Porta Negra

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Fri 28th Sept (cont.):
It gets dark 2 hours earlier here than in Brasilia - much further east!
Browsed around the seafront and main town centre. Found a good fish restaurant and had a meal - cabaret included (live band, acrobatics, dance, magic and fire eating).
Dodgy beach scene - was approached twice on way back to pausada; made hasty retreat for early night.

Sat 29th Sept: Happy birthday Robert!
Usual light breakfast; thought my credit card was stolen but eventually found it in my swimming trunks! Beach buggy collected me for day tour just befor 9:00 - 3 others plus driver: 2 from Sao Paulo and 1 from Portugal; no one could speak English not even the guide. However we got by with a little Spanish and sign language. Drove through Natal, got a ferry, to other side of bay and 15 mins later a raft (yes, a raft!) to get across to the sand dune area. Incredible driving; the wind-blown sand felt like needles on the skin. Very exhilarating, across, down and along the steep sides of huge sand dunes - this area is reputed to have the largest dunes in the world. Some hair-raising feats from the driver. A few tourist traps on the route, but interesting: going down a steep sand dune on a surf board into a freshwater pool; sipping beer around a table set in shallow lake with hundreds of small fish swimming round your feet; going down from the top of a huge sand dune in a pulley cradle into a lake; and taking a dip in a fast fresh water stream (see photos).
Lunch was at a self service (eat all you can) restaurant.
Despite lots of lotion and trying to avoid too much sun, managed to get some sunburn. All S. Americans make me look sickly pale beside them!
Today was great value for money, the thrills, spills and white-knuckle rides - better than any roller-coaster...and longer! We did not get back to the pausada until 6:30.

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Photos

Buggy and Crew
Our Sand Buggy for the day ...without the driver (taking photo)

Lost in the Sahara?!
Looks a bit like the Sahara... vast expanses of sand and huge dunes.

Look what I Found!
One of the many tourist attractions on route ............ offers of lots of camel rides ..at a cost.

Cool Fresh Water
In just over 30degrees C. this fast flowing stream was too good to resist.

Sand Surfing
En route down a dune on a surf-board .. at great speed towards a pool.

A Splash Landing
Another gravity fall - this time in a cradle on a pulley towards the middle of a lake. That splash in the distance is my ungainly landing.

Rafting
We crossed this stretch of water with the Buggy on a raft .. just big enough to take it.

A Sea of Sand ..and Dunes
Just one more look at teh expanse of sand and the size of those dunes.