We arrived at Salvador on July 3rd. The city is one of the oldest in the country and the third most populous in Brazil. Again, the skyline coming from the sea looked like Manhatten, skyscrapers agalore! There are several marinas and yacht clubs, but we found a mooring that we rented for a week in the bay with a lovely view of the city. A 100 m cliff runs along the entire bay shore which divides Salvador into the upper town and the lower town. An elevator connects both sections. The upper part held the old city center with historical sites we wanted to visit. At the marina complex, which was heavily gated, we tied up our dinghy to go into town. Outside the fence was a patrolling policeman carrying three handguns in holsters. One strapped to the leg, one in front of his chest tied to the bullet proofed vest and one on his belt, looking like Rambo. We knew Salvador had the reputation of a high crime rate and a look around us just confirmed our belief we had better be cautious.
The following days we roamed around on foot feeling pretty secure except one day when we were going to stroll down a cobblestone lane in the upper district and a policeman stopped us, indicating that it was not safe for us to go there. Nothing happened to us and in general we thought people were very friendly and kind.