there wasn't
so many people, the old fort is a bit of a ruin, there was a ground whole were
prisoners were kept and when the tide rose they would have drowned!
the view
was beautiful and peaceful, trying to spot dolphins with only a few people.
got a nice hot shower (addict haha) when we got back
we then went to Poupola again, we shared our dishes and ended up having
to take away. again the freshly squeezed fruit juices were divine! and its a
reasonable price for the quality, we got stuffed aubergines with mince tofu,
and a vegetarian moussaka, it was so good! plus you get salad, and another
sides, seasoned roast vegetables, i got pinto beans and rice, as part of the
dishes. tasty and reasonably healthy. it made for a great leftover lunch the
next day thats for sure!
coconuts are dangerous....
Friday 14th august
Had to change hostels today as black and white have a huge
party of people coming so we got a small one for even cheaper and it actually
has great breakfast and the room is decent though down a small lane from the
beach. some of the hostels do animals and shapes with the towels which is cool.
its actually turning out as cheap/cheaper for private rooms and we get the
benefits of towels and bathroom etc.
today was overcast again which sucked. we had booked a tour for
around the island. 30BR each,which is a good price visiting the fort, a beach,
island, gambia beach and the pink sand bath beach. you go early in the
morning as you have to wade through the water to the boat. it was chilly. they
take your flip flops since they are of no use. we were meant to go to the small
island closest to us but the water was high so we skipped it. unfortunately for
us the guides only spoke Portuguese and a bit of Spanish but we understood a
bit - he talked about the different people that had come to the island - the
Portuguese, the indians, the americans (who brought lots of weed apparently)
and then who all is there today. we also spotted lots of dolphins, with a trio
of them swimming not too far away, . from here we were the only ones (as everyone was
middle aged Portuguese/Brazilian) to get off and stroll along the beach, we tried
swimming with the snorkels but we could see nothing! stubbed my toe
unfortunately as there were lots of rocks, they current was pretty strong too.
we found the smallest cutest crab ever - i named him Fred. haha. it was cold
however and then it started to rain - not our day for a boat trip. thank
goodness for Brazil flags - we used them as towels and blankets - the
others must have thought we were mad for swimming in the cold, but was nice.
from here we did the pink beach. the minerals from the rocks cause it to go
pink in a certain area so its really good for your skin, there was a local
there helping people get the choicest bits, soft watery, we covered ourselves,
body, face and even hair - looking like flamingos haha! we let it dry a bit
before we washed it off. the sun came out briefly, but the water was high and
cold. we next we to s small island. we found and amazing yellow crab and got
some great photos, he was beautiful - and didn't freak me out like the ones at
home. pale yellow with his eyes poking out on top, he went near the water edge
to be swept away but the current just wouldn't take him, he waddled off
sideways in a crab like huff. ate our leftovers but it was a bit annoying as it
got quite windy. the rain started again as well and the tour guide decided it
was too rotten to do Gambia beach and so we just turned back, we weren't too
upset, we were always quite cold and i still had sunburn (i still looked a bit
like a baboon) we got dropped off at the port and chilled.
later on we paid quite a bit to go to TOCA, we were meant to wait
for the guy and get two free drinks (he seemed a bit off his face drunk, but
the black girl yesterday was on something else) we bought Malibu and had some
of it, and then stopped for caparinhas two for 10BR, with vodka not
chassis, it was good. i quite like the one made with lime, its reasonable easy
to make if you had the arm powder for it, ice, fruit and shooter, mash the
fruit up, add ice, add alcohol shake shake shake [like a Polaroid pictureeeee]
there's wasn't many at TOKA and it started to drizzle a bit, there was a smoke
machine and annoying lasers which hurt the eyes. the music was poor, we sat and
chilled for a bit before buying a drink - they were REALLY tasty. we danced a bit as the music slowly picked up,
but it was mainly an older crowd. we were about to leave when the guy turned up
and we got our drinks - however we only got one each - we took it and left
after staying for the song 'Como me gusto le noche"
Saturday 15th August
we explored the island again as the weather wasn't too
good for the beach, taking a right before the slope for the port and going up
pass Toca. the steps where quite muddy and gross from the rain, we
climbed up to the lighthouse but you couldn't go into it as it was locked up.
we took a right to where you can do the zip wiring and marvelled at the view of
the beaches below, with eagles swooping around us. we backtracked and went left
to the other scenic spot which had barely anyone, looking out over the sea and
the harbour. it was beautiful!
a chilled last day, its a relaxing but amazing island, and would
be of course more busy in peak season - as its now currently the winter.
there's the famous Breaking
Bad's "los pollos hermanos" howeverthe chicken wasnt maybe the best, dodgy stomachs ensued. a good
perk of being a vegetarian - you rarely get ill from fruit or vegetables. we
chilled until going for some Açai and delicious Happiness on a stick on
the beach front, live music plays in some of the restaurants and bars each
night, its chilled but nice. tried a strawberry caprivodka, was good! and when
the power went out earlier, a bat flew in the
room through the open window and out again. madness!
No comments:
Post a Comment