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Northern Brazil

Filed under: Lisa in Brazil - April 12th, 2006

Well, I know its been a while since I last posted a blog, but things can get pretty crazy when you are up in northern Brazil. The sun shines all year round, and its hard to come in off the beach and write a blog. Today I decided would be the day to just write a quick note about what I have seen so far during my nordest meaning northern Brazil adventure.

Right now I am traveling with 3 friends up to 5 major cities of Northern Brazil. We have so far seen Salvador, Maceio, Recife, Natal and are now in Fortaleza. These cities are all the capital cities of their regions. All of these cities have their own special traits that make them very unique.

Salvador is in the state of Bahia and is known for its capoeira, and afro-latino people. There are some amazing beaches here, with a vast coastline. The center of the city has a lot of action, especially in the Pelourinho neighborhood which is the oldest part of Salvador.

Maceio is a smaller city, with approx 2 million people. There are many beaches, but a few of them in the city are polluted. If you want to see one of the most beautiful beaches, hop on a bus or cabbing it out to Praia do Francés is where you should go. The beaches are green and gorgeous.

From Salvador we decided to take an overnight trip to the city of Morro do Sao Paulo. It was so beautiful. You need to take a boat there from the docks in Salvador, and it is about $50 reals each way. Once you get there you will be amazed with is beauty and relaxed atmosphere. There are many tourists here, which makes it fun to meet people from other countries as well. It is really easy to go there with no plans, and shortly have many because people will approach you and tell you of whats happening that night, and where to stay etc.

Recife is another larger city, with plenty of things to do every day of the week. There is another part to it known as Olinda which is where the city began. Olinda has some of the oldest buildings in Brazil. Recife is known for one of is beaches called Boa Viagem meaning good voyage. It was very popular a few years back, but once surfers started getting attacked by sharks, people started to find other beaches to attend for fear of the sharks. You will still hear of a few attacks, so its best to not swim too deep in the waters there.

We also took a bus to a city called Porto das Galinhas. This means chicken port. It was called that because it used to be the secret location to here the slaves were smuggled in. This place is very beautiful. It is a 2 hour bus ride from Recife, and once you get there you will feel as though you are in a little touristy town full of cool souvenirs, and postcards etc. The beach here is beautiful and green, and there are reefs right off shore that you can take a boat to for a very reasonable price, or you can swim out to and rent a scuba mask. You will see many tropical fish here.

The next city was Natal. I really love this place. We stayed just outside in an area called Ponta Negra. This would be where I would recommend staying. There are many pousadas (hotel/motel type place), hotels, or hostels. There is always something to do in this area. During the day there is a beautiful beach with surfing, shopping, restaurants, and during the night there are clubs, pubs, and restaurants as well.

From Natal you can take some day trips. One of the ones we took was to the Dunes. We went by dune buggy to the dune park. It was amazing. It cost $200 for 4 people for the day. You can decide if you want a ride with or without emotion, and we obviously got the one with emotion which was really fun! We were able to stop and do camel rides, sand boarding, ski bunda, and a zip line into the water. All of the activities were relatively cheap, ranging from $4-$15 reals.

Another side trip we took was to Pipa. This is another city about 1.5 hours from Natal. It is a small city which can be walked from one end to the other in 20 minutes. Here you will feel a hippi -ish atmosphere that is very laid back and relaxing. If you are interested in swimming with dolphins that is a possibility here. If you get to the bay of dolphins around 10:30 you will be able to stand in the water and watch dolphins swim around you for hours. The only danger here is the tide rises very fast and if you get stuck in this bay you will have no way out until the tide goes back down.

So, this takes me to Fortaleza. I have only been here for one night, so hopefully as I spend a little more time here I will have more to tell. I am really enjoying it so far, and we seem to have found the most active part of the city to set up camp. We are right by Mereilles beach. There is beach volleyball, capoeira, soccer, and much more happening here.

Ok so that sums up that last few weeks of my adventures here in Brazil. The north is a very beautiful part of Brazil and should definitely not be missed.