Days 5-8, Campo Grande, Porto Seguro, Arrail d’Adjuda, Ilhéus, Itacare

The transport from the Pantanal turned up after all, with a minibus picking us up from the Jungle Lodge and dropping us off at the business hotel we had booked back in Campo Grande – there wasn’t a lot of choice and there isn’t much to do there. Bill hadn’t done us in yet, although Tom was slightly concerned that Bill had casually mentioned the name of his next hotel when he hadn’t actually told him. There wasn’t a lot of food choice either so not wanting to go far from the hotel in the dark, we found a Chinese around the corner and walked the couple of blocks having left our phones and valuables in the hotel safe.

We would have been sitting at the table all night if the nice Brazilian couple at the next table hadn’t told us you have to press a buzzer, which lights up your table number on a board, for the staff to come over. With no English available and our Spanish of no help, I accidentally ordered the biggest portion of vegetable tempura possible which I stress ate without noticing as the couple asked how we got here and expressed horror that we were planning on walking back. It’s very dangerous, they said – better take an Uber. You need a phone to order a Uber, so we asked the restaurant staff if they could get us a taxi – instead one of the male staff insisted on walking us back personally due to the drug turf war in that area. After letting Tom dealing with Bill for us and now a male escort home, we felt like bad feminists.

The next morning we started our trip up the east coast of Bahia with anther ridiculously early 5am start – a flight to Porto Seguro, then a bus and boat to Arrail d’Adjuda. The plan was to spend the next few days working our way up to Salvador. There are no direct flights so we had to fly via Sao Paolo – cue parallel universe moment where we disembarked, bought a snack from a cafe then followed the transfer signs through security and found our gate, only to end up back at the same cafe with the gate literally next to it. Top tip – you don’t actually need to go through security again when changing!

The distances are huge and the bus journeys long so we broke it up with stops in Ilhéus and Itacare.

Since our previous trips staying in Junkyards and Eco Lodges we have moved up to Art Hotels, ie guesthouses with random art such as monkey mosaics and mermaids by the pool. We flew into the tiny airport at Porto Seguro and got a taxi south to Arrail d’Adjuda (or AA as we called it) which included the fun car ferry, as it looked like a nicer place to stay rather than in Porto Seguro itself.

We went straight to the beach only to find the tide so far in that the waves were lapping around the plastic tables outside the beach bars (which were being packed away around us), and the only other people out were a couple of absolutely hammered middle aged women in bikinis who lurched towards us shouting “aye aye aye aye”. We decided to have a beer anyway before walking back up the hill to our Pousada, past the crazy women staggering up the same way.

It’s safe to go out at night here – what a novelty to wander around in shorts without mosquito head nets! We had dinner in a place that did craft beer for Helen and veggie burgers for me, and happily played Monopoly Deal without fear of being mugged for the pack of cards. AA has lots and lots of little shops and restaurants/bars around a square – it must be popular with Brazilian holidaymakers as we didn’t see many tourists. I was happy to find a shop that sold everything with skull prints although the woman was weirdly persistent in trying to get me to try on a long skull dress that I didn’t want, and we probably looked like lesbians again with me trying on outfits and Helen paying (birthday gift!).

We finally had a nice relaxing morning at the pool and made the most of the midday checkout. At least made the Brazilian guests laugh at our pronunciation of our next destination Ilhéus (nothing like it’s meant to be pronounced).

With everything still closed at midday the next morning and not wanting to miss our bus north to Ilhéus, we arrive at the bus station in Porto Seguro 2.5 hours early. But their handy luggage storage meant we could stash our stuff and go for a wander around the place where the Portuguese first landed.

We arrived in Ilhéus after around 6 hours on the bus. We didn’t plan on staying here originally as the Lonely Planet described the town as “rough around the edges” but I actually quite liked it. It’s home to chocolate production – we didn’t have time to visit a factory but we did have time to buy a £5 bar each from the hotel. We also enjoyed an authentic Saturday night at a local restaurant/ bar just around the corner with a pizza, beer and live music inside altho I didn’t quite fit in with the overdressed local women, still in my hiking shoes.

When it rains here it really rains – not wanting to miss out I followed Helen on a brisk walk around Ilhéus in the morning, actually taking my phone for some photo opportunities. This was probably not the best idea as the place was completely deserted on Sunday morning (what does everyone actually DO in the morning in Brazil?!) and the downpour of tropical rain soaked us to the skin. We passed a man taking a shower under a drain pipe. The old run down buildings did have a certain charm to them so I would say Ilhéus is worth a visit but bring a poncho!

Luckily our taxi driver from the night before had offered a decent price to come and pick us up and drive us the hour or so to the next stop, Itacaré (we had also been saying it wrong) so we could take all our wet clothes in a carrier bag. He drove like a getaway driver like most taxi drivers do, over the rollercoaster hills, but at least he didn’t overtake four cars on a blind bend like the ambulance did or spend the journey sending videos of other cars to his mates on WhatsApp like another driver had.

Itacaré is somewhere you could spend a couple of days, with its beaches and Bob Marley tunes coming from the cafes and bars and we met a few people who were spending a couple of weeks on the Bahia coast as their main holiday. We had a lovely vegan lunch on the beach and stroll around the shops, and saw our first game of Footvolley – super fit guys (and the occasional girl) playing what looks like volleyball but without using hands, instead kicking, heading and chesting it over the net. I loved the colourful buildings and relaxed vibe.

Ironically our hotel was called Ray of Sunshine as we arrived in the rain, and it had quite possibly the world’s smallest swimming pool out by the road. My favourite part of Itacaré was the banana themed beach evening meal – it turns out you can stuff a banana!! Never had a meal looked so like the photo in the menu and we could have bananas for main course (brocolli would not usually be my first choice to stuff a banana with) and dessert. Helen’s came with a side that she described as Dust which we later found out was Farofa (toasted or fried cassava) which you’re actually meant to sprinkle over your food rather than eat a spoonful.

After one night it was back on the bus again to Valenca. We nearly missed the bus due to confusion over having to queue to convert our e-tickets to paper ones, but I managed to use Spanish to get the bus driver to wait a few more minutes. And that concludes our the whistle-stop tour up the coast – next stop island of Morro de Sao Paolo via speedboat…