Now I remember when I told myself I probably wouldn’t go back to Itacaré. It was last year when I eventually made it to Salvador after a long day of travel.

I have just told myself the same thing.

And holy shit, Bahia is big.

Don’t ever look for a bus ticket from Itacaré to Salvador. The road goes around the Bay of All Saints, so the 400-kilometre trip takes 10 to 13 hours—it depends on how many times the driver stops to curse the stupid travellers who don’t know about the “shortcut.”

You will learn it from Google Maps, another backpacker or a kind bus driver (see paragraph above). There’s a shortcut to get to Salvador.

Well, “shortcut,” with quotation marks.

Step one, take the bus from Itacaré to Bom Despacho on Itaparica Island—no need to swim, the BA-001 gets there. Then hop on the Bom Despacho ferry to Salvador. And ta-da! You should make it to Salvador before sunset if you take the bus early enough because let’s face it, this is Bahia, and it will take longer than planned.

My day started at 7:30 a.m. because I had to be awake enough for my morning hike downhill to the bus terminal. Without my backpack, it usually took me about 20 minutes. With my backpack, it took… well, five more minutes only.

Never mind, I had to join the queue to get a printed ticket anyway. The Cidade Sol bus company doesn’t like QR codes.

Getting the printed ticket took five seconds but getting to the booth took half an hour—many indecisive travellers in front of me with crucial questions, like should I go to Camuruji or Santo Antonio de Jesus. I couldn’t help locals make decisions and speed up the process, since I had no clue where the cities (towns?) were.

The bus to Bom Despacho was 50% backpackers and 50% local travellers. Most of the latter were dropped off in the middle of nowhere, Bahia, along the six-hour trip. We stopped once for a twenty-minute coffee break in Valença and we eventually arrived in Bom Despacho at 2:55 p.m. instead of 2:30 p.m.

The bus wasn’t that late but of course, we (I say “we” because anyone stopping in Bom Despacho was going to Salvador) missed the 3 p.m. boat.

Or maybe not because we all boarded a boat (the 3 p.m. boat? The 4 p.m. boat?) at 3:30 p.m. It took over an hour to reach the Terminal de São Joaquim in Salvador. By then, I was a sweaty mess and I just wanted a cold Coke and some air con.

But of course, I still had to find an Uber to the Airbnb. I teamed up with another traveller. I shared my WiFi (most travellers don’t have a CPF and a working phone…). He managed to request a ride with multiple stops. Apparently, he does it all the time with his friends when they all get drunk on Saturday night.

The sun was setting in Salvador when I finally stepped into my Airbnb.

Salvador, my last stop in Brazil, still plenty of time to explore it again properly, i.e., not in pré-Carnival mode!