Praia da Forte
The second night we took on bus back to the Salvador bus station to hop on an overnight bus out to Recife. We arrived mid morning in the large, hot, stinky northern city. We wondered to the beach that day so I could go for a swim, only to find out after two days spent in the water that no one goes to that beach because there are sharks... Oops! Gotta love blonde travelers!! The next day we ventured with our new friend Peter (whom we prefer to call Holland, as that is where he is from and we are known to him as Canada) around Olinda. Olinda is recife´s sister city, it is known to be a picturesque colonial town, but to us it was nothing compared to the historical area of Salvador. After spending two days in Recife, we were ready to leave the city that will forever be remembered for having shark in fested beaches, nice people, and extremely foul smells!
Watch for sharks....
We Bailey and I went took a 4 hour bus north to find the beach town of Praia da Pipa. Although we arrived in the evening, Pipa, seemed like everything we wanted and more. It was a peaceful beach town, with great shopping, restaurants, pristine beaches backed be gorgeous cliffs. But what really drew us to Pipa, was that we heard there were dolphins! The next few days, we found ourselves on some of the most beautiful beaches we had every seen, watching dolphins pop in and out of the water. The beaches were so calm and quiet, we were actually able to swim far enough that the dolphins would pop up near us! We also took a surf lesson one day. It was Bailey´s first time surfing and she was quite the natural. It was my third time surfing and was a bit more successful than my first attempts in Tofino- where I was taught by Trev who´s idea of a lesson is to ¨go for it and see what happens¨, well this tactic only resulted in me spending most of the day getting beat to the ocean floor and trying to spit out the water I had just inhaled! Needless to say, the waves of Pipa were much friendlier to the uncoordinated surfer.
Bailey in Pipa
After 5 great days in Pipa Bailey and I reunited with our friends from the hostel in Recife, Holland, in Natal. Natal, draws most tourists for its sand dunes. This is a city enclosed by sand dunes, which most people buggy around. Natal is also home to the worlds largest cashew tree! As we wondered around markets, there were massive baggs of cashews everywhere - the perfect bus trip snack!
That´s nuts....
We had only a couple days left in the north, so we now had to catch an overnight trip out to Fortaleza, our last stop. We arrived early in the morning to a great hostel on thursday morning, March 26th. Bailey and I had our flight to Rio for March 27th at 2 am. So, like the blonde travelers we are, we assumed this meant that we would spend thursday night at the hostel, all day friday in Fortaleza, and set out friday night. However, as we tried to explain this to the hostel owner, Bailey realized that our flight out to Rio was that night! It hadn´t occured to us that the 27th at 2 am was friday morning. Good thing Bailey had consumed her usual 6 cups of coffee that morning or else we may have not made it to Rio! Yes, I am traveling with a coffee addict. Luckily, all the hostels have hot coffee for us in the morning or else I think Bailey would have never come to South America!
Feast in Fortaleza!
I hate this game....
So us two groggy travelers were off in the middle of the night to Rio, the land of hope, dreams and Lapa! I was excited to be back in Rio to be able to do the tourist things which I had not had much a desire for during the madness of Carnaval. We landed in Rio at 6 am and found our hostel on the edge of Lapa and Santa Teresa. This location was great! It allowed us during the day to catch buses to Ipanema, Copacabana, Botafogo, and at night we were in walking distance from the streets parties in Lapa and Santa Teresa. Our first night we went to a Favela party arranged by our hostel. The party was outside, way up on a hill which overlooked Ipanema beach, where were spent our next day. Bailey and I also joined friends from the hostel for a soccer match of two Rio teams. The game was played at the same stadium I had gone to for the soccer match during Carnaval, however, this atmosphere was way better! I don´t think the drumming and chanting stopped the entire game, until the end when it resulted in a tie and you could feel the disappointment cast over the crowd.
Bailey and I were also able to cross our last two outings off our list for Rio: Pao de Acucar (Sugar Loaf) and Cristo Redentor. Sugar loaf, now this is a view! We went up for sunset and watched as the sun disappeared over one of the most incredible cityscapes we may ever see. You see the cristo in the distance, how the city is developed around such lush mountainous land and the 14 km bridge connecting Rio to Niteroi- just amazing! Bailey and I both preferred the view from Sugar loaf over the view from the Cristo, but nonetheless, it was still awesome to see it from the otherside. And the Cristo himself is nothing to shrug at either!
View from Sugar Loaf
Cristo
After visiting the Cristo on our last day, we took a flight to Bolivia that night. I spent just about 7 weeks in Brazil, and as our friend Holland would say, it was ¨really amazing¨. Some highlights would have to be: Iguazu falls, Carnaval, Rio, Ilha Grande, Salvador and Praia da Pipa. I suppose that is about 70% of what I did in Brazil, so really I should just say that I loved it!! However, it is very expensive and if I planned to stay any longer, you would find me juggling in the streets, probably not earning much since I do not know how to juggle! So I am now happy to be in Bolivia, where the cost of living is much cheaper and if not, then at least the people here will be entertained by two blondes getting hit in the head by bowling pins...
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