Travelling is .... waiting....

We are on our way somewhere between Natal and Recife. As it's Sunday - everything is calm and slow. No big movements, please.
Tonight we hope to get to one of beach resorts 50km from Recife.
Fingers crossed!!!
Below, Basti killig time with coca-cola zero and his phone.

Drive through the night, through the dunes and on 3 wheels

"Lets drive to Jeri!!"...this was the beginning of one funny adventure in the dunes between Prea...and Jeri.

But lets start over...after one long day which we spent exploring the area of Tatajuba with our driver Tibor, we came back to our Hotel (Kite Brazil Hotel; btw an excellent place to stay if you are in the area!). In the morning we already agreed with a Brazilian couple which was also staying in the hotel, to get some dinner together...so we waited.

After one beer, they arrived and we discussed our options for the night. As it was already late and during the week, all the gourmet temples in Prea had already closed...so the conclusion was..."Lets drive to Jeri!!".

Jeri ("Jericoacoara") is about 10 km away from Prea, but the special thing is that the connecting road is going by/on/through the beach and the sand dunes...of course with very good infrastructure like many signs and lots of streetlights...NOT!

Well, me telling before that I like to drive in every country I am as well as our Brazilian friend having a broken leg, I was the one to drive. We also took Stefan with us, a long time guest of the hotel who is building his house directly next to it.

Our vehicle of choice (or nor choice as it was the only available) was a beach buggy which the Brazilian couple rented.

Ok, lets roll...that what we thought until the ignition of the car fell in the dash board while turing the keys to start the car. Fail number one.

Getting all our flashlights out, after some minutes and unconstructing half of the buggy, we finally found the ignition and tried to get it back in place. After this was done, however, we found one part of the ignition in our hands...so not back on its place. Oh well, if it works without, we don`t put everything apart again...and yes, it worked.

The buggy running, the 5 of us finally climbed the buggy in order to keep going...and we went. Driving the buggy, you could clearly feel that the so called Marea (or sth similar)...thats the word used by the locals for everything what the salty air and water does to your car...meaning the rust, the loose clutch (finding the gears was an interesting adventure itself) and so on. The buggy was not the "freshest" anymore.

But we are not complaining...it drives.

Going through the dark night, it was quite hard to guess the right way...but with the help of all we managed to drive through sand, crossing a river by simply driving through (I was not tooooo shure, if the water was not too deep...but the advice was to just speed up and dont stop...great advice :-) ).

So we were driving through the sand, the beach at our right, until all of a sudden, an unusual noice had its star appearance of the night...yes, a flat tire.

We "chose" to have the flat tire in the middle of the dunes, so there was no chance to wait for someone to come bye or to help...and the guy who rented out the buggy didnt pick up his phone. It appeared, that the Brazilian Couple rented a buggy, which had already an emergency tire on...which was the one that got flat. What a surprise!

So with a minimum speed, we continued our travel, passing some donkeys having fun during the night, all the way to Jeri...where we parked and searched for a mechanic to help us.

(Below, the star of the night)

No mechanic nearby an me getting really hungry (breakfast was already far far away) we ended up finally going to get some food.

Getting back was the next task to organize...as the guy who rented out the buggy finally picked up the phone, he promised to send a guy for us to get back.

After waiting and waiting, a taxi buggy was driving by...we stopped it but the guy wanted too much money for the transfer. The Brazilian guy then started to discuss with the driver but the couldn`t come to an agreement. We thought already that the driver was gone, until he came back to road all the way reversing towards us...strange.

After a quick discussion again, he made us the offer, that we could have his tire for the night, if we return it tomorrow...for half of our potential taxi price. We agreed :-)...in Europe no one would have made us this offer I guess :-).

