Travel to Brazil to Salvador do Bahia

Member since 29 March 2011

walli0757Member29 March 2011 01:03:16

I am 18, female, and want to travel to salvador do Bahia in Brazil.
I want to stay a couple of months and learn Portuguese.
Does anyone have experience about living there ?
Are there concerns regarding safety ?

Yud ViP

Member since 08 November 2010

YudViP29 March 2011 07:18:57

7031

Welcome on Expat-Blog walli0757

I have moved your presentation to Salvador do Bahia forum for effective networking. Hope you will get some responses in regards to your above queries.

Regards

MrFix New member

Member since 30 April 2011

MrFixNew member30 April 2011 21:36:30

For Portuguese lessons and housing you should consider contacting Sheila Waksman at sheilawaksman@hotmail.com

I took Portuguese lessons from her for three weeks and she was exceptional. Although I did not use her service to find lodging I would trust her to take care of this as well if you require assistance.

Salvador is an amazing city and it puts you close to some fantastic destinations to explore - beaches along the N and S coast, Chapada Diamanta, etc... Be alert as far as safety and take basic precautions like not carrying expensive items, too much money or credit cards, strange neighborhoods alone at night, etc.

Enjoy.

tintai Member

Member since 28 June 2011

tintaiMember28 June 2011 19:12:24

Hi Walli. There are many schools/institutions for travelers like you who'd like to stay in Salvador while learning Portuguese. Many of them offers Portuguese courses with lodging. You may want to see the link below for details and prices:

basicalingua.com/brazil-study-contents.htm
linguaserviceworldwide.com/learnPortugueseDialogo1.htm

Cost of living in Salvador is cheaper than most cities in Brazil (e.g. Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Belo Horizonte). You can easily find a cheap restaurant with good food.
Brasileiros in general are warm, friendly and approachable but Bahiana in particular are harder to open up and trust others than in other cities in Brazil, but once you're friends with them it's for real.

Like in any other big cities, Salvador has a fare share of petty crimes. Just be wise and be street-smart and you'll be fine. It helps to go with someone local during a tour in the city, not only will you feel safer but it will help you a lot in communicating since not all Bahiana speaks English well.