brazil 19 [eng]
hello dear friends
on my last day here in south america i describe to you a nice week i spent in bahia, alagoas, sergipe and pernambuco, a rather unknown region on the east coast of this huge country ...
have fun reading about what happened
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1DateA2pja57LOJoFK52BEGDuXJ0hwJzh&usp=sharing
25.2. - 3.3.
i wake up today and this new week started, in an air bnb in salvador, after cathi and i showered and had breakfast, we got ready and walked down to the beach together and visited a smartphone store. here we got the screen of my phone exchanged, within 30 mins. it got broke a few days earlier in chapata diamantina. 300 reales later I hold the old display in my hands.
after a short shopping spree, i sat down at cathis macbook and wrote an entry for the blog. When I had everything formatted and published, it's time to smoke the last cigarette with Cathi and then I collected my things and packed everything in the car.
With a long hug, we said goodbye and wished us all the best for the journey.
Thank you for everything Cathi, the time was just amazing ...
with an ice cream in my hand, which cathi had thrown me quickly into the car, i drove bruno in another district, called cidade baxio. this part of salvador I like a lot more than barra and I after I got the car parked, i went looking for the small shop that Schnilsi had told me about ... there they sell rectangular flipflops. a style secret tip that I can only recommend. Finally, I found what I was looking for and thanked the gentleman who runs this small business.
Driving through Salvador around 5pm is a terrible mistake, because the city has a really weak road network and it took me about two hours to finally get to the Coastal Highway, which will accompany me north for the next few days.
in the dark I reached the small village of Arembebe, where I started to search for a place to sleep after a little beer in front of the roaring Atlantic.
I drove slightly out of the center and up an unlighted road to the beach when I realized I was stuck in the sand beach with bruno. But that is a problem with which the future pauli of tomorrow has to deal.
So I stretched my hammock and fell asleep.
Knowing that I had to deal with the problem that I had caused yesterday, I woke sleepily on the beach.
While I packed everything together, I met a young man who has a small barraca here by the sea, a kiosk selling food and drinks. He promised to help me when the beverage supplier would arrive later, we could pull beuno, with his car.
So I waited in the blazing sun after I had swam in the cooling sea a bit. Once again I started reading the book: the dead ship from Traven.
finally, we freed bruno with the help of many other people, after the truck had brought the drinks and had also got stuck in this terrible fine sand.
After this quite stressful liberation, it was almost noon and I drove to Praia do Forte, a very touristy place a few kilometers further north.
Here I visited one of the stations of Tamar, an organization committed to the protection and survival of sea turtles on Brazilian beaches.
there is a lot of information here, but what i found awful was, that there were some turtles in tanks for the visitors to see, however the tanks were relatively small and it was very obvious that this mini zoo was built for the photo-maniac tourists, to indirectly collect money for this project by entering. also build on the suffering of the animals, who have to live, in these definitely to small tanks.
In the afternoon, after a short swim and café break, I drove to the Castelo Garcia d'Avila, an old Portuguese fortress dating back to the 17th century, which is extremely old for South American proportions. it's an impressive complex, and you can explore the ruin via stairs and scaffolding, yet I lacked a bit more information on the whole place and the history. however, there is a beautiful tree that may be as old as the fortress.
with a good podcast on the ears I then drove further north, until I arrived in the evening at the coastal town of Imbassay, where I spent the sunset on the beach with a caipirinha and then i went to eat and sleep back to the bruno. a small cat joined me for the meal...
A little loud monkey, that climbed on the power line over me, waked me up today from my dreams in the village of Imbassai.
After a small breakfast, I went to look for the cachoeira dos indios, a small waterfall nearby. The path that eventually led me was very difficult to find and signposted in a terribly confusing way, but late in the morning, I reached the waterfall via some bridges. the waterfall itself, unfortunately turns out to be disappointing.
it's actually just a rock formation with a little water running over it, there has been almost no rain lately! a rinsal runs into a pool in which I took a quick dip. this one definitely can not compete with the beautiful cachoeiras in the chapata diamantina, which I had just visited.
