Jericoacoara, Ceara - Brazil

Jericoacoara, Ceara - Brazil slideshow

Many tourists hire a four wheel drive pick up truck and driver to take them on tour along the beach all the way from Jericoacoara to Cabure – this is a popular “off road” circuit in Brazil, and every day, there's at least two or three of these private cars going by. We were very lucky to find one leaving empty from Cabure to back to Jericoacoara.

Most people pay US$500 for the 300 mile ride, but the driver was willing to let us go with him for the same price the buses and ferries would cost us. Although this meant we'd miss the ferry ride through the delta, we were glad to hop on the comfortable truck with tinted windows and refreshing air-con . Had we taken our planned route, it would have taken at least 3 days. Instead, in six hours we were in Jijoca, where we spent the night – we were thanking our angels for this driver because we were getting tired of being on the go. The first part of the ride was rough, through dunes, and roads made of sand, but the last two thirds of the trip were on pavement.

The next day we took a truck/bus to cross the dunes over to Jericoacoara. The truck/bus is a fast way to get around different beaches around Jericoacoara. It consists of a four wheel drive truck with wooden benches on the back. They can easily transport 8 to 10 people, including kite boards and luggage. But most kite surfers got together and rented their own buggies for the season or a more comfortable truck to hop up and down the coast in search of the perfect wind, which is not a difficult task in this part of the world.

Jericoacoara looks festive at night. Soft colored lights hang over stores, restaurants and bakeries, where every possible type of food is available. Or at least that is what it felt like after eating overpriced grilled fish, farofa (a typical northeastern food item made with manioc flour), onions and tomatoes at Cabure. In Jericoacoara, unlike Cabure, there was a lot of competition for restaurants, so the food selection was very diverse and reasonably priced - almost as good as in a big city. There were several grocery stores and bakeries, and we could get a real cappuccino or espresso quite easily. We ate well there and indulged in more cakes, pizzas and caipirinhas than we should have, but it was all enjoyable. Also being the low season, we were offered a good deal in a central pousada with great breakfast, internet and air con.

But although stunningly beautiful beaches surround Jeri, as the locals call it, it was a little difficult to get used to it at first. At Cabure, we walked out of our pousada and we were basically alone on the river, 20 yards away, and on the beach, 300 yards away. We walked miles and miles on isolated beaches. In Jeri, although we were only a couple of blocks from the beach, there was a lot of distracting activities, like wind and kite surfers, buggies, pick up trucks, horses, donkeys, and people. There was also a lot of rocks on the eastern portion of the beach, which were quite beautiful, but difficult to walk on, especially during the high tide. But we still walked around quite a bit. On our first day we went to Pedra Furada, (stone with a hole), 2.0 miles away. Another day we got on a truck/bus and went to Prea, 12 km away, overly exerting ourselves by walking the 12 km back, half of it on mushy sand. It was an intense work out sinking our feet on soft sand. We were sore for days after that.

Jericoacoara is a very happy place, where anything a tourist would need is on offer: massage spas, salon, bars, restaurants, plenty of fresh coconut water, great sunsets, day tours to several places nearby, and constant wind and sun, a big attraction to kite and wind surfers. We've heard this is one of the top 5 places in the world for kite surfing. There were people from all over the world with their boards on the water during the day. At night, “caipirinha row” (as Peter called the lanes of makeshift bars on the beach), got very busy, as well as the many restaurants and bars in town. It is a tradition to party all night on the weekends and end it at the Padaria Santo Antonio, a local bakery that makes sweet breads with fillings such as coconut, guava, chocolate and many more. The bakery opens at 2 am, and stays open until all the bread is sold, usually at dawn.

We had a very relaxing time in Jeri and loved being there. But after 9 days we felt we needed to move on to a quieter place. That is when we went to Prea and checked into a pousada we saw during our visit there a few days earlier.