From Salvador I flew to Fortaleza in the North East of Brazil and from there I headed to Jericoacoara (No I can’t say it either; let’s just call it Jeri).
This involves a four or five hour bus trip to Jejoca, where the nearest paved road is, and then a transfer to a truck to go over the dunes into Jeri.
I had been hoping to leave Albatross the wheelie bag back in Fortaleza, however my hotel there didn’t do luggage storage (I’ve no idea what he said when I asked, but I gathered the answer was no), so the bag had to come with me.
The streets of Jeri are paved with sand; have you ever tried wheeling a 20 kilo bag through sand in 30+ degree heat? Not recommended. But at least it meant that I had my Ugg boots and my Alpaca sweater with me; wouldn’t want to be caught out in a beach resort without those essentials now, would you?
Oh the joys of long term travel.
Jeri has stunning beaches disappearing off as far as the eye can see. These can hold themselves up to any I’ve been to in Philippines/Indonesia/Thailand/wherever you think the best beaches are.
The true test was that time flew by and I could happily have stayed longer; normally I’m bored at a beach town within a couple of days. I thought about extending (I had three more days I could play with) but I had run out of cash and there is no ATM in Jeri. Clearly the universe was telling me to go back to Fortaleza for my last three days in Brazil.
Jeri is often described as a ‘hippie Mecca’; this means you can find a few alternative types lounging around selling jewellery, banging drums, busking, offering henna tattoos, etc, etc, etc.
After a hard day’s sunbathing and swimming, each evening I climbed the dune (along with everyone else) to watch the sunset. Few Brazilian beaches face West, so this is a rare treat.
After the sunset they wheel carts with food and cocktails down to the beach and each night features a different style of music and dancing: Samba, Reggae, Forro, Salsa, etc.
For a tiny place (really it’s just a couple of sandy paths leading down to the sea) it has a huge selection of shops, restaurants and guesthouses (no bank though). Most of the bars have live music.
As recently as twenty years ago Jeri was just a tiny fishing village with no electric, no phones, no newspapers and no road in or out; effectively it was completely cut off from the outside world. Now it has electric of course, although there is no street lighting (meaning an incredible night sky). There are passable internet speeds and phone reception. There still isn’t a paved road in.
The dune buggies can be hired (with driver) to take you anywhere you want to go. I lucked out and found Sergio, who spoke English. He found me a space on a buggy with three other people (It’s expensive hiring one just for yourself) and we went down to Paradise lake and the Blue lake, two nearby freshwater lakes…
My co travellers were a couple of Brazilian divorcees, who chatted about their exploits on dating sites, and a young Korean girl spending her parents’ money travelling the world. Made for an interesting day.
Categories: Brazil, Uncategorized
Loading...
Hello Sarah. How fabulous does this place look and I could not pronounced it either. The sunset looked stunning and Like you say not many west facing beaches. It really does look lovely. I bet the Brazilian divorcees are not having any luck either lol. Safe travels my friend xxx
Ah it was just a beach resort really but it was nice. No the Brazilians were talking about ‘plenty of fish’; they said they got loads of dick-picks. Both their husbands were with younger women now. But one was keen to share with me that she got lots of sex with younger men.
xx