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Other entries in Salvador

Salva-poor

On the bus to Salvador Ben started to recall the last time he was a guest at someone's house, in Miami. He recalled the hospitality of his South American acquaintance and all the lovely treats that he had received. It occurred that this was almost a total stranger, thus imagine what kind of spread an actual friend might put on. He dreamt of banquets and parties in his honour.

It was 2pm when they arrived at the station. Ben needed to buy a Sim card in order to be contactable for his birthday so after leaving their bags in left luggage they headed to Iguatemi Shopping centre. Card purchased for some reason he still had to use a payphone to call Rosa and Ricardo, (his mother's friends). It seemed his dreams were coming true, they were more than happy to pick him up from the station. Little did he know he was a little woolly creature about to become a cutlet.

Moments after they met with Rosa and her friend they were whisked into a petrol station where her friend began to fill up the tank with gas. Ben who is always polite was just about to offer a contribution when Rosa squawked ‘Ben do you have any money for petrol.' A little shocked by the enforced donation he gave over the money.

Almost seconds after departing the station she asked them if they wanted to buy any drinks for later. It seemed that not only would they not offer food but even water was out of the picture, but Ben happily agreed and off to the supermarket they went.

Finally they arrived at the apartment and were show round the small but perfectly decent flat. Unfortunately it was absolutely miles from the centre but was close to the airport, which was good for Sam. After showering Ben inquired about local eateries. Rosa recommended a Churascuria and it seemed Rosa was somehow invited along, (her own doing). Then as Ben comes out his room Rosa is laughing to herself. Ben asked what was funny.

‘I was on the phone to Ricardo I told him we were going to the Churacuria and he said who's paying? And I said don't worry Ben is!' and the let out a belch of a guffaw. It seemed not only she had invited herself along but had assumed that Ben was paying. Rather disgruntled Ben sarcastically chuckled. It couldn't get worse.

Rosa told them they could get a lift with her brother in law, who was working near the restaurant, and that was exactly what they did. On the way however it transpired that his job was cancelled and as they pulled up to the restaurant, Rosa started to insist he stayed for dinner. Needless to say Ben was not so insistent, but could do little to stop the addition to the dinner party not to mention the addition to the bill. Still he had asked Rosa before all of this whether it was an expensive restaurant and her reply was medium price.

It was immediately clear that this was not a medium price restaurant, huge prawn and octopus were on offer at the buffet, and continuous stream of incredibly well cooked meats were brought to the table. This was the banquet Ben had dreamed of, but this time it was on him. They all tucked in to what was a great meal with Rosa suggesting deserts and more drinks at every opportunity, and even managing to make jokes about Ben paying enough times to insure no escape.

Finally the bill arrived and it was even worse than Ben could have expected, being quadruple the price of any meal Ben had had on his travels. His face dropped, tears started to well. He looked at the fire escape then to kitchen sink. No he would have to pay. Reluctantly he handed over a quarter of his monthly budget in one go.  As they left, Sam thanked Ben for the meal, most likely to give the signal for the others to do the same, but there was nothing. No obrigado, brigad, thanks, thank-you, cheers, safe, nothing. Ben went back a broken man with a broken, but useless wallet

To make matter worse Rosa seemed incapable of giving coherent and correct bus instructions.  All seemed well however when they were given a lift to the airport, with the obligatory petrol donation. Unfortunately Sam's flight was delayed four hours and Ben stayed to keep her company and to sort out the relevant issues that occur with such a delay. They went home with Tim, and gave Ben the instructions to take the Nova Cidade bus all the way home. Easy? Not so easy when the bus doesn't in fact exist. When he asked other bus drivers when the bus was coming they looked bamboozled, perplexed and some disgusted. It was an unknown route as was their apartment block. It took four hours to get home by which time Sam would already have been half way across the Atlantic. The fours also included a half hour hike up the steepest hill known to man. Ben had tried calling to get a lift but it appears Rosa had tempted Tim into a dinner which needless to say he ended up paying for.

The rest of their stay was spent avoiding being around at dinner time and trying to work out the ever changing bus direction. In between these activities two films were watched and two beaches frequented.

On to Lencois for Bens birthday celebrations! Its going to be a big one! Isn't it?

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