Heading further north along the coast line of Brazil, I decided to take advantage of a cheap four hour flight costing the same price as a twenty six hour bus journey. Since flying from Los Angeles to Monterrey and Bogota to Quito this was only my third flight in two years having travelled from the USA as far down as the Patagonia by land and water. It felt a little like cheating yet I could save myself an entire day as a result. Initially I had hoped to stay with one of Salvador’s most active members in a rather inactive group, Juliana Kalid Coelho (JULAKID) who was currently unable to host due to family matters yet kindly offered to pick me up from the airport and deliver me safely to my 98th Official host Fausto Matos (HOMEINBRAZIL).

Fausto had left instructions with his aunty to get me settled whilst he was working. Every few weeks she would visit her nephew from the country to maintain the family commitment and enjoy the tranquillity of Fausto’s remarkably well decorated and spacious apartment perfectly located beside Salvador’s most popular beach. Bursting with colours of the Bahia from hand painted floor tiles and traditional wall paintings, my eyes where never jaded. Archetypal furniture and decor helped emphasis a relaxing warm welcome. So much so I just couldn’t resist a wee cap nap to recharge my soul.

The cheery voice of Fausto woke me from a deep sleep whose beaming smile shone a light of love on my face like ET’s spaceship coming to fetch him home.  Fausto was affectionately welcoming with a warm hug and a bowl of his Aunties special soup, my first taste of Salvador’s mouth watering delicacies. After dinner we rested well in his humble abode, two strangers sat around a fire without a flame yet a room filled with a burning desire to connect and share ones experiences. Fausto was extraordinarily attentive and offered respectable advice and valuable insights to help maintain my focus and passion for this project. It had been a while since I had really had a chance to sit down and share both my lessons learnt and pay tribute to all the amazing people who have helped me along the way. Fausto leads a typical nine to five lifestyle and very rarely goes out on a weekday opting instead to recharge his batteries over the weekend at a friend’s house beside the beach. Yet he enjoys very much his life referring to himself as ‘A free bird in prison’. I like that notion and agree that to be completely free is to be alone in this world but to fly freely is to glide softly in the hands of a universe willing to release you into a wilderness of your desire. Talking with my host, I felt like the sea after a busy day of crashing waves finally settling to a breezy sway as my mother would once rock my crib, a time in life when we are never insecure about our security. And just like her gentle touch nothing could stand in the way of me and a full night of blissful snoozing.

Whilst Fausto played the host, Juliana offered to lend me her eyes to the city taking me for a drive the next day stopping by her favourite local hotspots. The first of which was a small, non-touristic restaurant called ‘Humaita’ outside the city beside the sea. I asked Juliana to choose a dish for me and had no idea what to expect. How shocked I was when the waiter delivered the most incredible, aromatic, mouth gushing, tantalizing and satisfying dish I’ve had since I started this trip, the mighty Moqueca, a spicy seafood delight cooked in Coconut milk with a splash of ‘Dende Oil’ also known as ‘Palm Oil’ a red oil extracted from special palm trees brought from West African during the colonial times. Sadly such a delight on ones palette is very ephemeral due to the fact that finding Dende oil outside the Bahia, never mind all around the world is rather like looking for a worm underground, yet occasionally you may find it lingering in the back of an old Chinese wizards shop with a little door bell that tinkers as you enter, where you suddenly find yourself drawn to the hypnotising whistle of a hairy little critter called Gismo.

Unable to finish the enormous serving I asked the waiter to wrap the left over’s to take away; there wasn’t a cat in hells chance of me leaving a single drop of sauce behind. I even managed to persuade the rather shy chef to leave the kitchen for a moment to say thank you in person and have our photo together. Obviously this kind of attention was new to her but before I left, I made sure she was appreciated. It’s often the small, well priced, local restaurants with underpaid chefs that always make the most impact with flavour, presentation and that final mysterious loving touch we rarely refer to as ‘Wow’.

Fostering an overdue satisfaction, I reluctantly waved goodbye to ‘Heaven’s Kitchen’ to pursue Juliana’s insightful tour heading back into the downtown area and historical centre ‘Pelourinho’, where the worn cobbled streets of Salvador so pleasantly decorated with street art, Capoeira clothing and vibrant smiley faces join together in a fusion of multi cultural inheritance and eye capturing collaborations from all around the world. Normally the streets would be littered with hungry tourists searching for bargain deals however the recent recession has left shop buyers walking the streets looking for potential customers who will most likely say they have no money anyway. Shops are deserted in desolated times relying strongly on the millions of people that come once a year for the world’s biggest street carnival hence the nickname ‘Capital Da Alegria’ or ‘Capital of Joy’.

