From flat breads to flat water

As our rooms in Paracuru were up a set of stairs and Pete was having some difficulty climbing them, he finally decided to take a much needed rest day from kiting. We thought that exploring the sand dunes surrounding the city would be a nice relaxing activity that wouldn't require too much physical exertion. I'm not sure what we were thinking as hiking up sand dunes and fighting against the wind as you walk up the beach for a few kilometres is really hard work! The wind, which did keep us cool was also very annoying as it just picked up sand and blasted it into our faces. It was quite tricky to keep your eyes open, to talk and even to walk. At one point in time, Pete put his hat over his face to get some relief and he wandered around blind for a bit. It was pretty funny for Trav and I when he would wander a bit close to the ocean and then yelp when he was hit by a wave.

Photo bomb!

Travis hiked up higher than both Pete and I just to show how large the sand dunes were. Pete decided to take a running leap into one of the sand dune holes which was pretty deep. At the very bottom he realized that he would have to hike back out of it thoroughly testing his cardio level in the process.

Running start...

Hike out

A family in an SUV must have thought that walking up the sand dunes was a crazy idea and instead decided to attack the sand dunes in their car. They approached the dunes at a very quick pace and were able to get part way up them. This was super entertaining for all of us as we for sure thought that either the car would get stuck or that it would tip over onto its side and roll down the hill. Luckily it didn't do either and they were able to successfully get back down. I should mention that no one walks for pleasure here. You only walk if you can't afford a bicycle or a car or if you haven't been successful in hitching a ride on either. I'm sure that just as we thought the SUV family was crazy, they also thought the same for the crazy foreigners who were walking around instead of driving.

Who needs to walk when you have a car?!

One night we thought that we would have a drink and a snack at this one place before heading off for dinner at another. They have these things called pastels, which as Pete described in the last post are deep fried stuffed flatbreads, kind of like samosas but only bigger. Each of us ordered one and the waiter mentioned something in Portuguese that Pete translated to be two-for-one, what a great deal! As we had just ordered three, we rounded out the order to get another one as we would then have four pastels for the meagre price of two. Imagine our surprise when the food came to our table and we had eight pastels instead of four. It turns out something was lost in the translation and really what the waiter had said was that you get two pastels with each order. We ended up eating the cheapest dinner ever, but our stomachs paid the price for all of that deep friend goodness. None of us can look at pastels without cringing anymore. I should also mention that the typical cost of a pastel is 1Real, which is the equivalent of 60 cents Canadian. I'm not sure why we were so excited by the two-for-one offer when really these things are dirt cheap.

We left Paracuru and made our way 120km up the coast to Ilha do Guajiru. There is a very large sandbank that creates a flat water inlet making it a pretty nice place to go kiting. 

View from our Pousada

We stayed at a great Pousada owned by David, a super friendly Canadian.

David and his wife Paz

He had smuggled in some kraft peanut butter during his last trip to Canada and very kindly shared some of it with us...its never tasted better!

Yum!

A few funny stories occurred at the Pousada and they all involved Trav. The first was that the bed in Trav's room was covered in plastic. We think that this was because the Pousada just opened this season and not because of a perceived bed wetting problem. The second was one in which Trav was taking a shower and a millipede fell out from either his hair or from on top of the shower hose. Trav said he didn't scream, but I'm sure an involuntary shout made it out. Trav sprayed the millipede down the drain, but was later told that millipedes love water and that he should have just killed it by squashing it as it's probably still living in the drain. Needless to say, Trav wore his flip-flops in the shower from then on and was more than a little wary of the showers. For those that don't know, the black millipedes you find over here are poisonous. Not enough to kill you, but enough to make you sick for a few days.

The Sunday that we were in Idha do Guajiru there was a 20km downwind kitesurfing race. I've never seen so many kiters all in one tiny area, trying very hard to not cross their lines with other kiters. It was slightly chaotic, dangerous and crazy but truly just amazing to watch. Within the half an hour wait until the start of the race, there were three incidents of kites crossing their lines. It's pretty scary to watch it happen as kites fall out of the sky out of control and people get yanked around. Luckily all of these kiters were able to get out of the situation fairly quickly and they all still participated in the race.

Count the kites...

Pete took a video of the race, which we will upload once we are in a bit of a better area for access. We are now off to Prea and Jericocara, which are both further NW up the coast.

Pousada in Paracuru
See our little red car

Very deep sand

Under the dock

Interesting shape for a lighthouse!

Pete chillin

Trav having a squeeze

See the Canadian flags?

Morning coffees