We were getting ready for our first long distance bus ride which also included some doubts about the organisation of bus travel in Brazil. But yet again we were surprised when we arrived to a very clean bus station with air conditioned waiting rooms for business class and separate "gates" for embarking and disembarking. The bus lines are the only functional way to travel on land in South america (there are very few railroads across the whole continent) and their importance shows in the comfort of busses as well. The seats are wide and the amount of leg-room allows you to lower your seat without feeling bad for the knees of the neighbor behind you. Our destination was the famous village of Jericoacoara but we made a three day stopover in a small village of Icarai de Amontada which served as a perfect place for a bit more vacation-time with its calm athmosphere. Jericoacoara has a lot to offer, especially if one looks beyond the typical turistic points of interest, where it is almost impossible to find a calm moment due to abundance of visitors. There are countless pousadas, restaurants and bars and the tour operators are hanging in their buggies or jeeps on every corner to offer day trips. Although the pristine feeling of what once was a fishing village has long been gone, the place has kept it's distinc charm due to unpaved sandy roads and relaxed vibe. Even the places with many turists around are worth visiting. The sand bank at the main beach offers ideal conditions to learn all kind of surfing so it is often possible to see kite-,wind- and wavesurfers enjoying the same stretch of water. And while the so-called sunset dune is filled with hundreds of people in the evening, it is also a beautiful sight to see during the day to observe how the ocean waves break just meters away from the face of the dune that seems like growing directly from the sea. Since the national park surrounding the village is quite compact we decided to skip the turistic group tours and headed into what seems like a desert alone. We found a magical landscape, a phenomenal compound of curvy sand dunes, blue lagoons and savana-like grassfields. The only inhabitants are families of wild donkeys and cows which are often interrupted by disobedient drivers that leave the marked "roads" on the way to the village despite high fines for off-road driving. We crossed the park in less than three hours but the orientation is far from easy and we needed some help from the GPS to reach the "paradise lagoon" where we decided to spend the day. We liked the landscape so much that we decided to finally get some use of our tent and spend the last night in the park. We camped just beneath a sand dune and it was an overwhelming experience on the count of deep silence that rules the night. Even the lightest of sounds seemed to be amplified a thousand times. The wind strangely whistled around the dunes and even movement of a single leaf drew attention. We were woken up in the middle of the night by loud yelling which turned out to be a bray of a donkey that apparently spotted us in the last instance and decided to gave its opinion about our expedition. You wouldn't believe how terrifying a donkey bray can be if delivered just meters away in a middle of the night and the solitude of dessert. The morning after a night storm (probably the only rain in whole season :) ) brought a beautiful sunrise but we got up to find that ants have discovered a little bag of peanuts that we forgot to put in our tent for the night. Manca's brand new backpack couldn't hold them back. In only one night they ate through the fabric and formed a new colony in our batery chargers that for some reason seemed like a nice place for their nest. We spend a good hour and a half cleaning up their hard work and another half of the day poking and blowing them out of our electric equipment. With some hard-learned lessons, a half-night sleep and continuing rain showers we hitchhiked the rest of the way to the village of Jijoca. From there we had a bus to fetch towards Barra Grande where we were about to begin our first workaway experience.
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Fortaleza is the capital of Ceara state and offers all the hustle and bustle of a Brazilian million city. The chaotic markets and the typical smelly odor of tropical streets intertwine with the metropolitan beach promenade scattered with five-star hotels and fancy residental buildings offering marvelous ocean views. The view from our room in a humble pousada (a typical name for a guesthouse in Brazil) only included the neighbour's AC unit so we were more than eager to find the beach and face the ocean as soon as possible. As we were swimming for the first time and nervously checking our stuff on the beach every couple of seconds, we noticed another couple which stood out from the rest of the people on the beach as much as we did. We soon caught some familiar phrases and discovered that they were Slovenians travelling for a couple of weeks before starting an internship in Recife. What are the odds of meeting a fellow citizen (remember! it is only 2 million of us) on a random beach in a random city in Brazil?! After two days of discovering the city we were already on the move. We asked our first South-american couchsurfing host to stay with him for a couple of days and we were not sure what we signed up for. But José, a student of oceanography greeted us with open arms and shared his whole life with us. Whether we were cooking in his kitchen, listening to his electric guitar sessions, or smilling to his student friends who came along to do a group project (the only thing we can do in portuguese is smile), we always felt welcomed. At the end we didn't even feel like tourists in Fortaleza anymore :) Encouraged by the local hospitality, we explored the city sights such as jangadas, small fishing vessles with distinctively shaped masts and mercado central, a multiple storey building with shops that offer handicraft and typical local products. With the help of José's surfboard we even hit the local beaches and enjoyed the sensation of playing with ocean waves the first time after several years. In a true "Manca fashion" we also had to hit the streets for a daily run which surprisingly proved out to be a pretty normal thing to do. In fact, the Fortaleza city promenade turns into a giant sports field in the evening cool (if it is possible to name it that at 25°C). Running, skating, roller-blading, capoeira, beach footbal, beach volley a number of fully occupied open air fitness places and even the sport clubs bringing the kids to train directly on the beach. The popularity of sport in Fortaleza was one of the most overwhelming things of all. Unfortunately, one of the most impressing memories are also the high fences that extend along every single property in town. Most of them are upgraded with electric fences, spikes, or broken glass bottles and some of them overviewed by a security guard in a fort-like cabin at the entrance. The building of José was not an exception, but when we asked him if crime was common in his neighbourhood he answered that nothing bad had happened since he had lived there. We couldn't have helped us but to see the situation as a general fear that has infiltrated the society over the decades of unstable Brazilian history. Our view was only confirmed with the constant warnings of the locals to be careful with our camera and to carry our backpack in the front although we have never felt insecure for a single time. It seems like a vicious cycle where the feeling of unsafety is provoking the crime to even happen in the first place. What else does a three meter high fence around a fancy condo suggest to a criminal mind that urgently needs money? But who are we to judge and since Fortaleza actually found it's way into a recent list of top 50 most violent cities in the world, we might just got it all wrong... we will definitely further comment on this topic in our upcoming posts. These observations however, didn't bring down our spirits at all. In fact, we very much liked the city and enjoyed its vibrant atmosphere. After more than a week, although planning to stay less, and more accustomed to the brazilian tempo than the hot weather, we decided it was time to say goodbye to Fortaleza and move on...
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February 2019
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