We stopped by the first ever Capoeira school which I had planned to take advantage of before breaking my leg yet even the teacher agreed it was still too early for me to be exercising such a sport. Instead I idolized a group of professionals fighting each other’s energy bubbles, combining agile dance moves and unarmed combat techniques with wild kicks missing their opponents by a whisker before landing a perfectly executed back flip ending in an almost impossible final stance as if playing Twister on the moon. Unfortunately the recession has forced the once free art of expression to become a hustling entourage tricking tourists into taking photos then demanding a fee. Once people realize the scam they tend to keep a distance and never fully appreciate how amazing the art truly is.

As the heat of the afternoon sun gathered momentum, Juliana knew the perfect place to stop and quench our thirst. A small tavern called ‘O Cravinho’ which felt like a traditional English pub only it served the rather potent ‘Cachaca’ instead of the local ales. It’s very similar to the dreadful and incredibly powerful ‘Aguardente’ I had back in Colombia produced from the distillation of fermented sugarcane juice ranging from 35% to a ridiculous 80% in volume. Small wooden barrels filled with a range of spices sit upon shelving around the walls which are all connected to a giant barrel with individual taps behind the bar. Once you choose your flavour the bartender fills a shot glass with a range of taps until a weird and wondrous cocktail is produced. Two shots later I was back on the tour a little merrier than before.

Looking out to sea close to the famous ‘Lacerda Elevator’, it was easy to differentiate between the old and new city of Salvador. The care, personality and individuality crafted into the colonial buildings still stand the test of time whereas nowadays buildings seem to be like supermodels, bland, brittle, useless when aged and ridiculously overpriced. The only concern of modern architecture is to profit from the continuous ignorance of humanities need to overpopulate this world and agree to live in fancy boxes filled with unnecessary gizmos which make our hectic and meaningless lives nothing more than a herd of cattle raised to feed the agricultural masterminds of the universe.

Religion still thrives in the city since the first Catholic Bishop took seat in 1552 back when Salvador was the capital of Brazil before Rio. It was then known as ‘Roma Negra’, translated as ‘Black Rome’ because it is said that the Bahia has 365 churches and is the centre of ‘Candomble’ an African- derived, synthetic New World religion. The slaves were forced to celebrate foreign religious policies even though it wasn’t cultural to their society. As with Capoeira, the slave society found a way to entertain their masters pretending to join in with the many ceremonies when in fact they found a way to preserve their own in disguise. This has led to a modern collaboration of religious views from both cultures confusing our children further more with the harsh reality that all religion is a blatant push for social structure and money seeking deception. Why do you think the pope promotes sex without the condom? So we can breed more brainwashed stem cells for the hungry pockets of the church who, in return give you some crappy dried bread and watered down wine every Sunday. And if the pope is as holy as they say, why the hell does he need a bullet proof car if he’s got angels protecting him? Even Batman has the discrepancy to wear a protective suit!

After a long hike around the charismatic centre it was time to unwind and meet some of the local surfers. I accompanied Juliana for a fair drive out of the centre to enjoy my first taste of Salvador’s own version of Samba, a style known as ‘Axe’. Unlike Rio’s popular dance, the circus style tent was packed with a slower, more sensual rhythm making it easier for me to find my feet and keep up with an uncanny selection of instruments played by a fusion of musicians who could all generate more than one sound at any one time. Even though barely any surfers joined us that evening the many ‘Baianos’ that did made it hard for me to feel alone.

The following evening Juliana took me to ‘Largo Da Dinha’ a square named after the most famous ‘Acaraje’ chef in Brazil who sadly died last year. Made from peeled black eyed peas (the origin name of the well known band) formed into a ball and then deep fried in ‘Dende’ Oil. It is served split in half and then stuffed with ‘Vatapa’ and ‘Caruru’ spicy pastes made from shrimp, cashews and other exotic ingredients. These dishes are also used as offerings in ‘Candomble’ rituals. If I was to choose a religion I’d definitely favour the one with the spiciest handouts.

