THE DUNE PARADISE OF JERI

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The bus for Jeri was late arriving at the Praiana Palace Hotel at Ave. Beira Mar, once we got moving we stopped some more at the airport and bus station to pick up more passengers, it took a good 6 to 7 hours of travel stopping once for lunch, someone stink up the toliet,doing a number 2 why cant they understand that only number one is allowed in bus toilets? We have to change into a 4 wheel drive truck similar to the overland truck we had in Africa, and for another hour or so we went through dunes and sands until we finally arrived at Jeri where Wolfgang, the owner of Pousada Tirol was waiting for his clients including me at the stop of point at Rua Principal. Got checked in at the hostel, the dorms were alright and 2 Brazilian dudes will be sharing the room with me. Wolfgang gave me a run down on things to do here and one of them is the dune buggy trip driving through sand dunes, he said its a must so he helped me arrange a trip fro the next day, he led me to an alley into a house, the dune buggy driver lives there, so I made a commitment to him and he picks me up at the hostel 9am the next morning. Slept early as I was exhausted.

Had my breakfast while waiting for the buggy driver to arrive, an entertaining Brazilian coupe from Brasilia joined me at the table for breakfast, the woman speaks a little English and the guy was comical, he knows only a few words in English and blurts them out randomly to me like a parrot! The driver arrived and we set off, we picked up the other people in the group, Ursula from Austria, and 2 Spanish girls, Carla and Violeta, comical trio, been out the whole night and just been back only slept 2 hours, severely hung over! We had fun from the get go, these guys are easy to get along with, we went through amazing scenery right away just outside the small town of Jeri, sand dunes from end to end, different colors, bright white, to brown to brick red, then some lakes, spectacular! We stopped briefly at a place where if you pay 10 reais you can see the seahorses, you go on a noat they scoop it out from the lagoon and you take photos. A bit tacky so Carla and i opted out. The next stop was a small lake or lagoon where we can have a swim, beautiful scenery everywhere! Moving on we went through the marshy area, mangroves and all and we have to use a boat to get to the other side of the river or creek, twice we did that, we got to the brown to red colored sand dunes and the driver showed off a bit, speeding up and going up and down the dunes at an angle sometimes. Stopped for lunch and we suffed ourselves with lobsters and shrimps,. then back to the town, really fun experience for 50 reais, not cheap but worth it.

The town of Jeri is now full of Pousadas and internet cafes and restaurants all the modern amenities, to live here you have to have a dune buggy for easy transport as the roads are all sand. I wish i had been here to see it many years ago before the big tourist boom, though still spectacular, one can only imagine how it was then, with no electricity. Oliver from germany checked in at the hostel we are roomie and we had a chat turns out he knows the 3 girls i went dune buggying with so we met them up at the top of the dunes for sunset. It was windy and the sand is blowing all over so after the sun had set and the people applauding, we went down the dune and watched the capoeira at the beach. Then had dinner and promised to meet up with the girls later. We had a bit of a nap, m and oliver got bore so went down a store and bought booze, a cheap wine and skol beers, oliever wanted to mix them up as he had seen in Fortaleza the locals did, so we tried it and wasnt so bad, then we moved to the girls´hostel, carla and Ursula joined us and polished off the remaining beers and red wine, then we went back home and we will meet up at Mama Africa for a night out at 2am, we took a nap, got up and went there but the girls did not turn up, they went and slept through.

