paradise island

Tuesday nights are said to be the best here in Salvador and everybody from the hostel left the nega (our hostel) together.. well.. the 11-pointer and his friends went by themselves which we appreciated very much, especially since we found him serenading women whith his shirt unbuttoned a few hours later..

Tuesdays in Salvador were.. good. like a mini carnival but on very limited space. there's drumming and dancing and people. But we still werent that impressed -we ended up going home with Emma, a swedish girl (who works at the cafe on the street where matilda lives, in malmo (a cafe to which you can also bring dogs -yes please) and her 5-year old daughter Vinja.

The next morning, we left for Boipeba together.. a small island south of Morro de Sao Paulo. It was a quick decision.. one might say. After three days in Salvador where we really hadnt had time to do anything but renew my visa and getting robbed -I cant say that we had a great impression of salvador. Away we went, on boat and then bus, then bus then boat. When we got to the bus terminal in Valenca it turned out that we had two options -go by boat or by bus to boipeba -again, we made a quick decision and decided to go by bus. A while later we found ourselves on a very old, loud bus which was struggeling to get up and down a small mud road which had just been rained on and all of this in the middle of nowhere, all we could see was the trees going by and almost touching the bus on both sides. we realised that this was not a place on where we would handle a car coming the other way very well... and then there was a car coming the other way...

After an hour of the bus ride from hell we stopped, but the very adorable conductor gave us his one of a kind smile and all was fine again.

A small boat took us to Boiopeba.. and we fell in love.. or at least I did. Small colorful houses in a small colorful village.. and beautiful beaches.

But every morning we fought with the pousada people to get one more peice of the brasillian "french bread" which is, how can I say it.. very "airy".. and not that much food.. We ushally just got two small slices of cheese -one slice each and they had been laying out all day so they were hot and steamy (warm and sweaty) . On the last day we got mouldy cheese, but three peices..! I dont know if to think of it as an improvement or just as simple compensation

We decided to leave Boipeba and go to morro de sao paulo.
We missed the boat -since we had been told that it would leave at 14 (2 pm) but it actually left at 11 and had to pay an extra R$20 to get to Graciosa and from there catch a bus to valenca. In valenca we had no more money. We spent our last R$ to buy popcorn -we were very hungry. Emma lent us a bit of money which we used to go back and forth to the center of valenca -trying to find an ATM that would give us money. We didnt and we found ourselves being lost without money and decided to go back to the bus terminal and catch the first bus home -to Salvador. Did i mention that we love the Nega?

It was a joy seing Inbal and American Dave (who wont let americans be americans just because they are 11-pointers)(besides I know a lot of 11-poin-americans)(actually, I believe that excluding 11-point-americans from the american population would make the united states lose big in numbers).

But then I got sick. I fell asleep on tuesday and i just woke up yesterday evening. Leaving matilda to herself. She was very happy and talkative when I woke up.