Date of Entry: July 5th-6th 2016
Date of Writing: September 5th 2016, My Apartment, Perdizes, Sao Paulo
I’m back on the road after a long but amazing stay in Sao Paulo with my incredible girlfriend Renata. It’s hard to leave. Alarmingly so really. But what can you do. I made it on the plane and while Landing in Natal without my love feels stranger I’m determined that I’m going to have a good time in the north of Brazil, a part of south America I’ve long since been very excited to explore.
Natal is beautiful but through an SD card mix up I’ve lost my photos so I’ll include a few internet photos of the main beach. Either way after a long bus into town and a quick taxi to Che Lagarto hostel in Ponta Negra a touristy district at one end of town right by a very nice beach. It’s going to be an interesting switch back to dorm living after a month spent in apartments in Sao Paulo. I’ve booked the hostel because of the air conditioning, because Natal like most of northeastern brazil is downright hot, and as a Canadian adjusting to heat for the first time in a few months is always a rough process.
My first day I spend eating seafood down by the beach and wandering through the beautiful sandy urban playground before booking a tour at my hostel for about 120 Reals (50 CAD) to Maracajau, a place known as the Brazilean Caribbean and supposedly a snorkeller’s paradise. Which after many months (since January) of relatively mild to cold weather sounds perfect to me. In the meantime I explore some beaches of Natal which are more urban than I’m used to but very beautiful. (Pictures here courtesy of google images)
The next morning I’m packed up early after a tasty breakfast at Che Lagarto which is comfy but not very social hostel wise and taken into a big bus full of Brazilians. I’m the only foreigner, which is both nice and frustrating because my portuguese is basic and I’m feeling lonely so it would have been nicer to make friends to have some english speakers. Still I manage well enough.
We then drive across the entire city of Natal picking people up along the way and then spend almost two hours getting to the restaurant where we have the option of ordering an expensive lunch, prior to our boat excursion to the reefs where we will be snorkelling. I’m not eating lunch here, so instead take some time to explore the beach on the other end of the restaurant. It’s cloudy with intermittent rain, but it’s still beautiful.
After a frustrating almost 90 minute wait for the second boat with this company to be ready. Really the tour is turning into a bit aof a bust for all the friendliness of our guide. It’s just a lot of time in transport and a lot of wasted time, though at least we are in the north of Brazil so the scenery is beautiful.
Eventually our boat is ready and we wade out into waste deep water carrying our bags over our heads and hoping the bigger waves wait. I didn’t know we’d be wading so deep so I still have everything with me and thankfully I’m a good water walker.
I haul myself up on to the boat and get ready for another 45 minutes or so out to the reefs where I find our two boats are just the tip of the iceberg and this tiny shallow area is full of boats, dozens of them, each carrying 50 or so tourists and rendering what might be a very beautiful spot a strange zoo like feeling.
Still it’s snorkelling so I keep a smile on my face, get off the boat onto the permanat floating platform, impatiently listen to precise instructions of where we are allowed to snorkel then jump in to the greenish waters.
Snorkelling is never a bad experience for me, but this place does not live up to it’s billing. The reefs are largely dead, probably our fault as the waters are shallow and there’s so many touriststo damage them, and while I do find a few cool fish and some fascinating but terryfying looking sea worms , it takes some looking and is far from what snorkelling was like in costa rica, the galapagos, and indonesia. Still I have fun and get a barbecued cheesestick once I’m out of the chilly waters. It’s raining now and the platform offers meagre shelter as our boat is delayed in picking us up and we all have to wait a while.
My go pro screen seems to have been clouded so a lot of the pictures and videos aren’t worth sharing but here’s one quick one to give you an idea.
Eventually though were boarded, most people shivering and making our way back to shore. As we go the sky clears to a mostly brilliant blue making for some truly beautiful pictures of the coastline here a few hours north of Natal.
Once back at the restaurant those who’ve ordered lunch are slowly served and I wait there without much to do, wandering for a bit before caving and buying a few sweet cocadas from a very friendly lady on the street outside the restaurant. An amazing treat of cooked coconut, condensed milk, and various sweet flavourings. They are delicious but the two hour wait doing nothing wears thin before we’re herded onto a converted open air truck for a quick ride through some dunes to another beach. The ride guide is dressed asa military man and is rambunctious but I can only understand so much over the roaring engine in his rapid Portuguese.
As we arrive at the beach I find that it’s beautiful too so I feel bad complaining about the tour, but the balance of time spent in the places advertised versus time spent in places to spend more money was just wrong. Still I climb out of the truck and wander the beach and river mouth for about half an hour and certainly enjoy myself. Still for the price I can’t recommend the tour, especially when the next two entries will detail better tours had for about 30 percent of the price of this one. I’d only take this tour if you’ve never snorkelled before and really want to.
From this beautiful beach and lagoon we’re taken back to the restaurant, wait another fifteen minutes and then drive back to Natal stopping at a mall where I buy a bathing suit, something I lost a long time ago and will finally make use of regularly in Brazil. Not a great day but a good one, even if I did spend all the transit time missing my girlfriend. Travelling solo with someone back home is certainly a different experience and one I’ll have to adjust to, but at least she’ll be joining me at the end of this trip in the north east in Salvador for a few days, and I’m really looking forward to that.
