Hello everyone!
It has been a while since my lost post… but here’s my update!!
as indicated in the title, i should have updated the blog on saturday but because of internet problems (and a great hike) i am posting it only now.
Photos could be seen in my Picasa album: http://picasaweb.google.com/itayb2/LatinAmericanExperience
Enjoy...
Since my last update, I’ve been to an island called Itaparika, following that I left Salvador and got to Lençóis (more about it later on) after a long bus ride.
So if I want to continue from last time – Sunny, Itzik & I decided to spend another evening in the lovely area of Pelourinho in order to see some more folklore and local music & traditions. It was really exciting. Later that evening we sat down in a restaurant which was quite abandoned – but not for long. Following us, some more people joined. I ordered there a Shrimps & octopus moqueca (a Brazilian stew, made with vegetables, herbs and coconut milk) – which was the best dish I have had so far!!!
Oh, an important fact about food in restaurants – they always serve the main dish with two side dishes – usually French fries and rice with or without beans. Sometimes one of them changes to mashed potatoes and the other to farofa (a type of flour made of Manioc – a local plant quite like potato or sweet potato)
While we were having fun in Pelourinho, Oshrat and Eyal have been dancing, singing and having fun with all the bands passing the street next to the apartment. 6 days without stop about 10-12 hours a day. Not sure how they got the forces for that.
On the next day, we (Sunny, Itzik & I) decided we want some time off from the huge noisy trucks and that we should find ourselves some quite place. The Itaparika island looked like a great choice. This island is located about 30 minutes ride on a boat from Salvador, in the middle of the ‘all saints' bay.
That's how we found ourselves on a boat heading towards this island. When we got there, we found ourselves a taxi driver with whom I was able to speak some French. He took us to a beach named Conceicao beach. In the beach there was lots of sand (a beach, after all), a restaurant and a hotel. Nothing more than that. After a short walk along the beach we found out the next beach (which is probably the best one on the island) is occupied by ClubMed. So we understood that what is good for the French (and others) is good for us as well. That way we found ourselves in the local hotel (which was NOTHING like ClubMed).
So, after settling down in the hotel and a long stay on the beach and in the very hot water (sea temperature was more than 28 degrees!!) we sat down to eat in the restaurant, where a live band was playing. Sunny ordered a fish-dish, Itzik asked for some spaghetti and I decided to go for the ‘sun meat’ (which later on I discovered was meat dried in the sun).
After about an hour, Sunny got her fish (which was very good, though it was VERY salty). A few minutes later as it seemed like we are not going to get anything else, I asked the waiter and he said – your meat is coming right out. in return I asked what about the spaghetti we ordered, I was answered – ‘oh, we don’t have spaghetti’….
Therefore, Itzik (who fed on the fish) asked for some more rice and fries…
My ‘sun meat’ was nice, though very salty. Cooks…go figure...
Later on that evening we decided to go for a walk on the beach, looking for some party to join. Some music was playing in the beach restaurant, but as it was dance music and not local music (which we were already singing all the time), we decided to skip…
We found in one of the streets nearby, a small truck (like in Pelourinho) with a band on top of it singing and making the people around it sing and dance. We stayed with them for an hour before it was time to get back to the hotel
When we were back in the hotel, we went to play some pool next to the pool. :-)
We were joined by a group of local teenagers who were not so used to foreigners. Only one of them spoke English (Carol, 14 years old, attached to her boyfriend who did not understand why speaks with foreigners twice her age) – she told us that all were visitors from Salvador and that they often come to the island for vacations.
After that, back in the room, we turned on the TV in order to catch a glimpse of the carnival in Rio. This was something totally different and amazing by itself. Lots of dancers and actors dressed up in customs dancing and moving to the music in a big stadium in front of the crowd. One of these groups will win a trophy and will show up again on Saturday (yesterday, actually). Next carnival – in Rio.
The next morning we went to beach just to see that the water went far far away from the beach and only small ponds were left nearby. This was a time to take a walk on the beach and see locals getting a sun bath or playing soccer (football).in the early afternoon it was time for us to leave the beach and go back to the ferry to Salvador. We (actually it was Itzik) helped pushing the taxi a little as it stopped working on the way.
An hour later we were back in Salvador, ready for the last night of the carnival.
Just before that, we had late lunch in a restaurant which is a type of buffet where you take whatever you want, and they weigh it and you pay the price according to the weight of the food on the plate. This type of restaurant is quite common around Brazil.
On that last evening, trucks with all the same singers on top passing again. By now, we know half of the songs by heart (well, not the real words, but the ones we gave them. Itzik is an expert for that!).
The day after more trucks appeared in the morning and woke us up (around 10). These were the last ones, just to say goodbye and sing some more songs.
During that day all the streets were cleared from all the mess and temporary shops and stands that were there for a week. Was amazing how they cleaned everything that quickly – and then in the afternoon – like nothing happened during the last week.
