A number of us who arrived about the same time decided to visit the Pelourinho, which is the old part of Salvador. When we arrived, we were greeted by the most aggressive panhandlers I’ve ever seen. The first opened the door to the cab as I was paying the driver, and then kept trying to give me R$ 2 bills and asking for a larger bill in return. I ended up putting the R$ 2 on the ground and walking away. Other people would just come up to us, grab our arms or tug on our sleeves, and ask for money. It was just a gauntlet. We finally ended up in this restaurant area where a portly gentleman in a white suit came up to the panhandler that was still with it and chased him off — clearly the bouncer.
We then had a nice dinner with some folks from UMD at Mama Bahiia, a nice restaurant in the area. It was some great local food, and we enjoyed their hospitality greatly.
We left, and thought about hanging out around the Pelourinho a bit more, but after another 5 minutes with the pan-handlers and not seeing much (it was 6 PM, so a bit early for night life), we bugged out and played some cards by the pool in the hotel until we had stayed up long enough to get a good night sleep and get past the jetlag.