On the way back to the car, I found some caju fruits on the way and then cracked the shells to eat the delicious cajus.
The road then leads me to a small town, called sito do conde, of course back on the beach, where I then relaxed some time on the beach with my book.
Later I went to terra caida, where I crossed the Rio Piaui and left the state of Bahia in the direction of north.
with the setting sun I got to praia do saco i was looking for some internet and beer, because i had an appointment with the lovely monika, who works in florida.
we talked for a while and after we had brought each other up to date, with the stuff that is just going on, I was looking for a nice place to sleep, overlooking the ocean under a palm tree.
I woke up comfortable and despite the windy night, well rested, on the beach.
When I packed everything up, I went to take a shower back to the beach restaurant of yesteryear and stayed for a while, to summarize more days for the blog.
my plan for today was to visit a bird park near aracaju. I had read about it on the internet and it's almost the only thing you can really do in sergipe if you do not want to fry on the beach.
On the way, I bought some bananas and when I finally arrived at the parque falcoes, which was located on a hill, I realized that I have to wait a while, because it only opens at 14 o'clock.
Since I was the only visitor, I got a private guide, from a super nice guide, which spoke only Portuguese, that was not a problem, because he explained me with gestures and very clear language, all particularities of the different beautiful birds.
The park also functions as a kind of hospice for birds, as all the birds that live here in the small cages, would be unable to survive in the wild, as they have physical disabilities or psychological problems. Here they are fed and cared for by lovely people. many of the animals are prey to hunters who shoot the protected animals but do not kill them. If you look closely, you can almost every bird find a stunted beak, wings or missing legs and claws.
At the end of the tour, I was also allowed to take a few different falcons and owls on the hand, even if I somehow felt bad that I support this animal prison, I have the strong conviction that very good people work here and this gives the birds best a nice evening of life.
The guide, even gave me a book at the end, was also very interested in my trip and sincerely wished me a wonderful time in Brazil.
as i drove on, i could admire a great sunset on the road and in the evening i reached the place pontal do coruipe, which is already in alagoas. There I found a place to sleep and ended my day with some good bread and cheese, which I had bought together with the bananas on the street.
the march has started and therefore my last full month here in brazil, i packed up my hammock and then drove off to the lagoa de jequia, a water reservoir where you can swim wonderfully. good clean water.
past the beaches I drove on to the praia do gunga, a very beautiful, but unfortunately also terribly touristy beach, which forms a peninsula on the delta of the rio sao miguel. After a short cool, I rested in the shade of a palm while listening to my audiobook. I can highly recommend it: the steppenwolf from Hesse, is a really great book.
then we continued with bruno, to a place, known as praia do frances, also one of the most beautiful beaches in brazil.
I splashed a bit and then decided to try surfing again, so I rented a board and paddled out to the waves, it's a lot harder than it always looks and I managed to catch a wave, at the right moment, only about twice in one hour. i just droped off the board a few meters later and tried again.
exhausted, I ran back and when I asked for a shower, I was directed to one of the beach bars.
I spent all afternoon and evening, with nice people and good music, finally techno again, in this beach bar. I talked to Ari for a long time, as she was spending some time in Mexico, she speaks good Spanish and so we could have a great exchange.
when the sun went down, a dj from buenos aires played powerful full-on psy and when he was done, we all hiked together to a nearby campsite where most of the visitors slept tonight. I parked the car and after we all sat on a blanket for a while in the garden. the cat garfield fell in love with me and so i cuddled and cuddled until I finally went to sleep.
I awoke in the car today with a slight hangover and because the sun was so strong, I then moved into the hammock for a few hours to continue sleeping there.
