I left the balcony door open, and every few seconds, the sky lights up—it’s pouring rain in Salvador tonight.

Perfect timing.

As usual, I spent the entire day outside. Salvador can get washed, while I’m slouched on the couch in an (accidentally) matching bra and panties, with white body paint on my left arm—that will be a story for tomorrow. I’m still catching up on yesterday, the day before, hell, the entire week.

Yeah, I’ll take yet another shower eventually, once I’m done sorting out today’s pictures.

Once my late-night cup of coffee stops keeping me productive.

Once my feet stop moving, dancing to a song stuck in my head.

Once I crash because there’s nothing left to do, nothing left to say—at least for now.

I noticed Brazilians are the same. There’s a special energy in Brazil, and we all feed off it, but when it stops—because it’s late, because the party is over, or because it rains—we all start yawning and realize it may be time to stop drinking coffee and go to bed.

Right now, I’m still chewing on that energy, despite the rain and despite the fact that less than 48 hours from now, I’ll say tchau again to Brazil. We ended up in the most unlikely place today—and it was awesome. That will be chapter two, “Salvador, the non-beginner version.”

But after the hellish boat ride from Morro de São Paulo, I wanted to take it easy, both for the senior citizen’s sake, who gets half-price admission to everything, and for my own. After all, the tourist version of Salvador is quite stunning. I’m not skipping places just because this is where guidebooks send you.

Pelourinho, Churches, and the Classic Salvador Experience

So of course, we went up to the Elevador Lacerda and Pelourinho, for the views and to soak up Afro-Brazilian culture. Pelourinho could have ended up like Montmartre ended up for artists, an open-air museum where a specific culture once lived. Forget it. The narrow cobblestone streets are steep and a magnet for tourists, but the area is still very much alive with residents, tons of art and music projects, and fascinating colonial churches where people actually go to get blessed.

We picked Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Pretos, built by a brotherhood of enslaved Africans, and the magnificent 18th-century Igreja da Ordem Terceira Secular de São Francisco, where time seemed to have stopped.

Then we rounded it off with the tiny but cute Museu da Gastronomia Baiana, the Museu Nacional da Cultura Afro-Brasileira for a well-deserved dive into Afro-Brazilian art, and the Museu de Arte da Bahia to admire Carybé’s drawings once again.

Barra and Salvador’s Free Sunset Show

Barra is probably Salvador’s safest and most visited neighborhood. There’s a reason for that—two beaches, two forts, one iconic lighthouse, plenty of restaurants, and a handy shopping mall make it a great spot for a weekend outing or a late-night walk.

I like hanging out in Barra. It’s one of those places that makes it very easy to do nothing by the sea, whether you decide to join the crowd who only leave the sand reluctantly well past sunset or just stroll back and forth and watch whatever is going because there’s always something going on.

And of course, we went to Salvador’s nightly free sunset show. We watched it from the lighthouse, from Praia do Porto da Barra, and from Mirante da Vitória, the one time we didn’t have time to walk all the way down to Barra by 5:20 p.m.

Maybe that’s the thing about Salvador—even the obvious version never really feels obvious. It still has texture, energy, and surprises. And now that my mum has officially passed Easy Salvador, we can move on to the next level.