Salvador, Brazil

I love this city -- or at least the little part of it that I have visited. I should have flown from Belem to here and bypassed Fortaleza, but oh well. The old upper city is called the Pelorinho and it is beautiful. It is very touristy, but it is also well policed, so it is very safe -- what a nice thing. This area is also a UNESCO world heritage site, and it is easy to see why. The old buildings and stone streets are just beautiful.They are also busy getting ready for Carnival here (which many people say is better than Rio´s - so if I am ever back here at this time of year again...) the atmosphere is amazing.

I arrived on Sunday evening and spent a lot of time just wandering the streets, looking at art (it is a good thing I cannot carry stuff home) and other stuff for sale. Then on Monday I spent the day in various museums and churches, and I went down the elevator to the lower city (who in their right mind decided to build a city 400 years ago on the top of this escarpment...) most of which has been built my filling in the water. There is a great market down there. In the afternoon, the drum school beside my hostel put on a very cool performace/parade type thing, that was very cool to watch and then in the evening I hung out with some other people from the hostel.

It has been a great 2 nights here, I would like to be staying longer -- but need to head to Rio for Carnival -- yea!