Beach Bums At Last

One last try for some decent beach weather. Back to the coast where we finally found our inner beach bums.

JACUMA - Beach No. 1

After heated debate on the bus to Joa Pessoa as to the best and safest way to get to little Jacuma, which bizzarly left Stu with a zoning map of a town we didn't visit we arrived late in Jacuma, mini-golf capital of the North. Good thing too as the weather was still against us. The competition was on with Kaz triumphant in the end - she was a good sport about it though ;-)

Travelling as we are in low (very low) season has some interesting and fun outcomes. Despite our lack of portugese, developed a warm repore with Kelly of Kelly Lanches who looked out for us every lunch and dinner time. Lucky Kelly and her hubby could cook (even if their translation of Langoste was a bit off) as this was the only place open for business. Local transport was a bit sketchy in this period too. The only way to make it to the infamous Tambauba was by foot. Suncream slathered over bits we don´t normally show, we were set. Unfortunately we were foiled by a bit of tidal misinformation and only made to the next cove before HIGH tide turned us back. Not to worry, more mini-golf among the concrete dinosaurs and hammock swinging, interspersed by visits next door to Kelly Lanches gave us some nice time out. After our 3rd day of wild winds and tropical rains it was time to try our pathetic (so far) luck further up the coast.

PRAIA DE PIPA - beach paradise at last!

OK, there were still tropical storms at night, mostly just when we were ready to head out for dinner but were very lucky with beautiful sunny days on the most gorgeous beaches we´ve found so far.
Our first slice of paradise was Praia de Madeira, ticking every box on the beach hunters list. Cold coconuts and beer -check, sunloungers - check, white sands stretching into the distance - check and dolphins chasing tuna in the waves - check!!!

Enthused by our first dolphin spotting we planned to get up at sunrise the next day to get to Baia do Golphinos (dolphin bay), only accesible by beach at low tide to see if we could spot some more of these cute critters. Unfortunately we woke up at 9 the next day - oops! Nevermind, watched Brazil anihilate Japan while trying to catch snatches of commentary for updates on the Australia, Croatia match. Luckily we had a friendly Brazilian watching with us who did the english translation. What a match it must have been! Only managed to see a few highlight snippets. The press are understandably obsessed with just one team. So much so that we were lucky to hear of Varig´s (the national airline) being grounded, squished inbetween soccer footage. Some pretty important news if you happen to be travelling in Brazil and need flights out of the country in a week! Other airlines were quick to capitalise on the reduced competition and it took some sneaky breaking down of flight segments before we found an affordable way out of here!

Woke up in time the next morning and were well rewarded when we found a family of dolphins covorting about in the waves in between catching breakfast. It was amazing to see them up close in the wild. Lots of attempts and patience required to catch them in action. Required guessing where they were going to shoot out of the water next.
With the whole day ahead of the early risers, took the dusty backroads on our own version of the "day of fun" tour to Chapadau, a red sandstone lookout back to Pipa and up the barren coast. The reward for our walk, the stretch of deserted beach at the foot of the cliffs. The steps down needed a little "work" but the climb down (and more importantly back up) was worth it for our Robinson Crusoe experience.


PONTA NEGRA - Wet and Wild

Yes we are in the tropics and boats are the main way of getting around the Amazon, but we never thought we'd need them in the city! Fortunately all our umbrella needs were catered for, our pizzas ordered and our cinemas recommended by the chirpy chappy at the desk of Hotel do Mar. Think we kept him well entertained!

In between torrential rain we managed to squeeze in a visit to the world's largest Cashew tree, some late night swimming in the hotel pool and the shocking Australia, Italy match (most Brazillians agree we were robbed). The sprawling cashew tree down the road produces 2 tonnes of these tastey nuts a year - all picked by hand by one man. The 10,000 m² tree is a genetic freak with its boughs digging themselves 3m below ground before resurfacing to create a forest canopy effect. Just had to sit by the pool for the rest of the afternoon munching on a sample of these treats which actually come from fruit (brown bit between Kaz´s legs is the nut :-0 )



CANOE QUEBRADA - Broken Canoe but ironically dry at last

An awesome spot to spend our last few days in Brazil. Pretty beaches backed by weird red cliffs and huge sand dunes. Planted ourselves on a sandbar at lowtide and soaked up our last moments as beach bums (for now). The only thing that roused us from the beach was a chance to hoon around the sand dunes courtesy of the local buggiero, Ze. Good fun. Ended the trip with a whiz down the zipline and a thwack into the fresh water pool at the base of the dune.

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Brazil has had its share of ups and downs with some spectacular scenary, unpredictable weather, language barrier, a big purchase in Rio, cold, long bus trips, football madness, non-stop music and fireworks and good breakfasts that last you until 3 in the afternoon (trust us, you miss these things). Its definitely been a different side of South America. The next blog (if flight hops go to plan) should be from the depths of the Venezuelan jungle - typical of the surreal changes of our trip. Good time to test the effects of Malaria tablets :-0

Kaz and Stu xox

sight of the week: fresh flowers in your toilet bowl each morning ;-) Stu always thought his no. 2s smelt like roses ;-P

meal of the week: in celebration of staying on budget this month we´re going to blow it on flame grilled Langosta tonight (better had be lobster this time). Thanks to Mr and Mrs TOF - we love you.

arse of the week: Italian diving squad...