Goodbye South America, Hello Europe

In an hour I will be leaving the hostel for the airport in Salvador to try to move my ticket up for this evening's flight to Lisbon, Portugal (one of my very favorite places). Brazil has been an excellent experience but I am done with Salvador. If I had to do it over again, I would travel Brazil for the same total ammount of tme but reallocate the days a bit with more time in Rio and Sao Paulo.

Salvador seems like a beautiful city and I'm sure it is great fun during Carnaval, but I haven't felt particularly safe straying far from my hostel and the touristy center of the town. Even within the center, I'm only half-assured of my safety because of the armed officers on every corner... comparable to the security presence in Moscow. The city is not diverse like most of the other cities in Brazil, so anyone with white skin sticks out as a gringo with a large sign on his back that reads "ask me for money." It's hard to enjoy what would probably be an awesome city with the constant attention from beggers.

I can't let the past couple days taint what has been a spectacular 3 weeks in a wonderful country. Overall, the people have been welcoming, the cuisine delicious and the beaches beautiful. Rio de Janeiro is stunning, Sao Paulo is a HUGE city with everything you could want available at your fingertips at any hour of the day, and the Northeast countless beaches that are more picturesqe than the ones on the default Microsoft screensavers!

Hopefully all goes well at the airport and the fee to change my ticket isn't too painful. If things go as planned, my next entry will be from Europe!