22/02/2020 – Carnival, Salvador, Brasil

We woke up feeling slightly groggy but nothing too drastic, and went down for breakfast in the Pousada, a lovely buffet similar to that of the day before. Bruno, our taxi driver from last night had left a message for us in reception to check we were ok and had made it to our destination safely. How incredibly kind and thoughtful! We sent him a text message to thank him and to tell him we were ok and were having fun in his city. We went back upstairs and showered and packed as we are sadly checking out today. This is one of the best hotels of the trip, slightly more than mine and Joshs normal budget but still pretty good value, and its so pretty and quirky, definitely a recommendation for anyone heading to Salvador! We walked down the road and Joe and Henna went to check in to their accommodation in an old convent, and Josh and I a stones throw further to our air bnb studio flat. We were let in to our air bnb by a friend of the host. We are in a lovely spacious studio flat for the next 5 nights. It has big sash windows and a decent little kitchen. We unpacked and settled in, excited to settle in somewhere for a good amount of time. Henna and Joe came round a couple of hours later, with some vodka and mixers, some pasta and supplies to make lunch with. We cooked some lunch, and Henna and Joe started to realise how valuable cooking facilities in accommodation are for saving money! We got ready in to todays blocco outfit, a purple vest, and of coure covered ourselves in more glitter. Our blocco has a Brasilian singer/songwriter performing from the front lorry today, she is called Ivete and I have been told she is the Brasilian version of Cher. (She went on to be voted as the best performance for the whole carnival!) We walked a little way through the centre of town so as to find an easier place for Uber to pick us up, then started our journey. Again we had to do a bit of a detour and then walk for a bit before we met Rohit and his friends closer to our blocco. We did have to walk a good hour through the street parties to get to the start of our party. On that walk we went right through some of the darkest poverty I have ever witnessed, and we gave a few bottles of water away as we walked briskly past. We were a bit more relaxed today as had more of an idea as to what to expect and what the evening was going to entail. We joined the blocco near the back, next to an employee carrying a huge giant balloon, as a kind of meeting point for people who need to find their friends. The Brasilian guys in our group broke off t go and join what we called ‘the mosh pit’ or basically the area where you get squeezed and pushed to smitherines. There were a couple of huge pushes and surges of people that nearly squished us, and one time we experienced the pipoka (which translates to popcorn) where the crowd start jumping up and down a bit like corn kernals popping. Rohit and his friends went on from the blocco to a camarate, which is like a huge ticketed nightclub on the side of the promenade, with free food and drink and views of the parade below. It was too expensive for us so the four of us broke off from the rest of the group. We walked through the carnival, it felt like the main night tonight and everything was lively and busy. We walked to a taxi rank to try and get in to the city. As a taxi swung around the corner Joe took a step back then stumbled over the kerb and then backwards down a flight of stairs, he did a backwards somersault and his foot broke a window on the way down. We had all watched it happen, it was the scariest fall I have ever seen and we were all worried as to what state Joe was going to be in. Luckily he self mobilised, and was pretty OK, we were so relieved as he could have really seriously hurt himself. We sat him down and Henna did a bit of an assessment of him. One man who obviously lived in one of the downstairs flats was really worried about him, and helped us by getting water and checking if we needed anything. There was a really cross young lady, who claimed that the smashed window was that of her parents flat. The only way we could make her reasonable again was by giving her 100 Real, about £20. By this point we just wanted to get away, so we found the money between us, and hopped in a taxi home. Henna assessed Joe the whole way back and advised him it might be a good time to go home. Joe was ready to party! We got a taxi to our air bnb and Joe had a shower and we cleaned him up and stuck some of his puncture wounds back together with some steri-strips. We put some music on and partied in our flat, drinking up the rest of the vodka. Probably not the best idea to drink with a head injury, but it was fun and thankfully he was ok!