| Brazil North East Coast |
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Carnaval, beaches, surreal deserts and colonial gems The airport taxi couldn't get right to our hotel as all the nearby roads were closed for Salvador's carnaval. So at 11pm we were carrying our packs, finding our way through carnaval in full swing.   The colonial Pelourino (or whipping post) district where we stayed retains a more traditional carnaval with lavish street dancers, walking drummers and brass instruments. We spent most of our time for here for the atmosphere. In other parts of the city huge 'trios' or lorries holding giant sound systems and bands moved at a snail pace through throngs of people. Its amazing how friendly the vibe is considering the amount of capharina and beer flowing in such a tight space. Salvador was the first capital of Brazil and slavery forms a huge part of its history. Although distinctly Brazilian, African cultures permeate through all Bahian life, cuisine, religion and arts. I could see many traces from my travels in Benin and Ghana.     Following the coast North we stopped off at the city beaches of Maceio and got sunburnt. And headed onto colonial Olinda, neighbouring the city of Recife to which it sits in stark contrast to its skyscraper sister. Olinda was in post carnaval recovery and its sleepy streets were newly painted after their 11 day party. Here was a good place to relax, cook prawns from the market and get those postcard photos of Brazil.    Going north, Praia da Pipa is a little paradise surrounded by 4 lovely surf beaches developed just a enough to be really comfortable yet not spoiled. Two of the beaches are frequented by dolphins and by swimming past the crashing surf and with a bit of luck you can be on your own for 5 minutes with these graceful mammals enjoying the ocean swells. I swam with them 3 times, seeing six in a line and another completely clear the water on the back of a crashing wave. Evenings were fuelled on cheap caparinhas and samba, plus there was always a good crowd of other travellers that we met up with along the way. Here we met Claudia from Austria and Rose from Korea. We rested up a week as I also tried to shake off a tropical flu.   Our spirits were dampened by two days travelling and a rainy night in the city of Fortaleza and my cold was deteriorating again. Finally we arrived in the small tourist village of Jericoacoara via open 4WD truck between sand dunes. We stayed in a lovely cabin and I relaxed for a couple of days of shine and rain in the garden, lying in the hammock reading. Jericoacoara is a stunningly natural, remote long beaches backed by dunes and green hills where donkeys graze between cacti, waves crash against the rocky shore and the streets are made of sand. We picked the worst day to take a dune buggy tour with Lee and Abby from Stanford, UK. Yet swimming in azul lakes between sand dunes was even more surreal in the rain.     Moving on from Jeri is quite a task, the local 4WD follows the beach and has to be rafted across several rivers to Camocim. Here we changed bus to Parnaiba. We teamed up with Austrian Claudia and Brent from Sydney and hired a speed boat for the next leg across the Rio Parnaiba delta of mangrove forests, tree climbing iguanas and sand dunes to Tutoia. Onwards from here it was another 4 hours by local 4WD on wooden benches through some of the toughest roads possible. We crossed countless flooded sections, angled over sand dunes and stopping at remote communities along narrow sandy tracks all the way to Barreirinhas.     Riverside Barreirinhas is a charming, sleepy town that caters for our 2 day visit to the surrealy sublime Parque Nacional dos Lençóis Maranhenses. After another bouncy 4WD trail you barefoot it over a sand dune to get your first incredible view of the desert, countless white sand dunes and azul coloured crystal clear lakes. From the sky it would look like an Escher mirage drawing . By foot you are in a fantasy desert where you can run down sand dunes and dive into cool fresh water.     São Luis old town is a falling apart, its a colonial beauty of Portuguese tiled buildings and cobbled streets but unfortunately uncared for. The buildings if not empty are used as squats or for colonies of cats. Still is was beautiful to walk around inbetween the rain clouds and interesting to drink outside the reggae bars at night and watch some of the local freaks sniffing glue.    Now we are in the city of Belem on the mouth of the greatest river on Earth. Its not called a rainforest for nothing and it is raining a lot, still its an interesting place to prepare for our next leg of the journey, by boat to the centre of the Amazon! |
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 30 March 2009 ) |
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African photos published
Some of my photos have been published in the book Survey of Sub-Saharan Africa : A Regional Geography
