Salvador Christmas.

Palacio Rio Branco

Salvador reallygot into the Christmas spirit. Lots of decorations around and surreal tropical santa images. My favorite was a bunch of scantily clad santa’s elf cheerleaders doing dance routines in a local plaza one morning for a crowd of gleeful children and more gleeful old men.

Christmas day itself was a relaxed day off for the city…the weather was nice so people took advantage of the day off by heading to the city beaches. I followed suit and checked out the main beach neighborhood of  Barra in the afternoon.

Today I hopped on a passenger ferry and headed 45 minutes across the bay to an island called Itaparica, with nicer beaches where lots of folks head on the weekends. Picked a fine spot called Ponta de Areia with good beachside restaurants and lazed the day away. Great clear water, the kind where you can stand with it up to your neck and still look down and count your toes.

Proximity to the ferries is one of the best qualities of my location here. One minutes walk and I hop on the Elevador Lacerda.

The elevators in this cool structure cost a bafflingly low 5 centavos to ride, taking you from the upper to the lower city. It’s another 5 minutes walk from the bottom of the elevator to the ferry terminal.  Very convenient for a spur of the moment excursion.

Hope everyone had a great christmas…I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss the snow and cold and especially friends and family that day. The beach felt a bit out of place for Dec. 25, but the mood in the air was strangely the same.

Now counting down to New Year’s Eve….

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