Snow instead of Sand & 40°C Change In Temperature

Well Jen and I are well into our journey home, hitting the 37th hour of traveling. The trip has been good so far, nothing to out of the ordinary.

Jeri to Fortaleza: The bus ride was quite smooth and we were only a little tired once we arrived at the Fortaleza bus station at 4:11 am. We decided to taxi to the airport instead of walking which turned out to be a god idea because it was quite a long and confusing drive. We checked through to our gate where we had the longest wait of our journey: 8 hours to kill. Luckily there were Lazy-boy chairs which Jen and I took full advantage of as we watched many people and flights come and go.

Sao Paulo Airport: It took us awhile to find the right lineup to stand in but once we were directed to the right place everything went smoothly. Our friend Tayna on the other hand seems to have bad luck. She was flying from Eastern Canada and was supposed to be arriving in Fortaleza at 6:30, the same time we were in the Sao Paulo airport. When we were checking into our flight I saw a board bag sitting next to our counter with an Air Canada tag on it. I joked to Jen, how funny and terrible would that be if that was Tayna's bag? She already has had back luck this year and was now returning to Jeri. When we walked past the board bag, guess who's name was smartly written across it? Poor Tayna, I sure hope she finds her bag fine.

Chicago Airport: Well, it was a long 10 hour red eye flight but when we arrived in Chicago at 4:30 am we still ran outside to play in the snow and shock ourselves in the -11°C temperature. After checking in through security, we finally felt we arrived back to civilization when we each ordered a Grande Gingerbread Latte from Starbucks. The drinks welcomed us into the holiday season and along with the snow we sure felt half a world away from our life in Jeri.

Last Jeri Day

We had a busy morning of organizing, packing and culling all of our posses ions. We sure have a lot less room to spare now that we have our hammocks from Fortaleza, Brazilian goodies and a pack of Farofa each. Some how we made it all fit and were able to enjoy the rest of the day. Due to the heavy rain the night before the streets were hard packed and plenty of the bricks and stones usually covered with sand were showing. The thick rain clouds were still hanging around and not letting the wind pick up, Jeri was as still as I've ever seen in. Jen and I walked over to Tom's and Arrianne's pousada to see what was going on, we relaxed and watched a few windsurfing clips with them and Emmi while waiting for the wind.

Jen and I had our last lunch at Ponto do Big of course, and had the usual picadinho and sucos maracuja. We joined Joao who was already eating there, he teaches kids Capoeira classes after our english classes and was the one who set up the kids english class. It's nice how we met and got to know some of the Jeri locals. I will look forward to seeing them some time in the future when I make it back to Jeri.

The wind finally picked up nicely at 1:30 and I had a great last session on a 4.7m^2 sail and my usual 90L freestyle board. I sailed until I couldn't sail anymore. The sun set early into thick clouds but it was still light enough to surf until six o'clock. It's sad to think it will probably be quite awhile until I get to windsurf again and it already seems weird to wake up and not check the wind forecast.

We joined a few people eating at Pousada do Maruisios then went to Queijo Pizza for dinner with Arrianne, Emmi, Chris, Tom, Simon, Al and Maeli. We then invited everyone to our pousada where Emmi baked a delicious hot fruit salad with white chocolate melted on top. It was a great send off, and the Swedish guys showed up right when we were leaving so we had a big goodbye with everyone before we were on our way.

Tchau Jeri!

Epic Last Night in Jeri!

Jen and my last night in Jeri coincided with Ginger Chris's birthday, so after teaching our final english class we headed to George's Finance's Mother's restaurant to join everyone in the birthday festivities. Al took Chris away to give Maeli a chance to collect money from everyone to surprise Chris with a birthday cake. However the surprise failed after Arrianne accidentally said "No I don't want any more food, I'll just eat cake!" while sitting right next to Chris. The cake was delicious anyways and was quickly consumed by everyone. Almost as soon as the cake was gone, it started to pour rain forcing everyone under the small overhang next to the restaurant. Everyone included: Jen, Myself, Chris, Maeli, Al, Arrianne, Jona, Tiloh and his girlfriend, Emmi, Will, Jamie, George, Tom, Julien, Jonathon, Tim, Simon, Leo and probably some other people I missed.

Soon after the rain lightened up a bit half the group went down to Planeta Jeri and the Barrackas and the other half (myself included) stayed near the restaurant for a bit. We watched the usual sandy and dry streets be washed down with water. We soon followed everyone down the street to have a last Caiprinhia, then it started to seriously pour. Tom danced with the Serbian girl in a stream of water while everyone cheered him on. It was raining so hard that there were flash floods raging down the narrow street and into the ocean. So of course we started jumping through the flooding street, getting soaked to the bone but having a great time all the same. There was thunder and lightening a ways away and we walked down to the ocean to check it out. (In retrospect, that probably was not the safest decision.)