With weekend approaching, my host Fausto had plans to head out of the city to his friend’s beach house and wouldn’t be able to host me any longer. Although we had spent very little time together due to his heavy workload, Fausto had reminded me how to stay calm amidst a storm and fuelled me full of excitement once again. Fortunately Juliana had the same idea and invited myself and a few other surfers to her family beach house a short drive out of the city in the popular tourist town of ‘Praia Do Forte’. After preaching to the the Israeli and English surfers just how good the Bahian food is we surrendered to a hearty meal of fried fish balls and a mixed seafood ‘Moqueca’ called ‘Mariscada’ teeming with baby soft shell crabs, shrimps, muscles and fillets of succulent white fish. The empty clay bowl proved that we had found more than one common interest in life and shared the same appetite for the Bahia’s sensational cuisine.

Returning back to the city I paid a sad farewell to Juliana as she left me with my 99th Official host Ernest Bowes (BOWES). Although she never actually hosted me, her passion and overflowing kindness was enough to honour her as my 100th host. Juliana deserves full credit for helping me reach a landmark after an intense two years on the road. If we had more souls like Juliana the world would surely be a better place and it’s because of people like her that I will continue to pursue this dream even with the challenges I’m still sure to face.

Interestingly Ernest lived in a Favala, an undeveloped and poorer region residing on the hillsides accessible via a rather daunting fleet of stairs which really challenged my knee whilst carrying all my bags. By far the smallest apartment I’ve stayed in so far with only room to cater for one but I revelled in the opportunity to stay in the heart of a misunderstood community. Most people instantly relate Favala’s to drugs and crime especially since the release of the hit movie ‘City Of God’. Surprisingly it was the total opposite, the uneven streets besieged with young children passing the day with football, chit chat and generally just hanging out with friends. At first I was frowned upon like a polar bear on a tropical island but soon felt confident to walk through the maze like pathways stopping occasionally to kick a ball or entertain the kids with my freckled skin and bright green eyes.

Ernest took me for another tour of the city stopping by a delicious Bahia buffet where I loaded up on my favourite Brazilian dishes without a care in the world for the bulge in my stomach slowly overlapping my feet. As long as I can dance I know they still exist! All this walking had fuelled my appetite and what better place is there on this side of the world to overindulge!

Also in Salvador at the same time as me was surfer Ryan who I had travelled with from Argentina to Brazil. Since Camboriu, we had gone our separate ways after he had found love in Florianopolis. Ironically it was Ryan who advised me not to get involved in a relationship whilst in Uruguay and as usual I was wrong to think that having a long distance relationship would last. I and Anita came to a mutual agreement that unless I was planning on giving up my curiosity of the world, I was in no position to commit. So yet again the Lone ranger walks lonesome leaving horizons burning red behind him with only darkness his enemy and bewilderment by his side.

I joined Ryan, his host and a few surfers for a wild night in one of Salvador’s party hotspots otherwise known as the Garage. During the day the entrance to the club is used as a car garage yet at the weekends the back of the complex gets packed with clubbers and celebrity faces. A little like Hong Kong Phooey’s hideaway you would never have guessed something so kickass lies within.

Before leaving this beloved city, I joined a few surfers at a jazz festival beside the sea overlooking the best sunset I’ve seen in a while. A strange girl approached us having overheard my English and introduced herself. All seemed well at first but then she seemed frightfully keen to take us to a party we were heading too in her car and buy us drinks. After being robbed I find it exceedingly difficult to trust anyone I don’t know and felt best to refuse her offer and stop accepting the free drinks. Instead I opted to take the bus but my lack of trust bothered me and I couldn’t help wonder if my fear had led me to be discourteous with a harmless lady simply trying to make new friends.

My concerns quickly evaporated into a massive sea of naked bodies dancing on the third so called best beach in the world ‘Porto Da Barra’. A huge stage blasted live music over thousands of tourists and locals combined showcasing the true vibrant spirit of Salvador which is definitely on my list of places I must return one day, hopefully with my own family should I ever see the day!

And last but not least, thankyou to Jorgia Machado (JORGINHA) for surprising me at the bus station, to say farewell and offer me a gift i am proud to wear around my neck. That was incredibly heartwarming and left me with the best impressions of your city i could ever imagine.