Nordeste Tour Part V - Pipa and Natal

Pipa

Nordeste Tour Part IV - Fortaleza & Beach Park

At around five a.m. that morning I met with Barry at the Fortaleza rodoviária (bus terminal). We had previously agreed that we wanted to spend the day there and take another night bus the same evening to Natal, so we left our luggage at a guarda-volumes (checkroom). Both of us were pretty tired after the long bus trip and didn't really know much about the city and what to do, so we took a taxi to the famous beach of Praia Iracema. However, when we arrived there at about 6:30 or so there was not much going on yet, and the famous barracas were still closed. Yet, after a while, they started to open up and we ordered some egg, coffee and the compulsory suco de abacaxi (pineapple juice; I think we had it every single day of our trip - it's just delicious) for breakfast, when a guy selling freshly-caught delicious shrimp for 2$ or so, a welcome complement.
After hanging out and walking the beach for some time we decided to visit Beach Park, one of Brazil's largest water fun parks. Although it was somewhat tricky to get there, we arrived just upon opening and were not amused about the price ($35, a lot of money in Brazil), but once we were in it was great fun.
Among others, they have the supposedly highest water slide in the world (42m), and unlike Barry I dared to go down a couple of times, which was quite fun.

AS our bus didn't leave before 10 p.m. or so we strolled around Fortaleza downtown in the evening. It really doesn't have very much to offer. We saw its modern cathedral, a famous theater and some shopping streets around the main square in the center. A group of young actors performed a play against AIDS on the main square, so we watched them an chatted with them and some funny little girls selling chewing gum, before having dinner and then leaving the city for Natal.

Nordeste Tour Part III - Hell Ride and Teresina

...comments coming soon!

Nordeste Tour Part II - Lençois Maranhaenses

On the next day we left Sao Luis at 5 pm on a bus we had previously booked. Our next destination was Barreirinhas, a small town at the doorway of the famous Lençois Maranhaenses Dunes National Park, four hours from Sao Luis. I slept most of the time but Barry told me the landscapes resembled a "tropical paradise", whatever that is. The bus left us at a recommended pousada called Brisa do Mar (Breeze of the Sea), where we booked a tour to the dunes for the same afternoon and checked out the town and surroundings.

Market scene in Barreirinhas

One of the many mango trees with some locals

Barreirinhas has a main street and a few dirt roads, a river called Río Preguiças (Laziness River) and lots of mango trees (see above). Barry reckoned the people looked like Indians, but that was a mere exaggeration.
Our pousada was located right on the river so we tried to use one of their boats but overturned it instantly, so we decided to swim across the river. On the other side we found a ship wreck.
Then we had lunch and walked around a little bit on the market and bought a watermelon to take it with us to the dunes.

Butcher's shop "Super Cheap"

Fishmongers

behind our pousada

Río Preguiças

At 2 p.m. we were picked up by a "Toyota", a term which in that part of the country seemed to be used for any kind of truck or van, although our vehicle was indeed a Toyota. Besides us there was a couple from Sao Paulo, another Brazilian family, including an elderly man with a huge belly and a shirt saying: "I am fat but I can lose weight. Worse is you, ugly!", a young hippie guy we came to call "just-live", a driver and a guide.
To get to the dunes, we had to cross the river, and the only means to do this is a raft:

On the raft

However, after crossing the river, the ground started to become sandy and apparently our Toyota was not the best one around, so we got stuck pretty soon. After a couple of
luckless tries to pull it out, our driver decided to change the truck for a better one so we were left behind in a tiny village ind the middle of nowhere, under the hot equator sun. Besides a few shacks, the only things around were zillions of cashew trees. You guys have probably never seen one and are not aware of what a cashew fruit looks like, but they are pretty yellow, orange or red very juicy fruits, with the actual cashew nut at the rear. On the pic below you can see a cashew tree with lots of red fruits on it.

Cashew tree (zoom in!)

However, while you can eat the fruit right from the tree, the nut needs to be roasted, as it's poisonous when eaten raw.

Enjoying some cajú

Cashew ....

... and more cashew!

After an hour and a half ou so, the new truck arrived and this one indeed took the sandy road without major problems. It was already late so we had to hurry to make it to the dunes before dark. The following ride through the park took about one hour and shook us from top to bottom. The car crossed several creeks and drove through narrow curvy paths in the middle of the bush (Caatinga).

This video may give an impression of the ride through the Lencois!

Then we arrived at the bottom of the dunes and had to climb the first one to see the overwhelming panorama. The Lencois are huge dunes of almost white sand as far as you can see. In the valleys between them, pools of crystal clear water form, and reflect a deep color blue from the sky. There is no vegetation at all, though somehow a species of tiny little fish lives in the lakes. Their eggs survive the dry period and the baby fish come back every year.
The landscape was amazing, like something from another world. We walked barefoot and swam in several of the lakes, and stayed for the sunset, which looked majestic over the dunes.

Swimming in the dune lakes

beautiful sunset in the dunes

On our way back we stopped in a small settlement at the beginning of the dunes, had our watermelon and bought a big pack of tasty cashew nuts from the people who grow them there in the middle of the park. After that, yet another shaky ride, this time in darkness and without major incidents.