Bahian Contrasts in Salvador and Chapada Diamantina

Salvador de Bahia was Brazil`s first capital city in the 16th and 17th centuries. Now it claims to be the heart of Afro-Brazilian culture. Our schedule was set to experience this famous city one week after carnival. Perhaps not the best idea, since we must have rather met a hangover community. We did find a group of stranded afro-culture tourists making their way at nighttime in a rather improvised rhythmical bloco through the historical center called Pelourinho but we preferred the performances of an international gathering of street artists at the peninsula of Ribeira, after enjoying a sunset over the beautifully calm Bay of Todos Santos. Of course we checked out the rather lousy and lazy Sunday gathering at Salvador's most popular beachfront Itapua. During our visit at a Candomble ceremony, where colonially dressed Afro-Brazilian ladies danced nearly 4 hours to heavy flowing drum sounds, we saw them falling into trance which supposedly means they get into contact with some of their religious spirits. However, our best experience of Salvador was the great view off the open terasse on the seventh floor of our Hotel during breakfast, feeling the fresh breeze in the short hair after a radical haircut in the streets of the Pelourinho. Get a grasp of Padi's experience on the Salvador Photo Set.

If it's not for visiting friends or taking dance or music lessons, 2 days in Salvador are definitely enough to spend. After visiting Padi's former Velotaxi compatriot Anita who runs a neat waterfront pousada (Coco Maluco) on the nearby island Itaparica, we decided to move on rapidly and take an overnight bus ride to Lencois in the famous natural park of Chapada Diamantina.


The most remarkable thing about this mountaneous region full of spectacular waterfalls, caves and cliffs is probably the air temperature. Ah, it feels so nice to sleep at 20 degrees... After having checked out a few of the most popular tourist sites (check out the pics on the Chapada Diamantina Photo Set), we are now getting ready for a three days very wet adventure treck off the beaten track. Our guide will be Marcus, an extreme adventure freak from Sao Paolo, and an experienced dutch backpackers couple will join in to form a little expedition through the heart of this former diamond mining region. We will carry along all we need to survive for 3 days and hope to learn a lot about the so-called ecologic tourism, that is rapidly developed throughout the country by young enthusiastic Agenda 21 students and nature lovers from southern Brazil.

We'll append more to this report once we turn back from the treck! Keep your fingers crossed for us! Ate logo!