So after being half way through with changing the tire, the owner of the buggy finally arrived, with a spare tire. This of course meant drama, as the one guy helping us already wanted to have his money of course (btw, he told us constantly in Portuguese, that he is in some drugs (Benzol) and also part of a popular nationwide gang...hmmm, thats also a negotiation technique I guess :-) ). And if you are now wondering how these people get their drivers licence...well, most of the buggy drivers simply don`t have one (its easier for them as they can`t loose it then :-) ).

Guy gone, tire on, us back in the hotel, there was only the problem, that the buggy still made noices...appeared that the suspension somehow broke.

Not our business, as the sound was there even when we started, but of course this is also a "nice" way for the rental "companies" to renew their fleet...of course its always the client who broke the suspension and not simply the disastrous condition of the buggy itself...but thats another story :-))))...

Driving through lakes and lagoons

Jericoacoara National Park 

The word Jericoacoara comes from Tupi (an indigenous language) and means "house of turtles." It is a town and a beach of Ceará, as well as the name of the national park created in its surroundings.

 They say that Lago Paraiso and Lake Tatajuba is a must see in Jeri.
In general, the roads around are bumpy and sandy. (forget about asphalt here!). You need a good driver and a 4x4 vehicle to drive around. Many times we were surprised where can you drive with those cars.


At first, little rafting through the river - a big trust to the guys!

On our way to Tatajuba lake, we saw parts of salty mangrove forest.

Tatajuba Lake

 Some quality time in the hammock:

 Sailing through mangrove to search for seahorses and crabs.

Male seahorse:


 Female seahorse:

 

Lagoa Paraiso  - muito bom !

The name suits it well. Here, you get a clear water, silence and great seafood.

 

Our remarks:

To get those trips in a high season - you need to bargain with your driver. Brazil is not a cheap country and the prices in high season can get really crazy here.

This is still not the top tourist destination in Brazil - maybe due to difficult access. They  say - electricity was set up here only 10 years ago. Before there was no commerce here, no foreigners... and no police (our friend - Alberto was happy about it). The closest big city is 3-4 hours away (by 4x4). It's gonna be interesting to follow how they manage the world cup there next year.

Jericoacoara National Park imposes regulations on inhabitants regarding building new places. This means, there will be never big agglomeration there. However, it's relatively easy for foreigners to buy a property in state of Ceara.

Life goes slowly in Prea

Off the Gringo trail

Our beach hopping marathon has started in Province Ceara, Brazil. After flying to Fortaleza we took a 4x4 taxi which brought us 350km toward the north, to the small town of Prea, only 12 km away from famous Jericoacoara.
 The roads are pretty bad here so you need to have a 4x4 car to drive.
This can be the reason that the classic tourism has not yet arrived here.
People say that 25 years ago, there was no electricity here, no cars and not a single tourist.

Prea itself is a bit like a ghost town. Everything you have here is: sun, sand, wind and the ocean.
We stay at Kite hotel Brazil which has everything we need at the moment - bungalows, nice view and hammocks :)

 

Selling coconuts

 

Photo impressions from Sacred Valley and La Paz

 Folklore street performance, Cuzco

Streets of Cuzco

 A nap in La Paz ;)

La Paz  -  main square

Fast Food Choices

Shall we go to McDonalds today, or.rather Burger King...äähhh, Burger Ricky I mean :-)

Welcome to the jungle

ahhhhh...back to the world of mobile network, internet, warm water, infrastructure (...) after spending about a week or so in the middle of the jungle without all these things. But have we missed them too much? I would say it depends...surfing the internet or checking your phone would have been nice sometimes, however, what we got in return for "resigning" of all this was priceless!

Arriving to Manaus, a large city (about 1,3 mio inhabitants) in the middle of the jungle was quite impressive. All the way there when you looked out of the window of the plane...only green. Trees everywhere! And in the middle of this a huge city with everything a huge city has to offer...but that not why we came to this place...we wanted to have jungle...and we got it.

After being picked up from our hotel, it was a 2h ride out of the city...left and right side of the street only palms, trees, gras...green everywhere.
We finally arrived at a small harbor...well, the street ended where the water started and some smaller fisher boats were waiting there...being picked up by one of them, we had 45min drive on the boat and finally arrived, in the middle of nowhere, in our lodge.

