I see Porto da Barra has once again made it onto the Best Beaches list. There’s a lot that’s fun about this beach – the communal spirit, the song of the gambas sellers, the five minutes of madness before the sun goes down – but it also has a dark side. As I watched the sun set I was accosted on this beach by a man with a blonde afro who grabbed my leg, held it under his arm in a vice-like grip and dug his fingernails in for several minutes. When he finally let me go he claimed I owed him money for reflexology. I had only the money for the deckchair on me, which the vendors don’t collect till the evening so they are not robbed. Foolhardy it might have been, but I felt the deckchair man deserved my money more than this conman and also that these deckchair men could somehow protect me. They blanched when they saw this guy. He threw some capoeira moves and asked me to take him to my apartment and give him money. I went instead to the hotel that had rented me the apartment, rang the doorbell, the hotel manager pulled me, slammed the door and said “That guy’s really dangerous. He just got out of jail for raping and beating up a girl.” When the sun goes down, which happens really suddenly and very early, the streets empty and you see the deckchair men and snack sellers literally running to safety. Though my last image of Barra was the beautiful, poignant silhouette of people throwing flowers into the sea to protest against the murder of a gay journalist, I never want to see this beach again. My 40th birthday was spent prisoner in my apartment with Mr Reflexology waiting outside and he dogged me for days.

Salvador de Bahia

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The most fantastic beach in Salvador. It is crammed with people. Vendors sell you anything from a cold drink, to clothes to oysters. A must is the roasted cheese with oregano though. This is not a beach to take a book to, there is just too much going on that you have to sit back and watch the world go by and wonder at it all!

Much more real and fun than the Pelourinho.

Barra, a coastal suburb of Salvador

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A small eco village north of Salvador. Local bus, about an hour, up the road from Praia de Forte (Tamar turtle project) with a river running alongside the beach, which has a few barracas for cheap food and drinks. A wonderful place.

Morro de Sao Paolo is good too! Stayed in a great place on second beach. Fourth beach is the best, it's got a great Tahitian-style cafe there.

www.praiaimbassai.com.br/

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