Everything you see here was shot in and around the house, on ordinary days. Galeria 13 is a colonial building in Pelourinho, the old centre of Salvador — thick walls, high ceilings, a courtyard that stays cool when the street outside does not, and a small pool that is the reason a lot of people end up staying longer than they planned.

The album moves roughly the way a day here does. Breakfast on the terrace from eight until twelve, the quiet hours around the pool and the hammocks, the chillout room when the sun is at its worst, and then the evening: happy hour in the courtyard, dinner at Bar ZULU, and the noise of a percussion rehearsal somewhere two streets away. The rooftop shots look out over the tiled roofs of the historic centre towards the bay — that view is free and it comes with the room.

A few frames are of the neighbourhood rather than the hostel: the churches, the painted facades, the Largo do Pelourinho at night. They are here because guests ask what is actually outside the door, and the honest answer is: most of the reason to come to Salvador.

Nothing here is staged and nothing is a stock photo. The pool is that size, the dorms do look like that once beds are made, and the courtyard really is where everyone ends up after dark. If a picture makes a room look small, it is small — a colonial house has the proportions it was built with in the eighteenth century, and we would rather you knew that before you arrive than after.

If you want to see something that is not in the album — a particular dorm, the shared kitchen, the walk from the bus stop — write to us through the contact form on the home page and we will send you a photo of it. We would rather answer that question now than have anyone turn up expecting a different house.