When it was close to one in the morning we were wet and cold and in need of some food so we went to Jeripan, the 24 hour bakery. Only myself, Jen, Jonathan, Simon, Jamie and Chris were left. After having some semi delicious bake goods Jen, Jamie and I decided to hit up the late night bakery: the one that opens at 2 am. We got there about 5 minutes before two and all we saw was water seeping out from under the door. I was worried it wouldn't open but luckily it did and amazingly hot and yummy chocolate bread ensued.

It sure was an awesome Jeri night!

What To Do: The Non-Windy Days in Jeri Part III

Well, the wind was OK for two days. I went out for power sessions: 5 hours on a 5.0 each day. The wind was still patchy at best and most of the time it was a fight to stay on a plane, but it was nice to be windsurfing again. Today is a different story. The wind hasn't even stirred the palm trees at our pousada.

The still air is due to the massive torrential rain cloud that passed through here last night. I was out at what is referred to as 'the French Pousada' when suddenly it was raining. Not just the light rain that we've had a few times at night for a few minutes, this was like the west coast - get soaked in under a minute - type of rain. The alleys became streams and the main street a river rushing down to the ocean. I can't believe how fast the streets emptied out, everyone took cover for the storm. The thick clouds remained overnight and are staying for the day, not letting even a breeze cut through the humid air.

But I am making the most of it: I did some of my souvenir shopping, got caught up with emails and had a left over lunch with Arrianne, Tom, Al, Maeli and Jen. (It's the first time that we had leftovers in the whole three months!) We decided to have a cake competition tonight. Teams of two are each going to bake a cake and someone will decide whose cake is the best. Jen and I are teaming up against Al & Maeli and Tom & Arrianne. I'll let you know the results!

What To Do: The Non-Windy Days in Jeri Part II

Answer: Build a massive Sandcastle.

The wind has still been nonexistant in Jeri and everyone has been getting anxious waiting and watching the water. It was alright to rest for one day, and nice to have time to bag some rays at Club Ventos, go surfing and read my book. But now the novel is done, the waves are small and I'm tried of just sitting at the beach in the hot sun with no wind to cool me down.

Many new activites have been popping up here and there to pass the time. One of them is beach volleyball. It started off small, usually only three teams of two were playing, but now word has spread and it's become a new hit. The competition has heated up and always draws in a small crowd. It's fun to watch and play, there is usually one team that dominates but everyone rotates through and get a chance to play no matter of their skill level. I put up a few new pictures including some of the volleyball action.

One can only play volleyball for so long, which resulted in a new idea brought to the beach by the Swedish guys: Lets build a massive sandcastle! Jen and I joined in the construction after a nice foundation had been laid. The castle was a 6'x6' square and built to be about 4'-5' tall. There were even trussels and a deep moat around the perimeter. The whole process was filmed with one of the boys' Go Pro camera, it took a picture every 5 seconds. You can find the video on facebook and watch as the tide quickly washes away our work.

Come back wind!

What To Do: The Non-Windy Days in Jeri

The wind has been down for the past few days here, yesterday and today it hasn’t even been windsurfable. It's a bummer to have our last week so light, but this way we get to enjoy the town of Jeri more.

When you know the wind will be blowing tomorrow a good nights sleep, big breakfast and stretching your sore muscles is essential for a great day windsurfing. Last night, after a fully non-wind day here everyone decided to have a good night when we realized the forecast for tomorrow called for even lighter winds. Most of us gathered for drinks at Pousada do Maurizio. They have lots of tables, hammocks and free finger food from six to nine o'clock. We sat around and had some good conversation until someone pulled out a deck of cards and started a game of slaps. After a while of playing Tom and Marco were the only ones left, were very evenly matched and it seemed the game would never have a winner. Then Arrianne stepped in and within a few minutes had well over half the deck of cards in her hands and proceeded to win the rest.

We hung out at Maurizios until they began to dim the lights around 12:30. At this time it was time to get some drinks from the barrackas on the beach. Our usual barracka boy, Rudofo was there making drinks as usual. We hung out, made some drinks of our own while many people we knew filtered by, usually stopping to join us for a drink. At 2:45, I called it a night and went home. When I was getting up in the morning around eight, Jen was just getting home. It turns out after dancing Forro until five in the morning, a few people decided to go for an early surfing session. So after watching the sunrise, they hit the water and surfed the waves. Jen and I had breakfast together then she went and slept half the day away.

Shark attack!

