Olinda is muito linda.

Hello from beautiful Olinda, where everything is always tudo bem. Yan, I didnt do the hike to Cachoeira Fumaca in Chapada Diamantina because unfortunately, I was too lazy to do it. Bad excuse, yeah, definitely... next time, I hope...
I went back to my old stomping grounds after Lencois for a day, Salvador. Salvador is a very important city in the north, in the state of Bahia, for many things -- for being a cultural center, for its always happy people, for its crime rate (funny how those things still go hand in hand here) and moreover, for their Carnaval, which is supposedly better than the one in Rio every February. I could definitely see it being a more insane party in Salvador. The capacity people have for drinking here is a little more than what I have seen in the south so far. I was in Salvador -- specifically, the Pelourinho, which is the colonial, historical part, a UNESCO World Heritage site -- last year for a few days and it hasnt really changed too much. There are new shops and restaurants, but you can still follow percussion bands through the streets, which I did. You can still have Cuban ice cream at the shop near the former whipping post. I had an excellent vegetarian moqueca meal at a restaurant in the Pelourinho. Moqueca is usually made with fish so it is almost a sin to make it with only veggies, but man, I havent been crapping regularly so I needed to greens. Anyway, it´s a stew made with tomatoes and palm oil and goddamn tasty.

That held me over for the overnight bus ride to Maceio, a beach city. When I got there, guess what, it was raining. Things kind of cleared up a bit and I went on a boat ride, against the advice of the tourist office, to a natural pool to see tropical fish. I saw nada of course, because the rain had kicked up too much dirt so the water wasnt clear. On my tiny fishing boat were two Italians, and they suggested we try going to a beach further south, Praia dos Frances. I could definitely see it being beautiful as much as Brazilians say it is -- if it hadn´t been cloudy, that is. So the next day, I took off to Recife, another cultural heart of the north, but all I kept hearing about is how dangerous it is. I opted to stay in Olinda, the town right next to it, a more intimate, older, historical place.
So far, so good. Rain and mosquitoes, yea. Dancing to reggae. More soon. My time is running out at this Internet place and I need to get back to my pousada because it isnt that great for me to be walking around at this hour anyway!