Date of Entry: July 10th 2016
Date of Writing: September 13th 2016, My Apartment, Sao Paulo Brazil
I’m picked up early from Dragoa do Mar,my hostel in Fortaleza for my day tour to three separate beaches. Normally I don’t take so many tours but In the north of Brazil it seems the best way short of renting a car to see the sites and also allows me to see more with less time as I’m suddenly travelling with somewhat set in stone timelines. It’s strange.
Again I’m the only non brazilian on the tour, though i do meet a group of young men one of whom speaks impressively perfect english. At any rate after about an hour we climb out at our stop which is in the middle of a town where we are then told we need to pay about 70 reals more for the buggy’s we will now be transferring too. I ask for other options and the guide shrugs her shoulders and says you can wander this town or sit in the bus for the next -4 hours. So I guess the cost of the tour just doubled. Oh well, better than sitting in the oppressive heat.
I get grouped with a brazilian mother, daughter and grandmother and climb in to the buggy and soon enough all the different tours are following the same route up to the top of this little town where our first stop is a craft market with a nice lookout of the beaches below, though we do spend way too long here huddled amongst hundreds of tourists. Ican hardly blame the tour companies though, these shopping stops seem to me to be a favourite of the brazilian tourists and that’s the majority here. I end up buying myself a hat that is beyond ridiculous and totally awesome for just 10 reals.
After a while wandering the craft market and waiting to leave we are summoned back to our respective buggy and the convoy sets off again ruining a lot of the coolness of being in the dune buggy with the sheer number of tourists doing the same thing everywhere we go. Oh well. Our next stop is a series of clay like cliffs and caves that we get to walk out across and down through. It’s very beautiful but feels a bit like ants in an ant farm and it’s really bloody hot. I also find myself missing Renata even more than usual which is problematic. I’m going to need to learn how to be away from her and still be happy, because I don’t want to stop travelling.
Down on the beach we all climb back into our respective buddies and start speeding along the beach over smooth white sand surrounded by the varying blues of the ocean and sky. The waves roll in gently enough and the wind whips against my face in a pleasant way considering the stifling heat. We drive for a long while and the beaches seem to go on forever.
Eventually we stop briefly at a fairly unimpressive cave that is again swarmed with tourists before hopping back in the buggy and continuing along the endless strings of beaches.
Eventually we leave the beaches behind and cut up through a small village marked by the wind farm pictured above. We speed through the sleepy little town and head up into a huge collection of untouched golden dunes rolling onwards as far as I can possibly see. It’s beyond beautiful and our driver pushes the pedal to the floor and lets us fly across this untouched desert. One thing is for sure, the northeast of Brazil is undeniably beautiful.
Eventually we reach our destination, a beautiful lake nestled in this maze of golden dunes, the water a beautiful blue green and a few make shift tourist restaurants set up on the lakeshore. I’ve taken off my shoes and have to run through the steaming hot sand, luckily the surprisingly cool waters of the lake wait for my burning feet. I do love the northeast, but living here might be tough, especially as this is winter in so far as they have one this far north.
Eventually we hop back in our buggies and drive back over the dessert of dunes, this time the driver really pushing the buggy for all the speed we can find and us holding on tight to the support bar to keep from becoming food for whatever animals might live in this land of vast sand dunes.
We drive back through another little town, some local children watching us and waving as we pass before we’re left at a gas staion. Our bus arrives minutes later and soon we’re all inside eagerly soaking up the AC. I’m enjoying the tour but still dealing with homesickness for Sao Paulo which is a very strange sensation for me.
After a while on the bus we come to our final destination and our official lunch stop. I suppose if you count the lake beach then this in in fact the third beach. I’m trying to eat a little less here and the heat renders the idea of the restaurant where we stop unappealing so I opt out of the buffet and instead head straight down onto the beach.
It’s beautiful down here, and while for a little while it’s crowded by tourists I set off walking towards another distant wind farm and soon enough I’m alone on the endless crescent of sand, ducking in for many swims whenever my body starts to overheat. This is the answer to living in the northeast, be close to the beach. That and air conditioning.
After several hours of walking, sometimes texting with Renata and sending lots of pictures of this beautiful corner of her country, it’s time to get back to the restaurant as I don’t have any desire to miss my departure back to Fortalaza. Especially since I’ll be leaving for my next destination of Jericoacora tomorrow morning.
I make it back to the restaurant in plenty of time, my skin a little burned and climb back into the bus dozing the whole way back. That sun and ocean air really knocks this canadian boy out.
Back at the awesome Dragoa do Mar hostel I’m browsing the internet and chatting with lots of friendly folks including two german girls in my dorm who are going to be coming to Jeri a day after me, when I happen upon some very cheap flights back to Sao Paulo. I’ve been missing Renata a lot and the thought of a quick surprise visit home is too much to pas up on so I book the flights and fight the urge to tell her that in about a week I’ll be back home in Sao Paulo for a surprise visit.
I go eat dinner at a nearby pizzeria then pack up my bags spending the night trying to think about the best way to execute this surprise and also reading up a little bit on my next destination, Jericoacora, which ends up being my favourite place in the north east of Brazil so far. Stay tuned.