As our stay in Salvador was at an end, it was time to decide where to go next…
Eyal had his ticket back to Israel on the next day – so he just had to take a flight to Sao Paolo.
Oshrat had a flight to Porto Seguro where she planned to spend the rest of her vacation.
Itzik was hesitating at first what to do, but as soon as he heard of a big football match in Rio he went and booked a flight there.
I thought about it quite a lot, and at the end decided to go to Lençóis which is an old diamond-mining town, in the middle of a huge park called ‘Chapada diamantica’ about 6 hours west from Salvador.
Sunny decided to join me there.
So we went on a walking-trip to the bus station in order to buy some bus tickets. Spent about 4 hours (shopping, messing around, etc) just to understand this was not the right bus station for us and we could not find any tickets there. At least now we knew where we had to go.
On our last evening in Salvador we decided to go to Pelourinho again, this time with Oshrat & Eyal who were not there yet. We spent some time in the picturesque streets and squares until it was time for dinner. I went for the same Moqueca as last time, but it was not the same (though not bad at all!). After dinner the waiter from the restaurant joined us for desert, coffee and a long talk in a nearby restaurant. This guy was Brazilian who lived about 10 years in Colombia & Argentina and had many stories to tell. And he also had a crush on sunny…
When the waiters in that restaurant showed signs of ‘we want to go home, it is late, and why are you keeping us here?’- It was time for us to leave…
Next morning we woke up in order to ask the building keeper to call for us and ask about the bus. There were available seats on the 11:30 bus so we (Sunny and I) ran to the bus station (after saying goodbye to all the rest). The bus was already full so we got tickets to a later bus and sat down for a 3 hours wait.
Many Israelis have passed in that bus station. Including one who told us about his 52 hours bus ride from Iguassu falls (I will get there sometime soon) to Salvador. This time, he had only 28 hours ride from Salvador to Rio. Lucky him!
At 13:00 we got on the bus for our 6.5 hours ride…. Quite a long one, but it is fine, now that we are in Lençóis.
From the bus we went directly to the hostel recommended by Oshrat (she has been here 3 years ago), where they are supposed to have the best breakfast in Brazil. I wouldn’t confirm that, but the breakfast is not bad at all….
I will stop here for the moment.
Will update some more soon, after a few more treks in here…
some caves, some waterfalls and some terrain vehicles ride are still waiting.
Good night Lençóis.
It has been a while since my lost post… but here’s my update!!
as indicated in the title, i should have updated the blog on saturday but because of internet problems (and a great hike) i am posting it only now.
Photos could be seen in my Picasa album: http://picasaweb.google.com/itayb2/LatinAmericanExperience
Enjoy...
Since my last update, I’ve been to an island called Itaparika, following that I left Salvador and got to Lençóis (more about it later on) after a long bus ride.
So if I want to continue from last time – Sunny, Itzik & I decided to spend another evening in the lovely area of Pelourinho in order to see some more folklore and local music & traditions. It was really exciting. Later that evening we sat down in a restaurant which was quite abandoned – but not for long. Following us, some more people joined. I ordered there a Shrimps & octopus moqueca (a Brazilian stew, made with vegetables, herbs and coconut milk) – which was the best dish I have had so far!!!
Oh, an important fact about food in restaurants – they always serve the main dish with two side dishes – usually French fries and rice with or without beans. Sometimes one of them changes to mashed potatoes and the other to farofa (a type of flour made of Manioc – a local plant quite like potato or sweet potato)
While we were having fun in Pelourinho, Oshrat and Eyal have been dancing, singing and having fun with all the bands passing the street next to the apartment. 6 days without stop about 10-12 hours a day. Not sure how they got the forces for that.
On the next day, we (Sunny, Itzik & I) decided we want some time off from the huge noisy trucks and that we should find ourselves some quite place. The Itaparika island looked like a great choice. This island is located about 30 minutes ride on a boat from Salvador, in the middle of the ‘all saints' bay.
That's how we found ourselves on a boat heading towards this island. When we got there, we found ourselves a taxi driver with whom I was able to speak some French. He took us to a beach named Conceicao beach. In the beach there was lots of sand (a beach, after all), a restaurant and a hotel. Nothing more than that. After a short walk along the beach we found out the next beach (which is probably the best one on the island) is occupied by ClubMed. So we understood that what is good for the French (and others) is good for us as well. That way we found ourselves in the local hotel (which was NOTHING like ClubMed).
So, after settling down in the hotel and a long stay on the beach and in the very hot water (sea temperature was more than 28 degrees!!) we sat down to eat in the restaurant, where a live band was playing. Sunny ordered a fish-dish, Itzik asked for some spaghetti and I decided to go for the ‘sun meat’ (which later on I discovered was meat dried in the sun).
