Friday, September 13, 2019 - Salvador de Bahia (Itaparica Island)

Dear Travel Diary,

Today we took the ferry to Itaparica Island. Our receptionist was kind enough to find out when, where, and at what price the ferry operates.

As soon as we booked the usual Uber, the driver appeared around the corner. An old, rickety car stopped right in front of us. Granted, the car itself didn't make the best impression, but we still got in. The ride became really adventurous. First, we drove through the extremely poor harbor area, which scared us and made us sad at the same time. The route took us past numerous homeless people. One of the men had neither arms nor legs. The confrontation with this cruel reality brought tears to my eyes.

Still overwhelmed by the heavy fate of these people, a pungent smell of old fish suddenly hit us. Since the passenger window of our car was broken, we couldn't shut out the smell. But a proper Uber driver naturally has a solution for such situations, so he leaned to the side, opened the glove compartment, and pulled out a can of violet room spray, generously spraying it inside the car... but that only made it worse.

Arriving at the harbor, we bought two tickets and asked for directions to the ferry. In addition to people, the ferry also transported a lot of food, furniture, and of course vehicles.

Info: At the harbor, we preferred to pay with cash so that we didn't have to hand over our credit card. To buy the ticket, we looked up a few vocabulary words beforehand. Using the words 'Ferry to Itaparica' and 'Dois tickets, por favor' worked quite well.

On the island itself, there isn't much to do, so we took a stroll along the beach and went for a swim in the warm sea a few times.

About 1.5 kilometers later, Thorsten turned around and couldn't believe his eyes. The beach we had just walked along had almost completely disappeared. Itaparica has tides. We quickly made our way back and got pretty wet feet. Luckily, the tidal range isn't as strong as what we know from our home North Sea. The water does rise and temporarily engulfs almost the entire beach, but it only rises a few centimeters.

On the return journey with the ferry, we noticed for the first time how large Salvador is and what an impressive skyline the city has.

Since we're flying to the Iguazu Falls tomorrow, I wish you a good night in advance and see you tomorrow. For us, it's time to pack our backpacks again.