Bahia roundup

So I'm in Sao Paulo now, and it's massive. I mean huuuuuge, on a scale that even I, a seasoned gentleman spy and international man of mystery, have rarely encountered. It is the largest city in Latin America after all, but damn it's a big place. Anyway, more on that later. For now I have free internet access at my hotel, so it's a good time to put up some of the pics from the week I just spent in Bahia. All 70 of them are on the Trip do Brasil flickr set, but lack context.

In Salvador I stayed at Pousadar Ambar, a very sweet wee guesthouse in the Barra district, a couple of kms south of the town centre. They have this bottle-top cleverness hanging in their front window.


The historic center of Salvador, the Pelhourinho, is all narrow cobblestone streets and plazas. On my last day there I came across this fairly revealing indictment of the Brazil football team's performance in the Copa do Mundo. Ouch!


I also took time to explore some of the historic roots of capoeira, including a short visit to the school founded by one of the early pioneers of the Regional style, Mestre Bimba. It's now run by his son, Mestre Bamba, and I was fortunate enough to drop by while a groups of tiny kiddies were in class. Watching people no more than 3ft high play capoeira is something I highly recommend. This is the view of the street from the school itself.


As part of the research I'm doing here (the parts of it that don't involve cats that look like Hitler) I visited a hiphop school in the neighbourhood. On the wall at the entrance are a series of words that are good to know in Portuguese, and not too hard to figure out.


This is a cat I made friends with, who clearly bears no resemblance to any dictator.


I needed to get away from the city for a couple of days, so I took a bus up the coast to a small eco-resort called Praia do Forte.


The town has a famous giant turtle reserve there, so every business has a comedy turtle on its front sign. Here is an example, followed by actual turtles. The tiny ones grow into the massive ones in about 15 years, assuming they survive the various slings and arrows hurled at them.




And so I bid goodbye to Bahia, as Sao Paulo beckons and the mission enters stage 3.