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Morro Branco is a tiny beach town 80km east along the coast from Fortaleza; however, our journey there was beginning 250 km WEST of Fortaleza, and the road for the first hour was hardly worthy of the title. We bounced along from Jericoacoara on a huge 4x4 truck, passing through small villages on our way to meet a proper bus to take us as far as Fortaleza.
Bizarrely, this bus took us to the city's airport so we had to take a taxi to the bus station, before getting on another bus to Beberibe, a small town near Morro Branco. Another taxi helped us complete the journey, arriving at 4pm on May 10th. We quickly arranged a place to stay (which wasn't hard - this being low season we were swamped with pousada owners offering their accommodation) and headed to the beach to catch the last of the daylight.
Morro Branco's beauty is in it's beach and the coloured cliffs rising sharply above the sand. We managed to get a few photos before sunset (which is early in Brazil!), before heading back to the deserted beachfront for some dinner. We wandered around some of the town briefly before heading
back for an early night.
The northest facing beach would prove the perfect place for a morning stroll, though we missed the sunrise as it also happens very early (about 4:45am!). We walked along the sand for a couple of hours, the sun illuminating the cliffs and creating the perfect morning view. When we dreamed of coming to northern Brazil this is what we had envisioned: walking along miles of deserted beach, sometimes talking and other times just listening to the waves crawl up the sand.
At 10am we caught a bus to our next stop, Canoa Quebrada, another beach town (you may begin to notice a pattern here!), popular with Brazilian holdiday makers. Arriving at noon we were greeted by an English-speaking (!) tourist guide, who helped us find somewhere to leave our rucksacks for the day. We declined his offer of a rather expensive buggy tour, instead choosing to head for the beach.
Canoa Quebrada's signature gift item is their coloured sand bottles; it didn't take long for us to find a guy making them on the beach. It was impressive how he made great pictures in the bottles using just sand and a weird
spoon - so impressive we bought a few!
Shortly after we bumped in to our Swiss friends (Yvonne and Marcel) from Jericoacoara, who offered to cook us dinner that evening. Fine by us! We spent the remainder of the day enjoying the beach and walking around the shops in the small town centre. Visiting Canoa Quebrada at this time of year was nice as we got to see the best bits of the town without being swamped by other tourists. However we both decided we preferred Morro Branco: it still felt largely untouched by foreign tourism and the beach was just stunning.
Yvonne and Marcel cooked us some pasta before we headed to the nearby town of Aracati to catch a night bus to Natal, our first city stop for nearly two weeks. A football match between Ceara (the local team) and Flamengo (the biggest team in Brazil) was on the television while we waited in a cafe at the bus station, which gave us a fascinating insight in to just how passionate Brazilians are about football. They were screaming and shouting over the smallest things, and the expressions on their faces were priceless. Even the game was
exciting: 2-2, great goals, rubbish goals, a sending off, dodgy decisions and riot police escorting the referee off the pitch - and we only saw the first half!
Six hours on a nightbus passed and we were in Natal, on the northeast coast. By the time we got a bus to Ponta Negra - the beach south of the city where we would be staying - it was rush hour, which made the journey with our heavy rucksacks pretty tough. The locals did offer their seats though: traditional Brazilian hospitality at its best!
We had no idea where to walk when got off the bus but after an hour of pretty miserable searching we found a pousada our Swiss friends had recommended. It even had a pool, so after eating a gigantic breakfast (and Brazilian breakfasts are GIGANTIC!) we relaxed for a few hours. While the sun graced us with its presence we thought we should see the beach, so we walked the 100 metres down to the sand and promptly relaxed there instead! As soon as were sat down on the sun loungers the sun gave up and tucked in behind some clouds so we followed suit
and gave up on our 'lying-around-time', instead walking along the beach to the bottom of a towering dune. We walked back to our pousada via a great ice-cream parlour right opposite our front door. Chocolate, Ferrero Rocher and Passionfruit ice cream was the perfect dinner!
Natal is the capital of Rio Grande do Norte state, so we figured the city itself deserved a visit. Without an adequate map we got off the bus at the wrong stop and had to walk back in to the centre, all the while searching for the colonial buildings we knew were there. We were semi-successful, locating the old cathedral and seeing some fine architecture without really knowing what most of the buildings were. We walked with a vague idea of finding the Centro de Turismo, hoping they would at least have a good map. Again, semi-success: we found the centre, but they didn't have a good map!
After checking out the handicraft stalls there we took a taxi to the star-shaped fort, which was quite interesting and unique. We had to get a bus back to the centre of town and with the help of a kind local lady who spoke a
tiny bit of English we eventually found the right bus back to our pousada. With a couple of hours daylight left we found another bus, this time heading half an hour south to the small town of Pirangi.
Pirangi is home to the world's biggest cashew tree, and being fans of cashews and things that fall in to the 'world's biggest' category, we just had to go and see it. It didn't disappoint: it was the size of a city block! We bought some of the local produce, though it didn't last long! A busy day over, we headed back to bed.
The next day we went with Yvonne and Marcel (who had caught up with us again) on a full day's buggy tour exploring the beaches north of Natal. The area has some of the most spectacular beaches in Brazil; unfortunately we saw them on a grey, Britishy day, so the pictures do them no justice. Genipabu beach was beautifully set, and rightfully dons many a postcard, but perhaps doesn't look so picturesque without the sun above it.
The buggy ride itself was outrageous. The driver was very skilled, but it was quite dangerous as the
only thing keeping Chris in the vehicle was his grip on a metal bar! The field of dunes provided the perfect playground for buggy drivers, and even though it was low season there were plenty around.
By the time we got to Lagoa Jacuma for some 'aerobunda' - flying down a wire and landing in the water - the rain was starting to spit; by the time we stopped for lunch the rain was coming down hard. We had to put the roof on for the ride back to town, the driver explaining he almost never has to use it. Lucky us then! Despite this it was a great day, though Chris was surprised to have returned to the pousada alive!
The evening was nice as the rain had exhausted itself, so we walked along the beach before enjoying another ice cream dinner. The next day we would we travelling to Pipa to see its glorious beaches, hoping all the while that the rain would leave us alone...
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Andy Steven
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THE BEST PLACE I HAVE EVER SEEN
I’m so excited to read about your trip – Rio’s a great city, and the beach is hard to beat. http://rioapartmentrental.com/