Morro de Sao Paulo

9th – 11th April 2008

Journey to Morro de Sao Paulo

After our night on the town, we had to get up for the 9.00am boat from Salvador to Morro de Sao Paulo. We were all feeling pretty rough, and a 2 hour boat journey wasn’t appealing.

We flagged down a taxi from outside the hostel, and then the fun began. The boot was full so we had to squash the backpacks into the car with us… We told the driver to go the Terminal Touristico Maritimo for the 9am boat to Morro de Sao Paulo. He had other ideas and took us to the main ferry terminal… Ady was suspicious as the journey was only supposed to take 15 minutes, and after 20 we were still going. Looking back, we actually passed the proper terminal on the way that the driver took us… Anyway, when we arrived at the ferry terminal, there was a big sign saying ‘Catamaran’, so we thought that we must be in the right place… We paid the driver and headed to get tickets…

‘No! Terminal Touristico Maritimo’ was the response from the lady at the ticket office. Not impressed, but too hungover to care, we bundled ourselves into another taxi to take us back to the proper terminal. We didn’t have much time and if we missed the 9am boat we’d have to wait until 2 in the afternoon! The second driver was much more cooperative and put his foot down in order to catch the boat (at least they’re not all cowboys… unless they were in it together!!!)

We made the boat with seconds to spare, by now Ady had developed several leaks and was dripping with sweat. This was supposed to be the boat that everyone was sick on… after our palaver to get on the boat, the rest of the journey was pretty uneventful. There are some great pictures of Salvador, taken from the back of the boat – there are here.


The Island

Morro de Sao Paulo is on the headland at the northernmost tip of Tinhare. (Tinhare is a large island separated from the mainland by the estuary of the Rio Una. There are no wheeled vehicles on the island, and the island is lush with ferns, palms and birds of paradise.

Tens of ‘Taxis’ lined up to greet the boat. Taxis on Morro are black and yellow wheelbarrows pushed by local boys! Much to Sam’s disgust, we passed on the numerous offers of a taxi for our bags to the hostel – well - the hill to climb nearly finished us off in the heat of the midday sun! Thankfully, the hostel was quite close to the port, so we were there within 10 minutes.

The hostel was very quiet and the kind lady offered us a discounted rate for our triple room… but we didn’t get it in writing… We dropped our bags and headed to the beach to relax and recover.

Morro was very chilled out, and we spent the days relaxing after Salvador. On the first evening we heard of a party, but when we found it was 30 minutes walk away, up a hill, and still feeling rough from the previous night, we decided to crash.

The plan was to move on after 2 days on Morro, to find somewhere more lively – after all, Nicky was on a mission! Itacare had been recommended to us and was on our route south to Rio. We booked a private transfer for the next day as it would take half the time of a normal bus. Little did we know that Thursday night was party night…

A quiet walk down the beach turned into a very messy affair… there are some pictures in the Morro album, and a video on YouTube here. At 4am we stumbled home, and tried to get some sleep.

Click here to hear what happened next, alternatively if you are squeamish, let’s just say Ady wasn’t feeling great.

At check out, the hostel tried to charge us double the price we agreed! After a bit of a slanging match, just what you need with a hangover, we stood firm and ended up paying the discounted rate!

Friday morning, and Ady, Sam and Nicky all have hangovers… what a day for a speedboat journey!!!

Photos from Morro are available at the top right of the Blog.

Next Stop, Itacare.