Travel Diary Ceará: Jericoacoara, walking through the exotic northeast of Brazil - III and last part

Greetings community! I bring you the 3rd and last part of this trip that took me to various places in the state of Ceará, in Brazil. If you wish to read the previous post click here: https://steemit.com/travelfeed/@sofathana/travel-diary-ceara-walking-through-the-exotic-northeast-of-brazil-part-ii.

Yes, obviously I wanted to know Rio de Janeiro, but I must confess that the place that I will show you next was my main motivation to visit this country and the reason is this: I have never been a person who watches a lot of television, but I was following a program that passed the Travel & Living channel, it was called Lonely Planet and there they toured countries as backpackers. I was hooked. My favorite presenter (because there were several) was Ian, a guy too funny, and in one of his programs he visited Brazil. Among the places he went was Jericoacoara, a bohemian beach town in the state of Ceará, in the north of the country. From that moment those images of dunes, beaches and incredible landscapes were recorded in my head and I told myself that I would also know that place someday ... and so it was a few years later.

To get there I asked what options were available to the manager of the hostel where I stayed in Fortaleza (capital of the state of Ceará) and he told me about an agency that had good prices and could go looking for me the next day. This agency was responsible only for transportation to Jericoacoara and return also if I wanted to. Once there, everyone decided which inn to stay in, I had found out that there were options for all budgets, so I didn't worry about that.

The next day very early a full bus arrived, I had to sit in the last place behind, but at least in the window. Next to me was a chubby boy who complained about the heat, the squeezing… of everything. And that in portuguese sounded very funny!

We arrived at a tourist stop where we left the bus and they distributed us in several SUVs. In these vehicles we would arrive at Jericoacoara or Jeri as they also say, but before we made a stop to enjoy a bit of the landscapes that would come ...

After noon I arrived at this desired destination, I asked where the inn that I had underlined in my travel guide Lonely Planet (Hostel Jeri Brasil) was, and it was very close, so I walked through the sandy streets that characterize this town without asphalt and car-free.

I registered in a collective room with capacity for 6 girls, left my things and went out to make a first recognition of the place.

The sandy streets of the town lead you to the huge beach, an impressive coastal landscape. On the one hand the beach, on the other the huge dune “Por do Sol” (Sunset), then some hills with greenery and people bathing, sandboarding or riding horses along the shore. There I stayed for a long time walking and observing, making time to live something very special that characterizes this place: watch the sunset from the dune Por do Sol. It's like a ritual, when the moment approaches a crowd rises to see towards the sea how the sun is hiding in shades of indescribable colors. The silence is broken because many people applaud when this happens, and we all have a smile on our face. When you get down from there, Jeri's night begins to come alive, between music and capoeira.

I went back to the hostel and met the girls with whom I would share the room: one swedish and two brazilians. We agreed to go out to eat and see the nightlife of the place.

I dedicated my second day in Jeri to discover some magnificent places that can be reached by buggy (those special carts for rolling through the sand): Lagoa do Paraiso and Lagoa Azul.

The excursion lasted practically all day, and the idea in addition to bathing in those crystalline waters was also to do activities such as paddle boarding, sailing in jangada and even throwing ourselves from some zip lines to the beach.

Already on the way back there was an extra place, they also took us to visit the small Lagoa Coraçao (Heart Lagoon), and yes, really seeing it from afar has a heart shape. Its location in the middle of that great desert makes it seem like an oasis!

Back in Jericoacoara I met my roommates and we went for a walk, chatting for a while on the beach and trying the creative drinks based on cachaça and fruits offered by several stalls there. I'm not a person who drinks a lot but I tried the Caipirinha and the Maracujaroska (passion fruit) a delight!

That night there was a full moon and donkeys, there are many in Jeri, mostly meek and free around. I love the tenderness that these animals transmit.

For the next day there was a walk to another unmissable place in this area: Tatajuba, a coastal town with river, beach and many dunes, in fact one of them made the old part of this population disappear when it invaded the place forcing people to move the buildings to another part near there.

On the way to Tatajuba, we take a boat to some mangroves to see seahorses up close. The guide took out one with a small plastic pot so we could see it quickly and immediately returned it to its habitat. They look so delicate, I was worried about the impact that tourism may be causing them ... I had no idea they would take us to see them.

After that we had to move with the vehicles through the water, on top of boats made with wooden boards, I liked this part of the ride because I had never done anything like that, and the surrounding landscape was surreal.

We arrived at the town of Tatajuba and saw what I mentioned earlier, how the historic center was displaced by a giant dune.

We continued traveling through the desert and made a stop for those who wanted to take the opportunity to do some sandboarding. I threw myself a few meters but without the board. Fortunately there were some ropes to help people climb the dune, because the inclination was really extreme. Those who came down totally sweated the fat drop to return hahaha.

From there we ride the buggies and finally we arrive at the beach, surrounded by “barracas” (food kiosks), with super calm waters and golden sand.

When we returned to Jeri it was still early, around four in the afternoon. I met the swedish roommate in the hostel and decided to go see another show of this place: the sunset at Pedra Furada (Perforated Stone), a rock formation that looks like an arch and is about 3 km from the town.

We walked there and when we arrived there were already a lot of "spectators" strategically placed with cameras in hand to immortalize the moment. We also sat there waiting for the sun to fall.

That night was the last in Jericoacoara, and with the girls, my roommates, we went to eat, have a drink, listen to music on the beach and from there to the Bar do Forró, to close this trip in the best way: dancing a little forró, the typical rhythm of northeast Brazil.

THANK YOU FOR READING!

All the photos were taken by me with a Sony Cyber Shot 7.2 mp digital camera

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