Day 17, 18 & 19 – Salvador – Progressively Louder Laughter

Salvador was a bit of a crash and burn, cautionary tale on how not to travel. This was what I learned from Salvador:

Travel lesson #1: No matter how much time you think it will take to get you from point A to point B, leave as early as possible. Give yourself as many daylight hours as possible.

Travel lesson #2: When travelling by bus, don’t sit next to a Mother with a baby- particularly in the window seat. They might fall asleep while she is nursing like a true feminist (as is her God given right) and you will need to decide between waking them up/having an awkward conversation or going to the bathroom.

Travel lesson #3: Spend the goddamn money and get a travel plan with data.

Travel lesson #4: When going to a somewhat unsafe city, don’t book the most well-decorated Airbnb thinking it will be safer because of the neighbourhood. Book the hostel where you will meet people so that you can see the city together safely.

So I booked this amazing Airbnb with a check in window of 3pm-6pm. The doorman would be leaving at 6pm. No problem. No problem until hours into the bus ride when remembered that I was in Brazil and everything takes 10 times longer.

After a very drawn out bus ride and a ferry that was scenic until the end when it was docking, very slowly as they do (and I was seeing that it was 5:45pm) I felt like I was on Amazing Race. A show I have never watched but can imagine involves a lot of yelling. Which is what I was doing to myself, internally.I got into what was the lame horse of taxis. The man had no idea where he was going and had to stop and ask several people for directions. I felt helpless as minutes slipped passed 6pm. I had no wifi, no Portuguese and I was very quickly losing daylight but the sky was so idyllic that I still took a picture:I arrive 25 minutes late and the doorman is gone. I go to work to find a solution, my resources pretty limited. A half hour later, after having a few doors are slammed in my face I finally see a blue flashing LED sign that says: Hotel! Wifi! Cervajas! It’s like the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs for Kathryn tailored to that exact moment in my life.

I am lucky enough to immediately get in contact with the hosts who drop everything they are doing to get me into the Airbnb (for this I am eternally grateful).

I want to like Salvador but I find that going out alone outside my neighbourhood just makes me feel unsafe, and all of the tourist activities just kind of fall flat to me.

That being said, Salvador does have a rich and interesting history. It was the port city in Brazil for the slave trade so it as is very influenced by the African community that now make up much of the city. I definitely think I missed out on this and wish I had planned things differently- but I can deal with the fact that a few days didn’t live up completely to my expectations. Brazil is amazing and I’ve been pretty lucky along the way to have many incredible experiences.