Pousada da Saude

Caution is Advised

Rating: 25%

Pousada da Saude

This pousada is run by a friendly couple with three young children. The pousada has two levels. The upper part has a small pleasant patio that looks out over the part of the Pelorinho. The patio is uncovered and because the pousada has no meeting rooms, when it rains there is no gathering area except the rooms. All the rooms are built in the upper part. The lower level is currently not being used for much except to store junk. One has to traverse the lower level to get to the living areas.

Claims – made in ads and on websites – about the amenities and services provided by this poousada are exaggerated. Though websites claim the Pousada da Saude is located in a “safe” neighborhood, the owner is among the first to tell guests that the neighborhood is dangerous and they should be very careful going out during evening/night hours. Since nightfall occurs before 6:00 p.m. during June, July, etc. this can make for a short day out (not to mention a challenge finding dinner). The pousada is only about two blocks from the Pelorinho but it is a dangerous two blocks. By 6:00 p.m., the stores and restaurants are shuttered and primarily young men loiter in the streets late into the night. To get to the Pelorinho (that is also dangerous – this is evident by the one or two cops stationed on every corner), one has to go down one steep narrow street then up an even steeper, narrower, dimly-lit lane that reeks of urine and is littered with trash. The police, who are seldom at the bottom of the hill, disappear by 6:00 p.m. Despite the potential for crime, Pousada da Saude does not have means for guests to get into and out of the pousada quickly or efficiently. The door to the compound is locked at all times and one has to be buzzed in – this can mean waiting in the street till the owners come down to let guests in.

Despite claims on some of its websites about having a front desk, multi-lingual guides, chauffeur, safe, visitor information, Internet, facilities for barbecue, haircutting, manicures, pedicures, oriental massages, and laundry – the pousada does not have these. If you ask for help with specific things, the family will provide information, but there isn’t even a single brochure, map, etc. at the pousada. Only one person at the pousada speaks any English and that is the man who owns the place. When we stayed at the pousada, we asked about the Internet after about three days there and seeing no computers; at that time the owner brought down his computer and installed it in the kitchen for about a day and a half. The pousada has only three rooms (“suites”) for rent – not four as is listed on some sites. None of the rooms have a “fully equipped” kitchen as the website claims. There isn’t a fully equipped kitchen any place in the pousada. The kitchen described as the “collective” kitchen is the family’s kitchen and they are usually in it. That kitchen – which is quite small – has a stove and refrigerator but no sink or running water. There isn’t any room at the pousada that has only two beds in it (as is pictured on some of the websites).

The” luxury suite” has a refrigerator and sink. This is where the dirty dishes are washed. Hence guests in the luxury suite have to deal with the family, helper and children going in and out of the room at all times. At first, the owners, helper and children simply barged in to the room, but began knocking after a couple of days (and indications from us that it was inappropriate for them to enter at will). Though the doors to the luxury suite can be locked when one is inside, it cannot be locked from the outside, so quite often one returns to the room to find someone in it (doing laundry or dishes, or the children just standing around). There is no way to get complete privacy in the luxury suite. The drapes (made of both cloth and shower curtain materials) do not completely cover the French doors (which are lovely) so the children can be seen sometimes stooped down outside peering in through the glass at the point where the curtains stop. The family, who lives in the room above the luxury suite, use it as living space when guests are not there, so it makes for an odd situation. The second day we were there, a family friend barged right into the room and was some way in before realizing guests were staying there and not the family.

There are mice in the luxury suite. Like the two dorm rooms, the luxury suite also has very big cockroaches. The luxury suite does not have a king-sized bed (as is advertised); it has basic beds to sleep four (or five if the trundle is in the room) and a couple of rocking chairs (one of which was removed during our stay). The toilet/shower set up in the pousada is less than ideal. There is no partition between the shower and the toilet/sink area – not even a shower curtain, so after a shower, the whole bathroom is wet. The slow drain in the corner of the floor means that there is standing, soapy water on the floor for sometime after a shower. All the rooms are dark (even the luxury suite that does have doors and two windows).

Though our group paid a hefty sum to the owners as a down payment on our stay, when we got to the pousada, there wasn’t any food there. There was no drinking water, and the rooms ran out of toilet paper by mid-afternoon. The pousada didn’t have enough dishes, utensils, cups, etc. to serve us with when we first got there (they got more later). By the end of the week, and several requests, we were provided with enough toilet paper. The owner insisted that we pay the remainder of the money for our stay as soon as we got there. He claimed he needed it to provide breakfast for us and to pay the people working for him. While traveling in Bahia we stayed in eight different pousadas and Pousada da Saude was the only place that asked for a down payment (50%) up front and the remainder on arrival. All the other pousadas required no down payment and guests paid at check-out time (none had roaches and mice either). The cash-flow problems that the owners of this pousada are having make it uncomfortable for guests at times. Despite the large sum our group paid to stay at Pousada da Saude, the owner borrowed money from a guest and refused to pay it back (he eventually paid some back). He also tried to collect additional money from some guests by insisting that they paid to stay for fewer days than they actually paid for.

The owner of the pousada goes around shirtless most of the time; he is often bare-footed too. Two of the children go around topless also.

The pousada is not in a quiet neighborhood. True, there isn’t much traffic on the street on which Pousada Saude is located. But because it is so close to the Pelorinho, guests can hear the drumming – which goes on non-stop day and night all week during any festival or holiday period. Brazil has many holidays, so be prepared to hear drumming starting and stopping at random times day and night. In addition, there are fire crackers—extremely loud ones -- that go off day and night too. Sleeping is a challenge in Salvador. In our travels through Bahia, we found that there was either drumming, music blaring from car speakers or fire crackers going off all the time. On the off-chance that there is no drumming, there is a church two doors away in which services begin before 6:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning and goes on for hours (they preach, sing and shout exuberantly). Services were held several times during the week during our visit.