Tan? No thanks

Something I'll never understand is why Europeans want to spend all day getting a tan when they reach a sunny country. I suppose the cold and dismal climates they live in could have something to do with it, but I mean, you can get warm also sitting under a coconut tree or an umbrella. I suspect that having paid for a trip, they are keen to have something to show for it when they get home.

This is by way of explaining why those beautiful beach pictures I post are not quite as desirable as they might appear. For example take a look at this picture of Praia dos Golfinos at Pipa. Lovely sand and water, few people around, who could ask for more? But take a look again: no trees due to the backing cliffs so no shade, and blazing sun. And the sun begins to burn early like 0900 due to the early sunrise. If you walk along this beach, better have your floppy hat and SPF30+ on. The best things about the beach are the breeze, which you cannot see, and the cool drink you can reward yourself with on reaching the other end. After that it's a dip in a cool pool then a hammock or deck chair under the shade for me thank you very much.

Recife

Recife (pronounced heh-ci-fe in Brazilian Portuguese) is named after the offshore reefs. It's a fairly large city of about 2.5 million and will be my point of departure in 10 days or so. There aren't really any must-sees in Recife but it is just next door to Olinda, which is supposed to contain some architectural gems from colonial Brazil so most travellers go there instead. Although the Dutch women thought it was overrated and worth only a day. Anyway I'll report on that in due time and not prejudge. But first to pick up the story upon leaving Pipa...

I decided to skip João Pessoa, the capital of the tiny state of Paraiba, sandwiched between Rio Grande do Norte and Pernambuco. There doesn't seem to be much there for a traveller except maybe some chilling out. The attraction of visiting the easternmost point of South America wasn't enough. First I took a shuttle bus from Pipa to Goianinhas which is on the main highway. After waiting about 30 minutes at the bus stop, the intercity bus from Natal to João Pessoa turned up. The girl at the roadside stall was kind enough to confirm that I was at the right place. During that time I was propositioned by taxi drivers, both registered and not. I didn't think there were any benefits, probably more cost and risk (not covered by travel insurance as the unregistered ones are not an official form of transport) so I declined.

What with the Brazilian anti-Global Fried Chicken stimulus of improving the highway and slowing down the traffic with the construction sites, the bus reached João Pessoa rodoviaria about 1230. I had just an hour to buy a ticket to Recife and eat lunch at a short-order lanchonete.

The bus to Recife reached the rodoviaria about 1700, after first dropping off most passengers at a Praça Derby, which I discovered later is near the centre, but not near enough to the central station so I am glad that I stayed on the bus until the rodoviaria about 17km outside the city. My plan was to take the Recife metro to the centre, change lines to go to the airport. There is an Aeroporto metro stop. I was a bit on guard against pickpockets but the metro wasn't very crowded so this wasn't really a concern. It was a bit crazy that I had to backtrack but that's the crazy logic of transport sometimes.

The Aeroporto metro station is a bit of a con, I discovered. It is about 10 minutes walk to the airport terminal, and you have to cross a busy road and also an airport access road. Not hard, but obviously not encouraged. No walkway or anything. Obviously the people who matter arrive by car or taxi. The next day I discovered that the bus is only slightly better, you have to cross the airport access road and is about half the distance as from the metro station. Come on Pernambuco, you have to do better than this if you hope to attract tourism. I hope you have plans to link up the metro station to the airport, otherwise it doesn't deserve to bear its name.

After buying the plane ticket, I decided I was too tired to use the bus to reach the hostel so I asked the airport people to arrange a taxi for me.

The area containing the airport and the eponymous main beach is called Boa Viagem (Good Journey) and there are canals along some of the streets. You can smell the putrefaction from the canals. It reminded me of the Singapore my father used to take us to when I was a kid. I remember that Sungai Road, where many second-hand dealers could be found, also stank like Recife. (My dad liked to trawl through trash for "treasure".) And the thundering traffic flowing down many of Recife's one way streets is also Singapore-like. But there the resemblance ends because Singapore is squeaky clean, not a dab of chewing gum to be found anywhere while Recife is typical urban Brazil with broken pavements and rubbish in the gutters.

Even the taxi driver got lost in the maze of one-way streets and had to ask people at street corners for directions a few times.

The hostel was occupied mostly by Brazilian travellers, so no travel story swaps or meal buddies. For the reasons already mentioned most international travellers go to Olinda instead. But all I wanted was a night in a place convenient to the airport the next day.

The next morning I explored Boa Viagem beach a little. They have tried to turn it into a smaller version of Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, but the sharks in the water (the reefs may have something to do with this) and the murky water discourage most swimmers. Lots of joggers and volleyball players though.

There are lots of high rise apartments for the people who can afford to live in such places.

On the way back to pick up my backpack from the hostel to go to the airport, I spotted a sugar cane vendor on the street and indulged in this treat, found in countries that cultivate sugar cane, like Cuba, Malaysia and of course, Brazil. His cart says Caldo de Cana do Amigo Bigode (Sugarcane Juice from the Moustached Friend). Yes, he had them.

