3-7 Feb 2012 – Porto Seguro, Bahía, Brazil – Timbalada Radio
My friends are great, they all love a good adventure and none more so than the original half man/half fish Daz. He has been living the dream in London and had finally popped the question to his beautiful girlfriend Patricia. They were to be married in Patricia’s home city, which also happens to be one of the most beautiful places in the world. The beautiful Salvador de Bahía in Brazil.
I bought my flight tickets asap, and was to have a whole month of good times. I was a very lucky boy indeed. I didn’t know much about Brazil except for the locals love of football, being hairless and skimpy bikinis.
Salvador de Bahia, is a very old city that originally thrived on coffee and the slave trade. Currently it is going through a phase of extreme development. Sky-scrapers popping up everywhere, I had heard that the price of things was as high as London, well it was and it wasn’t.
After landing in Sao Paolo I made my way to Porto Seguro to meet Daz for some chill time before the wedding. Thinking buses would be cheap I naively started out, and 28 hours later I arrived in the lawless state of Bahia. The police had decided to go on strike. Their tactics were simple and obvious and they had even done the same thing last year. With the carnival only a week away, they decided to resort to blackmail. Unfortunately for them this time, the government weren’t going to play ball and sent in the army to keep the peace. In honesty we didn’t notice any problems, although it was widely reported that a hundred or more people were killed, I believe this was more down to gang warfare.
 In Porto Seguro we found some very simple and nice accommodation just out of town by the beach. Daz got down to making fire |  while I got onto drinking some beer |
 and feeding the local wildlife |  As night rolled on, all the family came out for the bbq and a few quiet cuchasas. It wasn’t long until the fighting began. |
 It turns out we were drinking with the local capoeira professor |  Daz had a crack at the title and got eaten alive |
 The crowd were not impressed and if anything bored. |  After being shamelessly beaten by a fat old man, decided to take some some vengeance. |
 Next day we decided to hit the beach |  and went on the worst snorkelling trip ever, all the coral had died. |
 At night we headed into downtown Porto Seguro. It is very historic and nice, but a bit too touristy. Here I am displaying novelty bottle openers. |  One of the first churches in Brazil is perched on the hill overlooking the harbour. |
We had a great week in Porto Seguro, soaking up some of the culture. The weather was absolutely stunning as where the beaches.
And as a budding ornothologist I love spotting different bird species, but unfortunately in Porto Seguro I didn’t see even one of the large pink breasted Brazilian species, although I did find this artists impression of one.
Laters.x.b.rad