After i had breakfast, I went back into the hammock and I cuddled a bit more with the cat, before I said goodbye to everyone at noon and thanked for the beautiful evening.
through many sandy paths and bumpy roads I drove further and further north, past maceió.
short breaks were only to refuel, eat ice cream or to drink fanta and in the early evening I reached the beach of maragogi. a small town full of drunk vacationers, now that the carnival preparations are in full swing.
i parked the car and then walked in the streets and along the beach, when i got a small impression of the place, i bought a beer and a few olives and watched the spectacle from the beach. somehow quite provincial, but at least friendly and authentic.
On the way back to the car I stopped in a hostel and asked about the attraction, because of which I had come here in the first place, because there are so-called piscinas naturais, these are the coast reef-like formations, close to the coast, the low tide forms natural pools in the sea.
There are many at different beaches here in Brazil, but these ones in maragogi are supposed to be especially beautiful, so I wanted to ask how I can explore them.
later, I left the hostel a little smarter and found a good place to sleep for me and bruno, on a country road that led from the city.
I woke up full of anticipation for the tour that I had planned for today. With bruno I drove into the city and then i asked politely at the hostel if I could please use her shower. later i went down to the beach, where I found a tour and a short time later we sat in the boat and were on the way to the pools. The photos are from google, because I did not want to risk my phones life again.
a half-hour tour with the boat took us to the reef and here we got snorkeling goggles and jumped in the cool wet. in the beginning it was also raining relatively strong, which then improved significantly towards the end.
There are really many different colored fish and colorful aquatic plants to see, but the atmosphere is easily destroyed only by the fact that about 200 tourists are unloaded at low tide at the same time and then they stomp over this natural paradise like a horde. loud music and beer cans thrown overboard included ...
one can see the significant damage, with broken corals and other things, which mass tourism has done here in recent years.
I had some problems with keeping my diving mask dry and despite all it was a wonderful event that I could fully enjoy, as I went away from the big group on my own little exploration tour ...
because I have not been able to withdraw money since Sao Paulo, I set out to find a place to exchange my US $ for real, after the return of the boat, around midday.
When that was done, I drove in the afternoon on to Porto de Galinas, a very touristy coastal town, which has little to offer next to crowded beaches, expensive food and loud awful music.
I also went to a hostel to talk to the family, because it's Sunday again.
at first, the receptionist in the shitty (I'm sorry, but is so) hostel, didn’t want to give me the wifi code, they had to talk the manager, on whom I should wait. (Hello, we live in the 21st century, and I have to wifi asked not know if I can cook there or shower. What is that?! a hostel ?!) then, when I saw the code simply behind her at wall, i went outside and sat down at a table, only to recognize, that this beast of a receptionist, turned off the wifi, halfway through the call. what the fuck?!
but enough excitement... lesson: not all people in brazil are cool.
So I continued until I passed the border to Pernambuco. my goal for tonight was the carnival in recife, the capital of this state.
But before that, I ate a really good lunch in a kiosk on the way and then I fell completely into the traffic chaos, which has every big city firmly in hand, if there is a big event.
a few hours later i reached downtown and parked my car in a street near the pedestrian zone without thinking much about it.
then I threw myself into the madness and the exuberant street festivals, on recife‘s offshore island of the same name. five big stages and an incredible number of street performers blew up everything I expected and it was just a really good experience.
However, I was quite tired and headed back to the car a little early, but then i realized, that a lot of people got here only now. (23/24 hours) the way out I struggled with bruno, by not ending crowds heading to the event. so as the lazy gringo that i am i honked my way through all this mass. Everyone probably thought, what does the gringo want with his car here, but later I successfully reached the outskirts of recife and found an even sheltered sleeping place under a bamboo grove.
see you soon, from 16.4. I'm back in Europe and a month later my brother and I reach Berlin ...
love
pauli
here my current contact data:
mail: [email protected]
Phone: +55 (85) 9863 44597
whatsapp: +54 9 11 2693-6601
blog: https://steemit.com/@schningelnatter
in case you want something more updated, instagram: @schlingelnatter
previous posts of south america travel:
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