Prea and Jericoacoara

After a great time in Guajiru, we set off for Prea which is a town just 13km south of the Jericoacoara National Park. Prea seems to be a place that almost no one stops at, except to pick up a guide to show them through the sand dunes on the way to Jericoacoara.

We drove around for while and found a blinged out place that was way beyond what we were willing to spend, but after some discussion with the kind lady at the front desk, we managed to get the price to something much more reasonable. The added bonus was that included in the price, were free transfers to and from Jericoacoara.

This kind donkey offered to take our bags to the room

Out of Africa

There should be a small sign by the flower pot that says "2 frogs live here and will jump out  at you when you are brushing your teeth and scare you out of your pj's"

While a short stay, we were treated just like the regular hoytie-toyties at the resort: crepes for breakfast, offers to pump up your kite for you and lay out your lines, free coffee all day. I think you could even pay someone to go kitesurfing for you.

On the second evening, we decided to head into Jericoacoara to sample some of the legendary nightlife that is supposed to go on there. Monica and Travis took the buggy into town, while I decided to kite the beautiful stretch of coastline highlighted by fresh water lagoons, giant sand dunes, and an interesting rock formation called Pedra Furada.

Jericoacoara is touted as one of the must see towns in Brazil for anyone visiting there. The streets are made of sand and there are no vehicles on the majority of the streets (aside from the frequent out-of-control motorcycles making deliveries). There is a strange mix of high end jewelry, art and clothing stores mixed with low end cheapy stores. The mix of people is just as varied: from families of Rastafari  lining the streets to a wider array of tourists (other than the wind seeking kind). Bars, clubs, soft serve ice cream, little drink carts where you can get any drink imaginable. A very intersting place, and seems like a different planet compared to every other place we have been on the North East coast.

Yes, there is a cow lurking in the shadows who later took all my money

"If I wait here for another six hours, I can finally get my boat out"

This one isn't going far either

We had planned on doing some research for a pousada that night, but Travis declared it "The best place on earth" due to the discovery of a drink cart lady who made particularly strong caipirinhas, and no research was done.

Upon our return to Jericoacoara the following day, we set out to find ourselves a place to stay for a few days. There were two things working against us: the windiest place on earth had no wind this day, which made for sweltering heat; and there was a festival of music and sport on that weekend so a very busy weekend to be there.

We settled on the first and very cheap pousada we found that would have us, which was situated in a cashew grove. Delirious from the heat, we were just glad of the pool and the air conditioned room.

If you have ever seen a cashew tree, you will fully appreciate why they cost so much when you buy them at the store. They grow on a tree, sort of like apples, and each nut also has a fruit attached to it. The fruit can either be very sweet and juicy, or so tart that it sucks all the moisture out of your mouth. Brazilians will often squeeze them into a juice, mix with cachaca and make a very tasty drink. The juice apparently stains clothing, so care is needed when eating, and for some reason the nut is actually poisonous in this state, and bursts out a spray of liquid when thrown on a bbq as we found out. We still haven't look up how they get the nut out safely, but there can really only be one small bag of cashews in one tree.

Cashew Nut unripe

Cashew fruit with nut

Later that night, we discovered the downside of staying in a cashew grove. As one of the beds didn't have a mozzie net, we made sure to get some bug spray. I sprayed the bathroom and the main room, making sure to close the bathroom door as it had windows that were permanently open to the elements. We left the room for 15 minutes to let the bug spray do its job, but neglected to turn out the lights.

Upon our return to the room, we discovered a few bugs writhing on the floor. Success! However, when entering the bathroom, there were quite a significant number more bugs of various kinds on the floor in the last throes of death. I didn't really think much more of it until Monica, then Travis, insisted that I come and look again in the bathroom. There was a literal genocide of bugs on the floor, which were now trying to escape into the room, and out of the bathroom of death.

The bugs seemed to be attracted to the light, but even more so to the carefully selected flower scented bug spray. Monica and Travis spent a few minutes jumping up and down on the floor crushing bugs, and using descriptive language in their defense of the room, while I lay on the bed re-assuring them that it really wasn't a big deal and it was just a few bugs. We then shut out the lights in the room, and waited out the storm amongst many promises that this was the last night we would stay here, and that this was an absolute nightmare.

