Salvador

Trying to sleep in the airport
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First impressions of Salvador were pretty good, brilliant weather, long stretches of beach and an obvious African influence.

We had decided previously that we weren't going to stay in Salvador for carnival as put simply we couldn't afford it, plus we knew Neil our little Irish mate was going to Carnival in Barranquilla, Colombia, so booked our flight for Colombia on the 15th of Feb, the first day of Carnival in Salvador.

The three days we spent in Salvador were pretty dull, everything associated with pre-carnival was expensive and then drinks and food weren't much better, so we didn't go out, didn't really meet anyone of interest and spent most of our time in the hostel hanging out in the hammocks or watching TV.  In fact the whole atmosphere was not really conducive to backpackers on a budget so just moped around the place..couldn't even go to the beach as apart from our first day it rained the rest.

Our last night there we didn't have any accommodation so sat up at the hostel drinking until 3am in the morning until they realised we weren't meant to be there, tried to charge us for another night, we told them to get stuffed and went and slept in the airport for a few hours until our flight departed at 10am.

Brazil in general, apart from Iguacu Falls, was definitely not a highlight of our trip, rarely met any english speaking back packers, couldn't speak or understand Portuguese and spent loads and loads of cash.  Of course none of this is Brazil's fault and have heard off other people that up north there is some amazing beaches, towns, restaurants etc....so maybe next time when we have more time and money.