After about an hour, Sunny got her fish (which was very good, though it was VERY salty). A few minutes later as it seemed like we are not going to get anything else, I asked the waiter and he said – your meat is coming right out. in return I asked what about the spaghetti we ordered, I was answered – ‘oh, we don’t have spaghetti’….
Therefore, Itzik (who fed on the fish) asked for some more rice and fries…
My ‘sun meat’ was nice, though very salty. Cooks…go figure...
Later on that evening we decided to go for a walk on the beach, looking for some party to join. Some music was playing in the beach restaurant, but as it was dance music and not local music (which we were already singing all the time), we decided to skip…
We found in one of the streets nearby, a small truck (like in Pelourinho) with a band on top of it singing and making the people around it sing and dance. We stayed with them for an hour before it was time to get back to the hotel
When we were back in the hotel, we went to play some pool next to the pool. :-)
We were joined by a group of local teenagers who were not so used to foreigners. Only one of them spoke English (Carol, 14 years old, attached to her boyfriend who did not understand why speaks with foreigners twice her age) – she told us that all were visitors from Salvador and that they often come to the island for vacations.
After that, back in the room, we turned on the TV in order to catch a glimpse of the carnival in Rio. This was something totally different and amazing by itself. Lots of dancers and actors dressed up in customs dancing and moving to the music in a big stadium in front of the crowd. One of these groups will win a trophy and will show up again on Saturday (yesterday, actually). Next carnival – in Rio.
The next morning we went to beach just to see that the water went far far away from the beach and only small ponds were left nearby. This was a time to take a walk on the beach and see locals getting a sun bath or playing soccer (football).in the early afternoon it was time for us to leave the beach and go back to the ferry to Salvador. We (actually it was Itzik) helped pushing the taxi a little as it stopped working on the way.
An hour later we were back in Salvador, ready for the last night of the carnival.
Just before that, we had late lunch in a restaurant which is a type of buffet where you take whatever you want, and they weigh it and you pay the price according to the weight of the food on the plate. This type of restaurant is quite common around Brazil.
On that last evening, trucks with all the same singers on top passing again. By now, we know half of the songs by heart (well, not the real words, but the ones we gave them. Itzik is an expert for that!).
The day after more trucks appeared in the morning and woke us up (around 10). These were the last ones, just to say goodbye and sing some more songs.
During that day all the streets were cleared from all the mess and temporary shops and stands that were there for a week. Was amazing how they cleaned everything that quickly – and then in the afternoon – like nothing happened during the last week.
As our stay in Salvador was at an end, it was time to decide where to go next…
Eyal had his ticket back to Israel on the next day – so he just had to take a flight to Sao Paolo.
Oshrat had a flight to Porto Seguro where she planned to spend the rest of her vacation.
Itzik was hesitating at first what to do, but as soon as he heard of a big football match in Rio he went and booked a flight there.
I thought about it quite a lot, and at the end decided to go to Lençóis which is an old diamond-mining town, in the middle of a huge park called ‘Chapada diamantica’ about 6 hours west from Salvador.
Sunny decided to join me there.
So we went on a walking-trip to the bus station in order to buy some bus tickets. Spent about 4 hours (shopping, messing around, etc) just to understand this was not the right bus station for us and we could not find any tickets there. At least now we knew where we had to go.
On our last evening in Salvador we decided to go to Pelourinho again, this time with Oshrat & Eyal who were not there yet. We spent some time in the picturesque streets and squares until it was time for dinner. I went for the same Moqueca as last time, but it was not the same (though not bad at all!). After dinner the waiter from the restaurant joined us for desert, coffee and a long talk in a nearby restaurant. This guy was Brazilian who lived about 10 years in Colombia & Argentina and had many stories to tell. And he also had a crush on sunny…
When the waiters in that restaurant showed signs of ‘we want to go home, it is late, and why are you keeping us here?’- It was time for us to leave…
Next morning we woke up in order to ask the building keeper to call for us and ask about the bus. There were available seats on the 11:30 bus so we (Sunny and I) ran to the bus station (after saying goodbye to all the rest). The bus was already full so we got tickets to a later bus and sat down for a 3 hours wait.
Many Israelis have passed in that bus station. Including one who told us about his 52 hours bus ride from Iguassu falls (I will get there sometime soon) to Salvador. This time, he had only 28 hours ride from Salvador to Rio. Lucky him!
At 13:00 we got on the bus for our 6.5 hours ride…. Quite a long one, but it is fine, now that we are in Lençóis.
From the bus we went directly to the hostel recommended by Oshrat (she has been here 3 years ago), where they are supposed to have the best breakfast in Brazil. I wouldn’t confirm that, but the breakfast is not bad at all….
I will stop here for the moment.
Will update some more soon, after a few more treks in here…
some caves, some waterfalls and some terrain vehicles ride are still waiting.
Good night Lençóis.
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