After several days of adventures and thrills, I finally arrive to Jericoacoara in the state of Ceará, aiming to verify whether it is indeed the most beautiful beach in Brazil. I find an artisan friend hosting me in his hut at sea view and with a personal hammock… that is beleza!
The next day we go with other friends to explore the area and discover secret corners of this vast ecosystem generated by the action of wind and ocean, where white beaches alternate with sandy hills and coconut trees.
Title of the day is the great fear, because last night another of those events that are difficult to forget in life happened to me.
Deep maranhão, road between são luis and parnaiba, black night, no villages, bus carrying about twenty adults and some children, only one driver without assistance. Suddenly a sharp turn, a group of men pretending to perform road maintenance work, turn aside the bus down to a dirty road, full of potholes and soon the driver is forced to stop.
The silence, no one understands anything, then a man with a mask forces the driver to pick him up. In his hand holds a gun and orders everyone to get off the bus: I have the lucidity to hide in the fastest and smartest place I find the money and my documents, but the backpack cannot be hidden!
Once off the band with balaclava divides us, men on one side, women and children on the other. After a brief inspection, the group of women with children is back on the bus, they focus on us.
Begins an interrogation, one by one, inspection included, I answer in the best Brazilian of my life and they do not realize that I am a foreigner, a salvation considered the situation.
Meanwhile, two of the robbers are back to the bus, and in the confusion begin to rummage everywhere threatening women and children.
Outside the bus, the situation deteriorates dramatically, a man insults one of the robbers, we hear a gunfire, screams and curses, a nervous exchange of words between the criminals, who order everyone to bow their heads and finally fade away into the forest. The silence returns, many are crying.
Immediately we check the conditions of the wounded, and then go back on the bus, we have to reach as soon as possible the first emergency room and police. Twenty minutes after we arrive in Chapadinha, where he began a long night in the hospital, reporting the event to the police and support our fellow travelers. I also find the time to check what the criminals have taken: in my case absolutely nothing except 2 Bolivians, the equivalent of a few cents. For other people it went worse, we help a lady who was stolen the equivalent of a pension.
Adventure… From São Luis do Maranhão, with a bicycle of luck I follow the path to the beautiful region of the Lençóis Maranhenses lagoons, breathtaking region where the sky, ocean and beaches are united in one embrace. Arriving in Barreirinhas, unfortunately the bike, already in bad conditions, leaves me and I have to return to São Luis do Maranhão, thanks to some passages and the help of the people met along the way.
Back in São Luis and after meeting again the friends of the last evenings, we are active in the preparation of the carnival, we know the city in all its secrets and small, wonderful details.
An endless journey helps forge deep relationships with our fellow travelers. Brazil is an affable and sunny country, feminine and sensual… by its immensity teaches you that the hardest thing for every live being is be born, but once your eyes open there is nothing impossible. From the most beautiful dreams to the most disastrous tragedies.
São Luis do Maranhão means friendship, love, rest, finally much rest. But also music and carnival, festive party until morning.
Alcantara means a city built by slaves for the slaves, where the “free men” showed up only at a later time, with their cargo of gold, lazy arrogance and Pelourinho, the stone column placed at the center of the square where black slaves and disobedient were tortured. This sad bulwark is now the symbol of a dead city, silent and slow, very melancholy.
Kilometers, kilometers, how many kilometers in this endless journey along Brazil? They are many and each one hides its history, its small anecdote to be remembered. All will be narrated in company, taking a beer.
Recife is another great city, but in the shade of its many new and sparkling skyscrapers, reveals a deeply melancholic soul, a sea breeze that moves, a sadness from which sailors sometimes hide behind the soft blanket of clouds. Suddenly dreaming coconut trees, golden beaches and hummingbirds, unable to find rest in the colorful tropical flowers. The nights run festive and pleasant, playing guitar, talking excitedly of the things of life and dancing forró… the carnival atmosphere is approaching.
Salvador de Bahia is a living city, sensual, enveloping. It breathes its own cadence, without hesitation or shyness, very black: a happy alchemical lotion generated by a turbulent and difficult past.
The black soul of Salvador pervades every alley and is associated with contagious smiles, happy eyes and finely wavy hair, an ostentatious happiness shamelessly mixed to the worst misfortunes. Every glance reminds Teresa Batista home from the wars, the masterpiece of Jorge Amado, who is one of the most illustrious adopted sons of Salvador.
Often chance plays some wonderful jokes: walking in the center of Salvador de Bahia we meet friends from Corumbá. We had not found in Rio where we were in the same beach, but everything happens 2,000 km further to the north.
First taste of Nordeste, the vast region of Brazil where everything is mixed and changes face…
The island of Itaparica extends in front of the Bahia de todos os santos. We get lost in long stories and visit the village on the island, so it’s late when we try to take the ferry back to Salvador. After 3 hours of happy expectation, we can take the last passage, but we are so many on the ship that after a few meters we run aground and only with great difficulty we take the short drive to the port of Salvador de Bahia… chills. Soon comes the night and to celebrate the success of our adventure, we eat a delicious moqueca de peixe, the most typical Bahian dish: palm oil, dogfish, coconut milk, vegetables, rice and farofa. The Nordeste, black soul, sensuality, smiles, music and taste.
New Year’s Eve in Rio, incredible and unforgettable: a collective frenzy, a mass of people never seen, located in a stunning setting, under the lights of the legendary beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema, in the background the Sugarloaf Mountain and the Corcovado and especially the colors, the flavors, the smells, the music, the samba and the smiles. Hours and hours dancing, moving, capturing people’s attitudes, breathing their tears and their joy, their irrepressible enthusiasm. And then the rituals of afro-christian syncretism, candomblé, capoeira and makulelé, yemanjá… a carousel, a vertigo, a brazil!
In Paraty everyone knows everyone and life is quiet and fun.People meet to have a beer by the ocean at sunset. The view is unforgettable, just like the climate and the atmosphere.
From Paraty to Rio de Janeiro develops the green coast, an endless series of enchanted bays, morros, islands and inlets. Like a postcard is the Praia do Frade (beach of the friar), the prototype of tropical beach: dense and green vegetation including the inevitable coconut palms, yellow-reddish sand, torrents of fresh and clear water, smooth carioca rocks and a hot sea, intensely colored of greenish-blue.
Lorena is the hub, the meeting point with old friends and the time from which the journey will never be the same again, engulfed in a whirlwind of extraordinary events. Beginning with an adventure, a walk long nearly 100 kilometers from Lorena leads us on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, in Paraty, on the strip of coast between San Paolo and Rio de Janeiro.
Everything starts from a rough road that penetrates the dense tropical forest of the hills around Lorena. Here the trail continues walking through the lush green of the plants, the bright colors of the flowers and the constant voices of the many animals. Once passed the ridge that divides the hinterland from the coast, a long descent begins to Paraty, with the view which gradually opens to a beautiful bay, dotted with numerous coves and breathtaking views.
Late in the evening we reach Paraty, a small jewel, a sort of Rio without homes, with the same morros overlooking the ocean, waterfalls, white houses and narrow cobblestone streets.
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