Up the coast

I had toyed with the idea of an little adventure on the water today, possibly going to Morro de Sao Paulo by boat.  With the weather still unpredictable, it didn’t seem like a wise idea.  The alternative beachy trip to Itaparica and Ilha dos Frades with a more sheltered water crossing also didn’t seem wise.  The waters were far too choppy to be enjoyable.

We settled for a trip to Praia do Forte, a beach destination up the coast north-east of the city, accessed by road.  Pickup was for 0800 at the tour agent’s office nearby.

The big super-comfy bus turned up at 0820 with some passengers on board.  I didn’t expect a full size bus.  We cruised round for two hours doing pickups around the Barra and Salvador area before leaving for Praia do Forte which was about an hour from Salvador.   We didn’t mind the detours because it gave us an insight to the various parts of the city.

Disembarking at Praia do Forte three hours after we had set off, we were led to the Project Tamar turtle conservation site.  With the language barrier, we assumed that foreigners needed a ticket at a price that wasn’t included in the tour.  Having done something similar in Borneo recently, we left and wandered around town.

Praia do Forte is a lovely tourist town that seems to have evolved very nicely and tastefully.  The water was too rough for us to swim enjoyably.  We found a reasonably priced buffet (by plate rather than by kilo).

As we had to meet back at the bus two hours after being dropped off, we didn’t have much time left after lunch.  The two hours disappeared with half-hour walking to/from Project Tamar, exploring a little and eating lunch.

The weather also turned on us just as we were heading back to the bus, so we managed to stay dry in the waiting area.

It was a 15 min ride to our next stop at Guarajuba Beach.  Here, most people were herded in to a beach restaurant for lunch.  The seafood looked good but we had eaten.  We wandered along the beach and returned to some shelter when the weather looked iffy.

We had been given a longer stop here, about 2h20.  We still had plenty of time to kill, so we bought a drink, edited photos and used the wifi.  Heavy rain came in briefly.

The journey back starting at 1620 was more tedious than the outbound.  It had been a long day already for just 2x2h of actual “tour”.  Hopping off back at Barra at 1920, we had done 6h of bus ride for just 4h+ of “tour”.  It wa a good reminder to not do bus tours when we move on into our golden years.

After a light bite of burgers I had a haircut at a tattoo parlour.  Here, they have scissors.  The barber knew exactly what to do, using the buzz-shaver on the side/back and scissors on the top.  In Sudan, they only had the buzz-shaver as everyone had frizzy hair!

I was able to pay for my haircut and most other things by card in Brazil.  Eg. most meals and even street vendors accept card!  This is so unexpected as in Argentina last year, card acceptance was difficult and often required presentation of a passport.