Pipa adventures!

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Hi all!

So here we are in Pipa still, we have decided that we like it so much we will do less travelling around and stick here for a while enjoying this gorgous town.
On our second day here we re-visited the same dolphin beach, this time armed with a camera to get some shots! however, as sods law would have it, we couldnt get any pictures and ended up with a couple of videos... im sure we will try again before we leave!

We went out that night for tapas, at a cute little spanish restuarant, which was up a small dirt track off the main road. because of the location, not many tourists seemed to find the little gem.... in fact.. we were the only ones there. suspicious that this might not just be down to location, we had little time to ponder as we were scooped in by the host and handed menus! We chose about 5 dishes, which were, for the most part, absolutely delicious. The chef was a little heavy handed with the garlic (and by a little i mean we absolutely stank of it for about 2 days... even the mosquitos stayed away from me for two whole evenings!) but this was probably not helped by our choices...´potatoes in garlic mayonnaise´..... ´king prawns grilled in garlic´. you get the picture. we tried everything... even glenda was happily snapping the heads off giant shrimpies! ... until one particilar dish was placed in front of us. we had ordered chicken breast in spicy tomato sauce... and got something which resembled dark pork. having already had a couple of problems with meat identity in thialand, i decided to confirm the species, enquiring as to whether it was, indeed pork. the spanish host looked at me like i was a philistine, before telling me it was chicken. oh.
glen tried next, asking if it was the chicken breast we had selected when he translated the menu. ´no´he said...´it is chicken stomach... you know... meat from the stomach of the chicken. you use it in medicine in england´. great.
tentatively, we cut open the chicken, which looked literally like meat balls strung together in pairs with a thin seam of muscle between them. they had the consistency of a kidney to slice into, and when we tried them, they didnt taste much better. we attempted a few of them before giving up the dish for wasted. the waiter then apologised for the ´misunderstanding´ that occured when he told us we would be getting chicken breast and ended up with entrails.

after this little bit of excitement, we decided to hit a couple of the local bars. the staple drink that they seem to consume in preference to water out here is ´skol´lager. its very easy to drink (even as a girl!) and is also cheap. however, it makes your sweat absolutely stink, so is a bit of a catch 22....
after several cans of this, and a small deluge of rain, the atmposhere in the street started to spark. the bar opposite ours was holding a samba evening, where local dummers, singers and musicians play the traditional music and the locals go wild. with our dutch courage safely sweating out of us we took the plunge and wandered over to the action. well actually, we wandered straight into the middle of the action, right in front of the band....
the locals can dance. their feet are a blur they move that fast, swinging their arms and moving their hips in ways i didnt evenknow they could move!! we watched for a while, trying to pick up some ´moves, before unleashing our own! We were; needless to say, fairly rubbish, although noone seemed to even notice! we had a great night, our confidence building, and have now decided we would like to try a couple of lessons so we can actually attempt the moves properly!


We spent our third day attempting surfing! we decided to head out of the room a little later after breakfast to try to avoid the midday intensity of the sun. One of the best surf beaches in Brazil just happens to be the closest one to us. However, we have walked past it before, and seen that the surfers there mean business. they are amzingly talented, and make manipulating the huge waves look like childs play. I have to admit i was ever so slightly intimitated...
so we had a look on a map and saw that there was another beach, about a 40 min walk along the coast, which was also good for surf, but a little tamer than the strangely named ´praia de amor´ (beach of love). we couldnt make it around the rocky bays at high tide, so set off through the town as on the map it indicated we could cut down some steps at a couple of hotels. We were expecting a short easy stroll. what we got was a good hours hike, during which we needed to stop for supplies and sugary drinks. The road was bordered on either side by trees, and the tarmac was reflecting the intense heat straight into our faces... it was so hot, and the road ahead literally stretched on and on... only puncutated by the occasional steep climb or sharp bend. we nearly gave up about 3 times, but eventually reached our turn and found the beach!

We hired two surfboards for two hours... turning down the opportunity of lessons in favour of ´trying it out ourselves´. I can tell you, it is much harder than it looks, even on a relatively small swell. our first ten minutes was spend trying to battle against the incoming waves to get our boards out to sea. during this period glen lost control of his board. a fact i realised when it came crashing into my hip. I then proceded to lose control of mine, giving myself a sizable board shaped bruise on my thigh. eventually we were beyond waist deep in the water. we climbed onto our boards.... and fell straight off.. several times. however, we soon got our balance, and glen soon realised why ´surfer dudes´either swim with tops on, or shaved chests. The board wax did a fairly good job of removing his chest hair the painful way. once we had managed the basics of getting around on your board, we attempted some waves. the first few attempts were horribly unsuccessful. i hit myself on the head twice; glen hit himself in the mouth, and i scraped my back on the sea floor. eventually, though we were almost standing, and actually both managed a proper stand up surf for a few seconds each! it was a tough two hours, but totally amazing, and made even better by the fact that we were joined several times by some dolphins who obviously also enjoyed catching the waves! by the time the two hours were up though I felt as though I had been in a car crash and gladly flopped back onto the safely of dry land with a pina colada!

needless to say we got a taxi back...

after deciding not to try surfing for another couple of days, we spent a lovely day at the local central beach, finishing with a meal at a beach front bar watching the sunset.

today we have stayed at the pousada, playing some bat and ball and not missing getting sand everywhere! we are going out to a place recommended in our books for good and cheap pizza tonight!

hope everyone is well, we are both really enjoying our time here and are feeling thoroughly relaxed! keep us updated on any news, lots of love to everyone
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