Sadly no pics of the carnage as Travis washed the evidence down the drain, but be warned  flower scented bug spray may not be a good idea

We stayed two more nights in the end (although, I think Monica and Travis's version of the story may have more colour). We:

Climbed the giant sand dune in town to watch the sun set into the sea

Duna do Pôr-do-Sol - literally Dune of Setting of Sun - with the crowds starting to make their way up

Looking back on the town from part way up the dune

Reservoir Dogs: Mrs Pink Portrait. Per Bjorn's request

I really like all the footprints in the sand

Riding in style up the dune

This entrepreneur wheeled up cold beer for you to have a sundowner

From the top of the Dune

The best way to get down from the dune

Still not quite there with the sunset shots

Celebrated Travis' s Birthday with lobster tail and snapper roasted on the churasscaria (bbq)

Attended an open air concert starring Bebel Gilberto who does a very cool remix of Bob Marley's "Sun is Shining" to a sort of James Bond Intro music style which I highly recommend you look up.

Image via Wikipedia

We hiked over dunes to see the famed rock with a hole in it and took silly pictures in front of it

Yes, entrepreneurs also hike beer and water over this terrain to said rock below

We are really happy to be here at Pedra Furada

Peter got a kind barber to shave his girlfriend deterrent for only 7 dollars:

Before

After: I am smiling on the inside

There was also very little wind for this period, so spent a lot of time in the ocean and swimming pools trying to cool off. I also was glad of the rest, and my muscles were still aching from all the kiting from the past month.

Jeri was a great place to visit for a few days, but Travis's time in Brazil was winding down, so we decided to make our way back down the coast.

Monica gets on her packing face

Note
If you want to see where we are, or where we have been, the spot tracker is updating location on the "where are we" page above. I had posted a previous spotadventures link which does not update automatically yet!

Also, due to flight availability and air miles mishaps, we had to make some major changes to our schedule. We are now going to be heading to New Zealand at the beginning of December. 

Tour de Golden Rears

This marked the second grand tour from our doorstep (the first down the Galloping Goose Trail on Vancouver Island).  A late Friday afternoon survey of google maps showed that Golden Ears Park was within 70kms of our doorstep, and that there were some city trails and quiet roads that we could take to get there. So, with a quick shop for the essentials (hot dogs, ichiban soup and PB&J wraps), Travis, Monica and I set out with fishing rods and camping gear for another adventure.

We followed the Central Valley Greenway out of town, which is a combination paved and gravel path that goes for about 24km through mostly green and wooded areas. It is always a surprise to find gems like these around Vancouver, and as we left the trail, we prepared for some highway riding.

The highway riding wasn't great, as there was a lot of construction, but passed fairly quickly. We got onto some more trails through Port Coquitlam that passed by various streams and rivers, which the locals were out at in force due to the great summer day that it was.

With a big lake at our destination, we pressed on over the Golden Ears Bridge, and through some picturesque farmlands. We stopped in at a farm market which had some great cherries, which we quickly ate before riding on.

 This is where the plan began to unravel: Hannibal Smith and the A-team would have disapproved. As we cycled into the park, we noted a small sign indicating the campground was full.

Being the eternal optimists, we pressed on for another 5km to the Park headquarters, where we confirmed that indeed the sign was correct, and that we would not be able to camp there for the night.

Travis cracked a beer as we consulted blackberrys and iphones to assess our options. As the beer slowly emptied itself out, we came to the agreement that riding home would make the most sense.

We did stop briefly at a park to refuel on hot dogs and ichiban, and eventually rolled in home after 10 hours in the saddle and perhaps 130km, marking the longest day of touring that we had done. Carrying all the extra weight certainly took its toll, and the evening was capped off with pizza and falling asleep on the couch watching Magnum P.I.

Map of Tour:



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Highlights: Central Valley Greenway, Poco Trail, Farmstall on Dewdney Trunk.
Lowlights: Realizing the campground was full, getting sprayed with a watergun by rednecks passing by in a large truck
Funny moments: Peter falling over with bicycle still clipped in.

Readers Challenge: post a link in the comments to your favourite park/destination within a 70km radius of your home.