Welcomed with a fresh juice, we checked our bungalow:

Shortly after, the food bell was ringing...it was delicious! 3 times a day we had fantastic homecooked food, lots of fish, fruits, rice, Manioc fries and always a great desert. Some pics we will upload on the plate de jour tab.

Shortly after lunch, but not before having a relaxing siesta at the hammock...

...we had our first trip to see Rio Negro, one of the rivers which flows to the Amazon River. To get there, we of course went by boat...and through the flooded rain forest. This was very impressive, as we navigated our boat through trees, of which you could only see the top sticking out of the water...

This status is kept during 6months of the year...its quite fascinating, that the plants/trees can survive this time half under water. During the dry season however there is rarely water on the tracks we were driving with the boat...but mud all over. Beside the green view from our boat, we heard so many animals, monkeys, birds, all kinds of insects...but to see them thats an art (as most of them are quite shy).

As we arrived at Rio Negro, the whether changed slightly (yes, we were aware of the rainy season) but it gave the scenery a certain charm!

The next days, we did many more exciting activities.

The two most exciting for sure were fishing and "searching" for alligators.

Fishing...putting some vegetables on the hook and waiting for hours? Not when you fish for piranhas! You exchange the vegies with some chicken pieces, simulate with the fishing pole that "something is falling to the water" by hitting it with the pole, and off we go! The only thing is to find the places with piranhas...they like to swim close to the trees (remember the flooded rainforest) in the shade, but once you found a swarm, its only about to pull the pole at the right time and the result is this:

The other day then we left in the afternoon to visit a local family to learn about their way of surviving and basically living only by what they can grow/hunt.

On of the most popular plants they use is the so called Manioc Tree. The roots can be used to get nice sauces, but also the manioc flour which is then be used to make a sort of "french fries" but also some sort of pancake:

...and yes, in the background there are other tourists sitting...but seriously the only other tourists - besides the one which lived in the lodge - which we have seen during these days.

After that and seeing a Boa chilling on the floor, we finally went to my personal highlight of the days...watching the sunset in the Amazonas and after that visiting the alligators. The pictures speak for themselves:

 Maybe a little explanation regarding the last two pictures. You might have asked yourself, what the guy is doing in the middle of the night in the water...well, if you check his left hand you can see, that he was hunting...for what? Just check what Karina has fearlessly in her hands...then you get the answer :-). And yes, we thought as well that its pretty crazy to just jump in the water (around it was full of alligators, and not only the small once but lets say its parents and grand parents) and Karinas first thought was that we found the guy being in the water and we help him (ok, he changed his t-shirt before he jumped in the water, but besides, he was with us on the boat the entire way already :-) )...but after a few seconds the mystery got also solved for her :-). 

And no, it was not easy to convince her to hold the alligator, but it certainly helped that the entire boat was shouting Karina, Karina, Karina :-)...the nice picture is a lasting memory anyways.

The other day then we went on a 2h "hike" to the rainforest...no picture was made during that time. Why?  Because we were really busy with getting rid of all the mosquitoes trying to get our blood, even though we used plenty...and I really mean plenty of repellent. For me, it was fascinating on the one side, as we`ve seen natural gum, learned where to get water from, seen all sorts of different plants etc, but on the other side it was "just green". No nice flowers or similar things...but very muddy ways so that we got back with our shows fully brown.

Besides, we enjoyed the silence of the lodge very much...the hammocks and the nice wind made us sleep for some minutes in the afternoon and created a very chilled out atmosphere. 

If you are interested in doing such kind of thing (and we can recommend it to everyone!!), here is the homepage of the lodge where we`ve been:

http://www.taririamazonlodge.com.br/eng/index.php

Its been a special experience during our traveling so far...not only the the place, but also our hosts were really great and we had a fantastic time there!! To be repeated at some time.