We met up with Eric's parents and youngest sister, Kelly, and flew down to Salvador in the state of Bahia. Eric and I had heard nothing but good things about the beaches in Bahia and couldn't wait to get there and check it all out.
Upon landing in Salvador, we hopped a taxi to the dock and got on a boat to Morro de São Paulo.
Land was a welcome sight for everyone, I think. And we couldn't wait to get onto the island and check it out. We were greeted at the Morro de São Paulo dock by a line of taxis all offering their services. But not quite taxis in the most traditional sense of the word . . .
After quite a walk through sandy "streets" we arrived at our hotel's pick-up point and were met by a Kombi (VW van) that would give us a lift the rest of the way. Morro de São Paulo is divided into sections and named "First Beach", "Second Beach", and so on. The dock and the main village are on First Beach. Most of the restaurants, nightlife, and the busiest beach is on Second Beach. We opted to stay on Fourth Beach, which is known for it's quiet remote setting.
Poor Gabriela was the one whose suitcase ended up on the wrong continent. And then we proceeded to receive the worst customer service EVER in our attempts to get it. We arrived on the island August 4 early in the morning. Her bag showed up August 6 at 10:00 pm. We left for Salvador the next day. So kiddo had to go the whole island stay with a very limited supply of clothing, no beach tent, and we had to buy diapers there on the island her for. And Eric and I were without our toiletries which were also in her suitcase - so we had pretty bad hair for that portion of the trip. It was the first time we've ever had a bag lost. And it was just as much not fun as I had always imagined. American Airlines will be getting a strongly worded letter about the lack of concern/help and the rude people we dealt with through the whole ordeal, but I'll spare you the details.
The Third and Fourth Beaches are really unique. The ocean floor is very flat, it barely slopes at all until a long ways from shore, and there is an abundance of coral growing there. At high tide it doesn't look like anything real special, but as the tide recedes it leaves much of the coral exposed and creates little pools of crystal clear water full of tropical fish.
Crashing mid-undressing: I laid her on her belly and took her pants off. When I reached to roll her over to remove her jacket, she was already asleep! I think we wear the poor thing out sometimes.
Gabs loves the beach, or, at least, she loves her beach tent. So I wasn't sure how she'd do hanging out on the beach all day without it. But, as usual, she was a champ and hung in there. She got a little sandier than usual though, as she loved pulling on the kanga we laid out for her to lay on until is was in a little ball and all of her extremities were in the sand. The sandiness didn't seem to bother her in the least though. (So I foresee her totally being that toddler who gets wet and then proceeds to cover their entire body, head, and every crack and crevice full of sand just prior to wanting to come cuddle up with Mom - and oh, boy, won't that be fun.)
I decided early on during the trip that having my father-in-law around was quite useful . . . besides giving me an extra person to pick on (and be picked on by!), I look to be much less "gringo" when he's nearby. hehehe
After three nights on Morro de São Paulo, we jumped on a boat (a much larger one this time) and headed back to the mainland. We arrived back in Salvador just as the sun was setting that evening.
2 comments:
Nice trip yours!
Thanks for the nice article about our island. Hope to to see you there again soon.
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