Pelourinho Survival Guide

The following sentences were designed for 2 reasons. First, because one of the first questions we get at the hostel is "is Pelourinho dangerous?". Truthfully, if you pay attention and make yourself aware of the area, you won't have any problems. As a foreigner, you do not have free reign of every street and alley, and knowing what areas and people to avoid is key. The second reason is that I feel very strongly that we need to be concientious travelers. Pelourinho has been dragged, kicking and screaming into the 21st Century, and this evolution has been for the benefit of tourists, not the locals. The future of the Pelourinho relies on a mutual respect between the people who live here and the visitors. Everyone will ask where you are from, and you can see that preconceptions have already been formed. It's up to you how you feed those. At the risk of sounding preachy, I'm now going to list my top Pelourinho commandments.










1) Don't take valuables (passport, watch, rolls of cash, Blackberry etc...) with you when wandering. If you don't have anything valuable on you, you have little to lose. Purses on women call attention, around here we just tuck the cash in our bra's. In case you haven't figured it out by the time you get to Salvador, name brand swag isn't worth shit here; it simply attracts unwanted attention.









2) Get oriented when you arrive, talk to us at the hostel and we will show you on the map what areas are best to stay in. There aren't many parts of the Pelo that you can't go to, but as a general rule, avoid streets where you don't see other tourists. The area behind the main square, Terreiro de Jesus, is the area most unchanged in the last 30 years. Getting mugged is pretty much a guarantee if you decide to wander those streets day or night. Don't ever go there. Also the commercial street of Baixa Sapateiros should be avoided after the stores close at 6, the same rule is also true for all of Cidade Baixa. These areas are commercial, not residential, so anyone left wandering the streets at night most likely live on the streets.









3) Don't give money or food or anything else to beggers. I know I'm going to open a proverbial can of worms with any bleeding-heart readers, but let me explain. The very real problem of crack affects 90% of the beggers you will see. You may meet a woman asking you to buy her milk for her baby, a kid will ask you to buy him a sandwich, but the very sad truth is that anything, from the milk, the tin it comes in, to your dinner leftovers can be traded for crack. So please, I can't urge you enough, don't get involved. Tourists support the drug problem here more than they will ever know. I always see tourists being taken to lunchonettes and loading to-go plates full of food for a very hungry looking boy outside. The truth is that he will go sell it, maybe for as little as R$2 for a plate that cost R$20 but it's enough for plenty of crack. If someone asks you for something, the best thing to say is nothing, just keep walking and don't engage. If you want to help, we have better ways to help the local community that we can tell you about at the hostel. (also see our Guide to Volunteering)









4) To piggyback on #3, I once read that 70% of Brazil's workforce is street-vendors. It's got to be one of the most tiresome and rewardless jobs on the planet, so please don't confuse the beggers with the vendors. The vendors are just doing their job so if someone offers you a cold bottle of water, if you're not interested just say "obrigado" and give the thumbs up. They don't want anything other than to make a sale.









5) Don't be so drunk that it shows, or at least pull it together when you're out in public. Drunks make the easiest targets. If you do decide to get drunk however, we like to do it at Cafe Alquimia for caipirinha's, or the house drink "Alquimista" made with cachaça, honey, and lime, afterwards you just have to make it up the stairs to your bed. We will still respect you in the morning.









6) Be careful of romantic advances. You can get stuck with an unwanted tab or worse. I'll leave it there.









7) Stay out of Reggae Bars! Unfortunately the peaceful message of reggae has a different connotation in the Pelourinho and Reggae bars have become synonymous with muggings.



There are much better places to go for the reggae/dub scene, like Zauber on Thursdays. Until 11 pm, ladies get in free and beer is 2 for the price of 1.









8) Don't use a 24 Hour ATM. This is true everywhere in Brazil. There are clever thieves that can get your card number and empty your account overnight. Make sure to use an ATM inside a bank. Take money out during the day. We can change money in the hostel for you.









9) Go out with friends. If you don't have any, make some. There are always people around the hostel who like to go out and enjoy all the great parties Salvador has.









10) Don't let any of this scare you. This is basic stuff that you can use anywhere in the world, and surely by the time you've made it to Salvador you've probably figured all this out anyway. Pelourinho is not a scary place, in fact the contrary is true. Just take care and keep your wits about you. Having a sort of streetwise trickery is considered an admirable trate here, no one could survive living on these streets without it, so outsmart anyone who thinks they can pull one on you, and like a good game of capoeira, dodge the blow and glide out of there.