We arrived in Salvador in the middle of a strike. But it seems there's always a strike in Salvador. The electricity workers were on strike for a 140% rise because they hadn't had one since April and it was now August. The hotel workers joined them after a couple of days for similar reasons, and we had to clean our own rooms and make our own beds, we even had to cook our own breakfasts if we wanted something hot. The management put the food out at the crack of dawn and left us to fend for ourselves. Every morning we woke at 6 am to the sound of whistles, yelling and loud hailers, as the strikers formed their picket line right outside the hotel. This racket went on all day but it was difficult to avoid. Two more days and the airlines went on strike for 180% rise and there were people stranded who couldn't get home, or to their next destination.
There were no English language newspapers available outside Rio but I used to look at the local papers and translate as much as possible with the help of a phrase book. Lo and behold, the Iraq invaded Kuwait, sewing the seeds of the Gulf War whilst we were there, and we were at least glad that we'd travelled west instead of east, but why did it have to be this hell-hole. The main town was split in two by a sheer cliff, linked only by a cable car, but we'd heard that if you went anywhere near the cable car you would almost certainly be robbed. We did go into town once but it was hardly worth it. We got ripped off by the taxi driver, walked round the market and got another taxi back - make sure they zero the metre before the journey starts.
We were trapped here for two weeks (assuming we could get a flight back to Rio) so we had to find something to do. The guided tour of Salvador was quite interesting - it seems the African slaves, way back when, were forced to abandon their beliefs in Voodoo gods and adopt the Catholic faith. So they renamed their gods after the Catholic saints and carried on worshiping them. Many still worship them today and you can, by special request, attend one of their ceremonies if you really want to. The evening trips they arrange to such events are strictly re-enacted for the tourists in fairly pleasant surroundings with a meal included, but fun.
Most of our time was spent strolling round the area local to the hotel, lying by the pool, or watching tele (in Portuguese) in the room. Near to the end of our sentance, I caught a programme on TV about this place that was a den of iniquity - drugs, prostitution, thievery and violence. It was fascinating at first but the fascination turned to horror as I began to reallise that the place was only a stone's throw from the hotel, and the beach they had shown covered in discarded needles was just down the road where we went each night to buy a burger. Boy were we glad to get back to Rio - until we found that Rio was even worse. Brazil is a beautiful country, what a shame it is such a dangerous place.
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Why was even worse in Rio??? Well Bahia-Salvador is interesting and I am very sorry about what happen because should be a great time. I am brazilian, so I do understand your point as a tourist. So tell me what happen in Rio?
Nice opinion anyway.
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Advantages: friendly people,very cheap,and such a pleasant laid back feeling,even the ant leave you alone... Disadvantages: all inclucive,airport imigration very slow,the government said they were trying to speed things up,but after the horrendous tragidy in america.i think slow imigration and security is something we will all have to get used to.which can only be a good thing
theredbaron 22.09.2001 ·
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Review of Salvador de Bahia
Advantages: friendly people,very cheap,and such a pleasant laid back feeling,even the ant leave you alone... Disadvantages: all inclucive,airport imigration very slow,the government said they were trying to speed things up,but after the horrendous tragidy in america.i think slow imigration and security is something we will all have to get used to.which can only be a good thing
theredbaron 22.09.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Salvador de Bahia
Jan 10th, 2001
(Jan 17th, 2001)
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