Pipa

I was tempted to skip this place as it is slightly out of the way, but Daniel, a German traveller I met in Ponta Negra, sang praises of it so I decided I had to check it out. It was the best decision I have made so far.

Unlike Jeri, Pipa is not so out of the way, only about 2 hours south by bus from Natal. The highway is inland so the bus leaves it at Goianinha and heads for the coast in about 24km. The road is accessible to normal vehicles, unlike Jeri. And also, unlike Jeri, it has even more of an international flavour and sports more amenities.

Part of the reason I was so pleased with going to Pipa was that the pousada we picked, Xama, is a gem of a pousada. We? I hear you ask. They are a couple of Dutch women I met at the bus stop for Pipa. Unfortunately they were not informed that the schedule is reduced on Sundays so they had been waiting for 2 hours when I turned up 30 minutes before the scheduled time. Pretty patient of them, but they had reading material to pass the time.

Anyway back to Xama, here is a list of things I liked about it: Warm and helpful landlady and husband. Nice garden, with beija-flor (hummingbird, literally kiss-flower) feeders so I got a few good pictures. Yes you can hear a strong hum if you happen to be within hearing range. Also a family of marmosets. Swimming pool, great for cooling down after coming back from a sweaty walk. A cold water cooler very kindly provided for the hot and thirsty guest. A sumptuous breakfast, including yummy chocolate cake made in-house. The women took a double room and I took a single. And the price, if sharing a double, is less than what you would pay for a dorm bed in other tourist magnets. Inspite of its rural location, there are no mosquitoes so no net is needed. I even slept one night with the door ajar to let the breeze in. There is a cool breeze in the evenings to delight you while you lie on one of the hammocks around the rooms. And though they will not always be the same, let's not forget the friendly dog and cute kittens.

Then there's Pipa, which doesn't have dunes, but several long beaches. One, Praia dos Golfinhos (Beach of Dolphins) even has a school of the mammals it's named after. Unfortunately, from the shallow water, which is all I can manage, you can only see a dolphin jumping out once in a while. They don't actually swim with humans but you do get close to them if you can swim in deep water. Two other beaches I visited were Praia do Amor (Beach of Love) and Praia do Madeiro (Woodcutter's Beach, I think). See the pictures and you will understand why I decided to stay 3 nights instead of the original idea of 2.

I think I'll shut up now and let the pictures speak for themselves.

Two horses?

Not really. Bikinis.

Swiss Army Saw

Have you one of those models with a wood saw? Ever wonder when you would get to use it, other than cutting twigs to build a fire like a boy scout? Well I had a fresh coconut at Praia do Madeiro after a sweaty walk over the sand and very refreshing it was too. But I wanted to eat the meat too, and could have asked them to split it for me. Then out of curiosity I wondered if the saw would be able to halve it. As you can see, yes, with lots of coconut shell shavings on the edges, but the meat is perfectly edible after you have wiped the shavings away. I even fashioned a scoop of sorts.

So now you have one more use for that saw.

Coming soon: Cutting a steak with a Swiss Army Saw.

A Brazilian Breakfast

The Brazilian Cafe da Manha (breakfast) you will get in guesthouses all over the country is pretty similar. There will be some bread rolls, possibly ham and cheese, and jams. Often you will have some cream crackers in addition to the bread. Maybe some sweet cakes also. There will be a container of black Brazilian coffee and another with hot milk. If you prefer there could be hot water and tea bags. A jug of home blended juice of mango, guava or something similar will be available. For sweetening there is of course sugar but also a small bottle of synthetic sweetener. Some places might offer you eggs, sunny side up or scrambled, and yoghurt.

But the best part is the fruit selection. My father adored fruit and I am my father's son so I like this part of the Brazilian breakfast. You will have a selection of tropical fruits widely consumed in Brazil: abracaxi (pineapple), mamão (papaya), melão (honeydew), rockmelon and melancia (watermelon) are common but you might sometimes get manga (mango).

Braziian breakfast coffee is plentiful and strong. It isn't particularly refined in taste but it does the job. It reminds me of the coffee you get in kopi tiam in Malaysia, which looks like it's been made with ground-up charcoal but actually has a kick. The coffee you consume after dinner is more like the expressos you are used to.

Webjet Brazil

Brazil has low-cost airlines too, like Webjet, Oceanair and Gol. So when I thought of taking the plane between Recife and Salvador instead of spending 14 hours on a bus, I can just book online with my trustworthy Linux netbook, right?

Unfortunately these airlines require a CPF to be entered. A CPF is a personal identification number every Brazilian is issued with. With Gol, only the credit card holder's CPF is required so conceivably one could persuade a Brazilian to make the purchase for you, and you reimburse her in cash. But the Webjet purchase page requires the CPF of the passenger too. What would a foreigner like me do for a CPF? Tough luck.

There's no problem however buying tickets for the mainstream airlines like TAM using Expedia, etc. But they cost more.

So I will just take the Recife metro to the airport and see if I can buy a ticket on the spot. Grr. Wish me luck.