Preparing for a trip to a city off-the-beaten path like Salvador, Brazil is hard. Where to stay? What to do? What NOT to do? How will I get around? But, some of the best things in life are those that we have to a bit harder for. Brazil, and particularly Salvador, is one of those […]
Coming from Seattle, I was used to having a choice of apps to track bus progress real-time, schedules that actually meant something, drivers that stopped at bus stops, and relative peace and quiet. None of these even vaguely resembles the Salvador bus system. We now have an app with routes and schedules, but that’s about […]
I can always tell when I’m on the bus with someone that has never taken the bus to the Pelourinho. As we go through the commercial stretch of Avenida Sete de Setembro they start looking around nervously, suddenly thinking the are on the wrong bus. Then, when the bus stops at Praca da Sé and […]
Located at just 12 degrees south of the equator, we don’t really have seasons in Salvador. Being a tropical climate, the average daily temperature year-round is between 75 and 80˚ F year-round (24 – 27˚ C) with little nighttime cooling. And, humidity sits at 80% year-round. The only way you can really distinguish summer from […]
Salvador, Brazil weather has just two seasons — shorts and a tank top vs. shorts and a t-shirt. No, I’m kidding. It’s just shorts and a tank top. Year round. In all seriousness, being just 12 degrees south of the equator, it’s toasty-warm and humid (80% humidity) year-round. The key difference between summer and winter […]
Interested in learning a bit of Portuguese while you are here in Salvador? Then Barra is the neighborhood for you — all three of the Portuguese language schools that are geared towards foreigners are located in Barra. The basic model for teaching Portuguese is almost identical across the three schools and they all have very similar […]
Even in 2020, there is no way to avoid using the ATM in Brazil. Salvador still relies heavily on cash. While most restaurants take credit cards, if you want to catch the bus, take a taxi, pay for a dance or percussion class, buy a coxinha, or get a beer on the beach, you will […]
It is absolutely possible to get a pre-paid SIM card in Brazil, but it’s not possible to get one from every carrier. Only one carrier, TIM, will allow a foreigner to get a SIM chip. With Oi and Vivo you need to have a CPF (which is similar to a US social security card), but […]