The fishermen here go out in boats whose seaworthiness is debatable. They are purely powered with cloth sails that are attached to makeshift masts and booms that look to be make from long and skinny logs that have drifted in from the sea. The boats themselves are usually about 15 feet long and 5 feet wide and have quite a number of bailers sitting inside. The fishermen set out early in the morning and sail to a spot about 22 miles off the coast line. On boats with no motors or electronic devices of any kind this feat is very impressive to me. I’ve been told it takes 6 hours to get out to the fishing location and back. The toughest part is the home stretch: coming in over the waves. Just the other day when the waves were 3 meters high, a boat was flipped as it was trying to come in and lost all of its fish and tools sitting in the boat.

The nets are all hand made and hand cleaned. After a day of fishing it’s common to see the fishermen sitting in the shade beside their boats mending their nets. Back home all the net casting and hauling in is done by large cranks and mechanical arms, but here it is purely the talent of the fishermen which brings in their catch of the day. Before Jericoacoara became known as an elite windsurfing destination, it was primarily a small fishing town.

Today I was sitting reading my book on the beach when I noticed a large crowd amalgamating around a boat that had just come in on shore. I walked over to see what the fuss we about and along side the usual pile of freshly caught fish was 8 foot hammer head shark! Anyone want to go swimming? It was very cool to see the shark up close, how massive they can be. One fisherman cut out the jaw to show people the 15 cm wide bite full of crooked 1 cm long pointy teeth. I wouldn’t want to be swimming with that shark anytime soon! The fishermen cut off the fins and threw the guts in the water and proceeded to sell the large shark steaks to local restaurant owners. A few of the windsurfers watching the gutting and cleaning process joked we should borrow one of the fins and swim in the water where everyone windsurfs to try to scare people away from the busy areas.

I think I’m going to follow the theory: If you don’t eat it, it won’t eat you!

Amazing 'Home' Cooked Meals

Recently I’ve grown a bit tired of the usual PF meal of rice, beans and meat and have been craving some veggies. It seems quite a few people have been feeling the same way, because Bas, Jen, Tom, Safia (sp?), Al, Maeli, Arrianne, Floor and myself cooked up a huge pasta meal the other night.

We decided to go very gourmet and had appetizers of hot garlic bread right out of the oven as the chefs worked away in the kitchen and others mingled and relaxed before dinner. The sauce included at least two of every single vegetable sold in the grocery stores. It had the usual onion, tomatoes, peppers, carrots along side with zucchini, egg plant, delicious sausage and spices. Once all the ingredients were in the pot, there was so much sauce we thought we’d be eating off it for two nights and we had already cooked up enough pasta for a small army. Clearly we under estimated ourselves and how hard we had windsurfed because it turned out we cooked up the perfect amount. I don’t know how we finished off so much food, but I think everyone went home at least 5 pounds heavier and very satisfied that night.

It’s great sitting around and having fun with so many other people from such different backgrounds, and everyone is here because windsurfing is what they love to do. I love listening to stories of people from previous years in Jeri or other prime windsurfing locations around the globe. It makes me want to travel to new locations and windsurf 365 days a year!

Sailing on Lagoa Azul

Jeri has great wave sailing and recently the waves have been reaching new heights. Wave sailing is tiring, and due to the amount of people on the water causing bad chop and well, there can be too many people on the water at once which it makes it hard to learn new moves. So, after sailing for over two and a half months in the Jeri waves Jen and I took a slight detour to Lagoa Azul for some flat water sailing.

Lagoa Azul is a small lagoon about 40 minutes by truck away from Jeri. It turns out there were 12 people wanting to go so we all piled into one truck. Now that doesn't sound too impressive, but imagine 12 people with all their gear plus the driver. Thats 12 people, 12 boards, 24 sails plus all the booms, masts, etc, etc. Once we got everything on top or piled in the back, there wasn't much room left to sit. Some of the people we went with were: Maeli, Al, Arrianne, Floor, Anna, Emmi, Thomas and three other people I haven't a clue how to spell their names.

The wind was a bit gusty, but I loved the flat water for a change. Also the fact that we were only 12 people on a large lagoon was great, especially once everyone was spaced out. I was able to work on my tacks and air gybes, hopefully getting close to landing the latter soon! The day was quite cloudy, but we made the most of it and hopefully got some great action shots with Anna's high tech camera. When I get the pictures she took, I'll make sure to post them!

During lunch time all the girls (which there were a lot of, we joked that all the windsurfing girls went to the lagoon!) helped Al with the windsurfing movie he's making. We sat in a circle around him in our bikinis and sang along to a song about living in paradise. Not too far from the truth! I can't believe we have under 2 weeks left in Jeri! Time to make the most of it and enjoy every minute.

