Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Northern Coast of Brazil

While we were planning our honeymoon, we thought it would be fun to rent a car and drive along the northern coast to see all the beaches and not be typical tourists. However after doing some research we discovered that it would be rather difficult and could potentially be dangerous. So we booked a 4 day tour with Jeri Off Road,  to see the famous sand dunes which the north is known for. It was an absolute blast! 
We flew into Fortaleza, and our guide, Paolo, picked us up at the airport in his big white 4X4 ford truck. We drove 4 hours to Jericoacoara, a small town with a large surfing/kite surfing community. Jericoacoara is actually part of a national park, so there are no paved roads and there are no street lamps.  It's very picturesque town with very kind, laid back people. Apparently, on Sunset Hill you can seen the emerald flash. We watched the sunset and unfortunately didn't see it.  
After spending two nights in Jericoacoara we got back in our 4X4 with Paolo and drove along the coast,  "off roading" it to the Delta do Parnaiba. Along the way we stopped to see seahorses, take a boat trip, and watch the sunset again from the dunes. Our guide was a crazy driver, and we rarely understood what was going on so it was quite funny when we were shuffled out of the car and placed in a boat, and later told to get out of the boat and walk across crab filled mud to the coast not knowing what why. 
  The following day we continued onto Caburè, which was really just a stop on the long journey to the national park of Lençois Marenhenses. Another park full of sand dunes. For part of the year the spaces between the dunes are filled with water from the rain. The dunes had been full until July, the beautiful natural green and aquamarine pools, but after a drought the water dried up quickly and when we were there in September only 2 pools remained. The views were spectacular. I had never seen anything like it before. 

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