The day started with rain, after having breakfast Oliver and i dcided to go and walk to the Pedra Furada which is a rock arch said to be really beautiful, the 3 British girls came with us and we started walking following the beach, and along the way we saw fishermen hauling in their catch,lots of small fish, huge shrimps, small crabs and baby lobsters and some stingrays, i think they drag the net to the bottom that is why there are so many small fish and crustaceans. Some people are buying from the fisherman. We continued on and when we arrived at the rock arch we all said, that's it? It was underwhelming, we thought it would be bigger and grander, then after we had some fotos taken the rains came, we sheltered under the arch then we decided to walk up towards the lighthouse on top of the hill, raining a bit but we made it, we then walked down towards the dunes on the other side of the valley, the road path towards there were mucky and some streams and lagoons, lots of snails and small fish, we saw a snake near the dunes, it was so fast trying to get away from us. This is the largest or tallest dune here in Jeri and we climbed it, quite tiring as it is steep, at the top we can see dark clouds looming in the horizon and within minutes pelted us with blinding rain, at first we were liking it then it got stronger and more painful so we scampered to get down and soaking wet we walked backed to town, people looking at us funny. We had showered and had lunch with Marla the Ausrian, and Violeta the Spaniard, and some of their friends, Philip, a German dude joined us. In the eve Susanna, Oliver's friend came and we bought beer and vodka and orange juice to have a few drinks in the hostel, Wolfie, the crazy german who runs the hostel is showing off and joined our groups, he is quite annoying but gave us lots of info about things to do in jeri, you just have to put up with his contstant bragging of his conquest in town.

We decided we want to do a dune buggy trip to Lago Conceicao the next day, Marla wanted Edson to be our driver once again, he came to the hostel to talk to us and Wolfie told him to get out, annoyed that we did not want the guys he recommends, so a war of words ensued, and from then on Marla is banned from the hostel and we all decide to move to Aconchega, where Marla is staying the next day, much cheaper if you are in a group. After getting drunk we went down the beach and drank some more, it very crowded, lots of vendors selling drinks, we had a couple of caipirinhas and a few beers, met some more gringos then I hit the wall and called it a night, the rest tried to go to a bar where there is a Forro dance going on. Walked back home and passed out. Woke up to heavy rain so we guessed the dune buggy trip is cancelled, after breakfast we want to check out but Wolfie said 2pm is check out so I went back to bed, Oliever and Susana woke me up when the rain stopped at mid day and we paid the hostel and moved to the other and we are doing the dune buggy, Edson showed up, Sussana backed out and luckily we found Phillip walking on the road so we talked him into coming with us.

Our first stop was the high dune we walked to yesterday, and Edson sped up doing turns and such, really enjoyable. Then we stopped at a gorgeous lagoon whose name I forgot, the view is stunning! We went for a swim, the lake is brackish water and deep, we swam for a good half hour then time to move on again, we got pleted by rain and we got cold, the path was amazing through a dune forest then we got to a town, we stopped at a resort for lunch with hammocks right in the water great to relax and enjoy the day despite intermittent rain. From there off to Lagoa Coracao, not as ggod as the first lagoon, we had a swim and Oliver and Phillip tried to be silly and did stupid things going down the dune,doing flips and turns. We had beer then left and back to town. Amazing day all in all. Bought my ticket in the eve trying to get to Lencois Maranhensis. The package costs 80 reais but I have only 79 so i have to get back tot he hostel and get more money and also have to give them the name of the hostel as I get picked up by the truck. I came back he had no change for 2 reais so he said never mind. We had dinner at a small retaurant, really cheap, Jeri is expensive if you eat in nice restaurants, about 15 US average but we can eat cheap and good for $8 with beer! Go to smaller restaurants to save money.

We drank a lot again that night, rum and coke and more beers,Phillip joined us and 4am is when we called it a night, we have to sleep as i leave at 7am. We woke up at 630am to have breakfast and I waited and waited but no truck came, Oliver left before me for Fortaleza, 2 hours later the truck came, the owner of the Pousada was furious with them saying they should have come to tell me about the delay, the tide was high that is why we did not leave on time but what was annoying is they never sent anyone to inform me, anyway we left Jeri and I had one last look of the dunes as we passed them by on our way to Camocim, enjoyed my time here but I wished I had been here many years before, as it is now overdeveloped, lots of bars and rowdy people, hopefully it doesnt get worse as the nature around it is amazing, incredible, scenery. I will miss the massive dose of caipirinhas, the capoeira in the beach and the massive sand dunes.

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Photos

JERICOACOARA
Pousada Tirol