Golfinhos

For my first two days in Pipa I´ve chosen to nurse my sprained ankle by walking ten miles a day over sand dunes, down beaches, along cobble stoned streets, and through potholes. My third day I decided to give nature a fighting chance (not) and rented a bicycle, and proceeded to cycle (kind of accidentally) something like twenty miles over same said terrain. It was great and I got to see some beautiful scenery, and some beaches I wouldn´t have made it to. Bit of body surfing, chilling, and fresh mango juice mid day on praia some such. My therapy routine must be working because my ankle is doing better.

Sunset was spectacular and unique. A nice and brand new wooden boardwalk has been built along the sea wall in one part of Pipa. Apparently the engineers weren´t from the area, because the seasonal high tides are tearing it to bits. And in typical brazilian fashion, there is no warning that you are walking on a structure about to collapse. One moment you are enjoying your walk, then next you are stepping over a huge gap in the floorboards, the next you are teetering on a huge section of deck that is ready to drop right into the sea. The waves smash against the sea wall and spray straight up through the floorboards and the gaps in the structure, which is really exciting and fun provided you are standing on the solid ground part of the board walk. Where stairs had led down to the sand, and now waves surge and rebound off the sea wall, a group of kids are having fun doing flips off the railing into the surf. I´m ready to cool off and it looks fun so I join them. I ask if there are rocks and then fly off the railing. Well there are no rocks but the water is 3-6 feet deep, depending on the wave surge, and I find the sandy bottom with my butt. Soft landing though and the water is refreshing. After a soak and scrambling up the broken stairs between waves, I see a restaurant at the end of the boardwalk that is surround by pounding surf. The stair and path I had seen the night before are completely under water. I consider swimming over to have a beer as the sun sets. Luckily, a fisherman tells me I can climb up and around the sea wall to get to it.

Eventually I make it and I am glad I did. There is an exciting atmosphere as the few patrons, owner, and bar maids weather each heave of the surf. The bar conssists of a wooden deck set on tree stump pilings right in the sand. An open railing and steps down to the beach. Only thing is, where there was beach the night before, now there is heaving sea. The level of the water is less than a foot under the deck, and each rolling wave spits spray up through the cracks, with the rogue waves drenching the legs of whichever table it pases. Occasionally a big wave will strike the adjacent sea wall and blast back into the restaurant full force, drenching everyone with excitement and spray, and then drip down through the thatched roof for the next several minutes. We hold our hands over our beers to keep them from becoming too diluted. The owner paces the deck like a sea captain, determined to go down with his ship. The bar maids roll their eyes at each other, that these tourists and the owner would care to sip a beer under these conditions, and futilely wipe the bar as the spray rains down. Amid this excitement, the sun did set, and I met a very entertaining couple from Joao Pessoa/Paris.

Cedric from france is an international freelance chef who apprently does quite well for himself, professional kite surfer in his spare time and married to Ana, brasilian from Joao Pessoa, expert on local entertainment, and aspiring interior designer. As the tide abates, the crescent moon sets, and stars begin to shine, we leave our bar/ship to its fate and head for dinner. I had a nice (and long, we closed down the town, which is hard in brasil) evening with them and another german brasilian couple, plus a wacky english guy (they´re all a bit wacky so far, those english). Though I had planned to leave in the morning, they talk me into staying to go the the beach and swim with the dolphins. Hard to refuse.

The next day we set out bright and early down the coast. The ocean is a murky greenish turqouise, the sand fairly sand colored, the scattered rocks brown to bright rusty red, the steep cliffs light pink and orange, and the foliage a reliable emerald. Fantastic backdrop for a hike down the beach. As we near the praia dos golfinhos (dolphin beach), we can see perhaps fifteen bathers scattered throughout the large cove, quietly bobbing in the gentle swell. As my eyes focus on a plump scandinavian tourist, a dark fin cuts the water right by him. Then another. My adrenaline pumps before I realize that, wow, there are actually dolphins at dolphin beach. I´ve been to a few dolpin beaches around the world and even on a dolphin cruise, as well as whale watching trips, and what I´ve learned is- sea creatures do their own thing, they don´t show up just because you payed your fare, and just because they are somewhere one day is no guarantee they´ll be there the next, or ever again. Despite this, there are actually dolphins at dolphin beach, apparently all the time. Cool.

As we got closer we could see the pair of them working their way lazily between the bathers, making slow circles around the cove. As we neared the water at the center of the cove a fish broke the water with an exciting splash. Directly after that an entire dolphin came flying out of the water right by us in the shallows, jaws snapping after its prey. At that point the dolphin was surrounded on four sides by humans, seeming not to care in the least. We eagerly hopped in the water. We floated and body surfed for almost two hours, accompanied the entire time by the dolphin pair. At times they would surf the waves with us, others swim right up to check us out, and others flip through the shallows after fish, once breaking the water three times in a row. Despite scoring my first real sunburn of my trip, I was glad I stayed.

Saying bye to my friends, I embarked on my 48 hour journey to Jericoacoara. Two hours to natal, eight hours to fortaleza, arrive midnight and overnight at hostel, six hours to nowhere, pile out in rainstorm to trade bus for open air four wheel drive passenger contraption, 1.5 hours over dunes, through sand and deep puddles, and straight over miles of deserted beach, past the bleaching bones of abandoned boats and homes, and here I am, in legendary Jericocoara. Many peoples favorite spot in Brazil, I´ll confess I had my doubts a few times on the journey. Having just arrived, I´ll say on first impression its kind of like burning man with a beach and lots of brazilians. In other words- really really good. More later-