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Cleone - CLEONE in Brazil - Part 1 Bahia



Salvador - the Durban of Brazil?

We're getting a very mixed impression of Brazil. Salvador, the port of our arrival, is superficially a wonderful city. Vast, vibrant, teeming with life it is the old capital of Brazil. The old town itself, perched above what is now quite a decent marina, is quite the most beautiful place you could imagine. 19th Century houses line the narrow and sometimes steep streets, with magnificent churches and other old public buildings. Pleasant to wander around during the day, at night its many busy restaurants will always find room for another table and chairs, even if it means blocking off the whole street. There's a cosmopolitan, party atmosphere, constant music and the Brazilians chat readily. But wander away from this heavily policed area, and you are in trouble. Even during the day, visitors are under constant threat from muggers and the many heavily armed security guards and police seem to take care not to get too involved too quickly. Modern, high-rise buildings sprawl outwards from the centre, but there are many magnificent old buildings that have been allowed to rot away. Amongst the many ruins you can see people living in squalor, with no running water and no proper shelter.

Outside the city there is the same mixture of poverty and wealth. Criss-crossing this huge country, the State Highways are well maintained, but drive off these and what tarmac there is is likely never to have been maintained. Whole chunks of macadam have gone completely, and driving along in a cloud of dust it is often difficult to avoid the potholes. The general standard of driving is lethally awful. Trucks travel in convoys at about sixty mph, overtaking at will whether they can see or not, and happily forcing hapless motorists off into the verge if they need to pull back into their own lane in to avoid one of their mates coming the other way.  Narrowly avoiding being casualties ourselves on several occasions, we saw the remnants of some horrific accidents.

The countryside is magnificent and varied. Jungle, rolling hills, lush pasture-land, huge plantations, and large tracts of semi-desert are all to be found. Along the coast, fashionable seaside resorts alternate with old, poor fishing villages. Inland, there are pretty villages and towns, but always areas of neglected houses and accompanying squalor. There are magnificent ranches, with sprawling, well maintained houses, carefully tended gardens and commodious accommodation for horses. Particularly near the cities, there are shanty towns to rival those of South Africa.

Norfy's Bahia Tour took in all of this. We drove two hundred miles or so to the old French-founded Diamond Mining town of Lençóis, up in the hills, where we stayed for a couple of nights.  Built on a hill at the edge of the village, the hotel was well-run, comfortable and cheap, and surrounded by lovely gardens. We trekked into the hills and had a long picnic lunch beneath a magnificent waterfall, swimming beforehand in the deep pool below the waterfall. The water was full of iron salts and dark brown, but nonetheless refreshing. All along the valley are signs of this bygone industry, and a few miners still struggle to make a living by panning for tiny diamonds, which are of industrial grade only. That night, we ate well in this pretty and very friendly little holiday town. We then drove another couple of hundred miles back to the coast, south of Salvador to the seaside town of Valença. Bustling and busy, our modern hotel looked out over the filthy river, where traditional wooden ship-building is still carried out along the banks.  The town survives on this, a bit of fishing and some light industry.  We took a small but powerful ferry over to the holiday island of Tinharé. The bars and lovely beaches teem with well-heeled tourists, and we spent a very happy day swimming, walking through the delightful village, visiting the light-house and enjoying a long lunch. But the ice-cream afterwards wreaked its revenge!

As well as giving us a bit of an insight into the countryside, this classic tour was well up to the impeccable Norfy standard.  It taught us that the vast majority of Brazilians are friendly, welcoming and anxious to help and welcome strangers. Surprisingly, very few people speak any English, but everywhere people were willing to help us find our way around, or to provide us with whatever we needed or wanted, at a surprisingly reasonable cost. It was wonderful to get away from the boat for a bit!

We have spent the last couple of days cruising around the spectacular Baia de Todos os Santos, next to Salvador, and will set off for Recife later on today.  Here we will take in some of the Carnival, before being joined by Paul Wade, owner and skipper of Blonde Moment, for the last leg back to St Lucia.

Meanwhile, all is well with us, and very best wishes to all of you.

James and Graham
Yacht Cleone

12o46'S 38o38'W



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