The old town part of Salvador is kind of cool because it is on top of a steep cliff and separated from the beach and the lower city. To get there, you can either take a long taxi ride inland then then come back up the cliff, or you can take the elevator, which was built to transport the millions of people that need to get from the city alta to city baixa. It was free for carnival and usually costs 50 centavos. I got some okay photos of it in front of the setting sun. Salvador is the only place in Brazil where the sun seems to set over the ocean. Liz and I watched it from the windows at the top of the elevator on Tuesday night.
The upper part of the city is a lot of fun. The streets are all cobblestone and very narrow. There are bands constantly marching through them playing loud music and they usually have an entourage. They are preceded by costumed dancers who just don't seem to run out of energy. On Tuesday night, we watched one of these bands in the street as we ate dinner at a great Arabic restaurant.
One of the most exciting parts of this old part of town is that it is the birthplace of Capoeira, a Brazilian fighting dance that is awesome to watch. The really good dancers do circular kicks and round house punch that narrowly miss their opponent. The goal is to spar without actually making contact and make circular motions to the fast paced music. It would be fun to learn and would keep you in great shape.
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