bahia CARNAVAL!!

[michiegrl24]

Hello friends,
I am planning to meet a friend in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil for the carnaval there, aka "the biggest party in the world." The carnaval starts on feb 11th. I was thinking of busing it from buenos aires along a 10-day stretch to see some of the coast along the way. I'd prefer to not travel this alone, so i was looking if anyone wanted to join? I'm 23 and good-humored. Shoot me a message or reply if you're interested in joining!!

besos,
michelle

 

[Carolina Girl]

If I were your mother I would tell you not to drive....and since I am not your mother I will STILL tell you not to drive there alone or with someone else (even if they had a gun).

You did, however, make a great choice for a destination and a time of life. Aaah! to be 23 years old....

It is the BEST Carnaval anywhere! It is a long multiple day marathon and the people are delightful! And the music! OMG, the music is amazing.

But in between home and your destination, the people are poor and desperate and it is not a good place for anyone on that road except mercenaries and warriors who have fought off pirates off the Somalia coast.

Have I scared you enough to make a different choice?

Go, have fun and be careful.

 

[HenryNisental]

Hi: I had a girlfriend from Salvador, Bahia, and have been there several times.
First let me tell you that the best Brazilian carnival is not in Bahia but in Rio de Janeiro.
Salvador is an extremely poor city, with a population almost 100% black.
I do not know you, but if you are white you will stand out in the crow and may became a target.
Besides, Carnival in Rio is done mostly in big private clubs, plus a big city parade with stands, etc.
In Salvador there are no clubs nor stands, people just mill around in the streets following big trucks equipped with huge speakes.
The city ,however, has some atracions: there is an old slave market fort (now a kind of shopping), old churches, and there are very nice beaches nearby (like Itaparica island, etc).
There is a Meridien hotel in Itaparica
Good luck Henry

 

[Ryoga]

are we playing scare the white girl.

1) even the brasilians will yell you that carnival is better in salvador and olinda. thats why they go to salvador instead of rio

2) if you are white and you look rich you will be a target anywhere in brasil except south of sao paulo. PS: dont try to buy drugs

i may take the bus to Rio since i was in Salvador this year for carnival; however, i do know of a couple from montreal going to salvador

 

[michiegrl24]

thank you for your responses. my parents would indeed both thank you. i appreciate the advice and i plan on keeping it in mind. two friends of mine did the trek last year and spent the rest of the year ranting about it.

i actually lived in bahia for a summer a few years ago, and i'm fluent in spanish and conversational in portuguese. the city is beautiful part of the reason i want to go back, that and the youth of crowd. when i'm older i'm sure i'll want to attend the rio carvnaval at some point. i realize being a foreigner makes me very vulnerable, but along my travels there i also realized brazilians are full of life and can be quite kind. one can mention similar dangers about living in buenos aires, also not the safest place to be. i plan on being as safe as i can, not wandering at night and following the beaten path. i may end up taking a plane there and busing it down to ba afterwards with my friend. nothing is really set yet.

so unfortunately, i dont think you've scared me enough yet to change my course of actions (somalian pirates do sound scary though!). but i do plan on thinking it through well and planning it better if i do decide to take the bus route. i appreciate your advice and concerns, different perspectives help.

 

[pandulf.ironhead]

I lived in Brazil for two years and I can tell you...Bahia is one of the worst places, and Salvador the worst of all. It's not about crime, because other places in Brazil are worse, but just the atmosphere; absolutely everything is geared around tourism and in particular catering to the most degenerate kind of Western tourist...the hippie. If you like white "alternative" girls into "samba and spirituality" (that kind of thing) and white guys with dreadlocks, and all the accessories and marketing that goes with this "identity," then Salvador is your kind of place.

Best place for Carnival in Brazil...rent out a car drive out into the countryside, go to a small village. You need some Portuguese for this though.

 

[Ryoga]

ok we have a troll

get a life brah

 

[Ryoga]

so unfortunately, i dont think you've scared me enough yet to change my course of actions (somalian pirates do sound scary though!). but i do plan on thinking it through well and planning it better if i do decide to take the bus route. i appreciate your advice and concerns, different perspectives help.

BA is more danagerous