Fernando de Noronha

I´ve arrived in Fernando de Noronha, paradisical island one hour off the coast of Pernambuco, Northern Brazil. The plane made a complete circle of the fairly small island before we landed, I think I took twenty pictures. Landing at the tiny airport I soon discovered that 90% of the vehicles on the island were dune buggies? This includes all taxis and tourist rental vehicles, as well as most family cars. I should stop being surprised. At the airport in Recife I noticed all the janitors were skating around on roller blades, sweeping up trash with speed and style. Things are fairly expensive here. Right off the plane you are assessed with an "ecology tax". This amounts to about 16 dollars a day, but gets more expensive the longer you stay? Also there is supposedly a cap on simultaneous tourists of 420. Following this everything else is expensive too, but when I finally made it to the beach I decided it was OK. The beaches are gorgeous, expansive, undulating coves backing up to black cliffs and jungly overgrowth. Giant stones with sheer cliffs jut out of the sea, covered similiarly in vines and green. Huge birds that look like pterodactyls swoop through the air, with forked tails and long neck and beaks. I watched a brave local hold sardines in the air as they swooped down for them, trying to keep his fingers in the process. The waves are fantastic. Huge, double overhead, perfect hollow barrels, one after the other for miles of beach. The water a crystalline turqouise except where the pounding surf has churned the sand. The light haze, huge expanses, dearth of humanity, and the whirling dinosaurs lent a mythic air to the place as I hiked from one cove to the next.

At one point a huge monolithic spire juts from the earth between two coves. As we circled in the plane this was the most striking feature of the island. Beneath it a huge rockfield tumbles into the water, separating two of the larger coves. A nice girl had assured me I could walk continously down the whole north coast, cove to cove, even past this rubble pile. A ways into my trek I was wondering if she had ever tried it. Boulder hopping tipsy rubble in my sandy havaianas (flip flops), I was once again far past anything that could be called a trail. The creatures were out to say hey. A huge crab and I faced off, then some big fuzzy brown bunnies that weren´t bunnies were seen hopping around. Lizards everywhere, which I like. Then there was that dragon thing. This was when I was about to turn back. No trail to be seen and really big boulders with sheer drops, or choking vegetation. Watching a boatload of tourists sail by out to sea, I considered my options. Thats when this velociraptor with a cool striped tail went streaking by! It was a really big lizard with a striped tail and an attitude. Small by velociraptor standards I guess but easily two feet long and moving fast. I followed it. Sure enough right around that boulder the trail resumed and I could see the next expansive cove, and best of all a barraca with cool drinks. Yay Brazil! Today I am going to get on my board and maybe a little snorkeling- sans snorkel. Beleza.