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Published: February 2nd 2014
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The journey from Natal to Pipa started in the rain, continued in the rain and ended in the rain. After waiting at the stop for our bus we were completely drenched. An hour on the mini-bus dried us off a bit, but we had to walk to another bus stop in Goianinha to pick up our second mini-bus, which took us the remaining 45 minutes to Praia de Pipa.
Pipa is very popular with Brazilians for it's beaches and nightlife, though it seemed the former were just there to tease us as it continued to rain. We checked in to a beautiful pousada - who promised an amazing breakfast in the morning - and asked the owners whether they thought the sun would ever appear. They were doubtful.
Fortunately the rain did stop mid-afternoon, so we went for a walk around the town, stopping for a cheap (but good) buffet lunch and in any shop that sold flip-flops. Carina bought three pairs - "comfort shopping", to make up for the poor weather! We bumped in to some school kids from elsewhere in Brazil who were brushing up on their English. When we said we were from England they said,
"British English is okay, we can try." The cheek!
With the high tide and cloudy backdrop the famous beach didn't look its best, so we walked on the rocks around a small peninsula to Praia do Amor, a curved stretch of sand that didn't need the sun to help it look great. It would have been nice to see some kind of sunset, but instead it just got dark so we left, disappointed that our beach time was starting to resemble Blackpool instead of Brazil!
The next day, May 16th, we finally awoke to sunshine. The breakfast boast was accurate: we ate a feast of cakes, rolls, bread, ham, cheese, eggs, sausages, cereals, fruit, biscuits and hot chocolate before racing to the beach. It was immediately clear by Praia de Pipa is renowned for it's beach. It was stunning: the low tide caused the waves to break far out to sea while a hot, shallow pool formed between it and the beach. We lay in the sun for a few hours, our way at showing gratitude for its welcome appearance.
At 1pm we thought we should actually DO something, so we took a walk 15 minutes along
the beach to Dolphin Bay, where dolphins swim close to the beach. The beach is only accessible during low tide so we only had about ten mintues before we had to leave, but we still managed to see quite a few dolphins. The bay itself was beautiful in the sun, curved below high cliffs.
Once we had returned to the main beach the sun had given up for the day, so we spent the remainder of the day relaxing by the pool and looking around more shops before catching a bus back to Goianinha. Here we had to wait by the side of the road for another bus to take us two hours south to Joao Pessoa. We arrived in Joao Pessoa at around 8:30pm and found a bus to take us to our hostel. We spent the bus journey looking out of the window searching desperately for a recognizable street name, something we seem to have done a lot! We arrived at our destination quite exhausted.
We had originally intended to only stay a night in Joao Pessoa, but the prospect of running around the city in one day and then catching another evening bus didn't real
appeal to us, so we immediately booked another night. It was nice to wake up the next morning and know we had a full day's exploring without worrying about packing our bags and leaving right away.
The most eastern point of continental South America is in Joao Passoa, so we just had to go there. We were told it would be about 5km walk from tourist information, but we're sure it must have been more! We walked for a long time along the beach with the peninsula in view, though it never seemed to be getting any nearer. Eventually we made it and climbed the hill to the view point to get a great view: the city was north, a picturesque beach was south and nothing but ocean was east.
From here we walked five minutes to a modern science and art museum, which featured robots and cigarette sculptures. After a quick look around we caught a bus in to the centre of town, though the conductor didn't tell us where to get off so we ended up going in a big circle until we reached a small lake in the centre. Armed with our tourist map we
made for the best sights which, given Joao Passoa's cultural history, were mostly colourful buildings and great architecture.
Squares surrounded by huge colonial buildings appeared from nowhere. One minute we were walking through a dilapidated part of town, only to turn a corner and find the historic Hotel Globo, which had wonderful views out over the river nearby - perfect as the sun began to set over the city. Perhaps our favourite building was the theatre: the unremarkable outer shell revealed an intimate and atmospheric playhouse, which still retained an air of grandeur.
As we have with so many South American cities, we enjoyed walking around from street to street with only a vague idea of where to go next, and Joao Passoa was a fascinating place to wander for an afternoon. We headed back to our hostel as it began to get dark, cooked some pasta and relaxed in the evening. The next day we were going to Olinda, hoping to enjoy another colonial city as much as we had Joao Passoa...
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