Jazz Festival in Jeri

Recently there has been a lot going on in the main square outside of Jens and my pousada. A large stage has been set up in preparation for the Jeri Jazz festival, complete with lights, a huge sound system, two hundred or so chairs and a make shift bar. The entire square has been sectioned off which means the main street is void of the usual stream of cars, trucks, buggies and motorbikes. During the day this means the main street is much quieter then usual but once the sun goes down and the music starts, it is anything but quiet. The jazz music is great to listen to, it's like being back at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Idaho I used to go to with my school band.

Our pousada is in a great location to listen and enjoy the music, it's like having box seats! The only downside is after windsurfing all day it makes for an awkward obstacle when you're trying to fall asleep. Closing the windows doesn't help keep the volume down when the concert is right outside! Although if this is my biggest complaint of the day, I don't think its too bad.

Happy Birthday to Dad yesterday!

The Key is a Brazilian Boy!

I've tried to learn a bit of Portuguese, but clearly I don't have the talent for it. I can get by on basic phrases: Bom dia (Good day), Tudo bem? (How are you?), Tudo bom (Everything's good), Posso ter... (Can I have...) and a few more like those. My conversations with the locals are very brief and to the point, usually accompanied with a lot of facial expressions and hand gestures. Most of them also end in awkward laughs or giggles, mainly directed towards ourselves when we realized we haven't a clue what the other person is talking about.

Some girls Jen and I have met who have stopped in Jeri for a while somehow become fluent in Portuguese in a matter of weeks. I was stunned and thought they just have an amazing knack for picking up new dialects. But just the other day, I found out their secret: Get a brazilian boyfriend then he'll teach you. It's an instant tutor! I don't see Jen or myself following in their shoes, but I'm going to try to initiate more conversations with some of the locals we do know. Most are happy you're giving Portuguese a try, and will correct you where you go wrong.

On another note: Jen and I had our first solo English teaching a few days ago. It went well, although we did choose an easy topic for our first lesson: Food. The adults got right into it and I was impressed that we actually pulled it off. Jen did most of the teaching while I provided examples and corrected her spelling occasionally. The next lesson will be teaching the future tense, hopefully we can pull it off too!

Sunset Sail

The water has been extremely busy the past few weeks with the major rental spot, Club Ventos, renting to over 130 people. The best time of day is either super early when the wind is just coming up, or later once everyone is tired. The problem with going out before the crowd is that there isn't much wind, and once it finally builds to a good level the water becomes extremely busy almost instantly. The other way to get non-choppy water is to sail until you can't sail any more. The crowds thin out at 5:00 because all the Vela customers have to go in then, and most of the other sailors are too tired to remain on the water. Its fun to try to ride a few waves and not worry about crashing into a dozen people along the way. The only problem is the sun sets at 5:30 and it's completely dark by six. But I've always been partial to sunset sails, I like sailing in on the last puff of wind.

Caitlyn's Version of How the Jeri Wind Works: The south east trade winds provide the base of the wind, averaging at 6-7 knots. When the large sandy dunes heat up during the day it causes a regular thermal effect, but because the trade winds are already blowing from the south east it increases the pressure and strength behind those winds. The combo of thermal and trade winds results in the strong winds blowing through Jeri!

Good Ol' Jeri

I'm sad to say that Jen and I are into our last month in Brazil. It's hard to believe we've already been here for over two months. We have fallen into a routine of lazy mornings, windsuring afternoons and relaxing evenings. As a result our remaining time here seems to be flying by and after looking at the Vancouver weather forecast, boy am I glad to be only three degrees away from the equator.

Jeri seems to be the town that never disappoints. There is always someone to meet, some place to go or something to do, while keeping its small town feel. The best part about Jeri is I've never felt unsafe. You can walk the sandy streets and not worry about the dangers that plague the rest of Brazil. These are a small part of the reason why so many people, both windsurf/kiters and travellers extend their trip to Jeri and why it is described as a backpackers paradise.

If anyone finds their way to this end of the world, all I'm saying is you have to check out Jericoacoara.

Dinner with Luane and Barbara

Jen and I help teach English every Tuesday and Thursday with Julianne. In our adult class, Luane is one of the star students; she practices the lessons at home, does extra work and always helps her peers understand the lessons. Her daughter Barbara, is in the kids English class and though she may be a quiet student in class, she certainly became a whole new person when we were invited to their house for dinner.

Luane and Barbara are moving from the warm and sunny small town of Jericoacoara to the wet and cold southern Brazil where Luane is receiving a scholarship to go to school. As a thank you for teaching them Jen, Julianne and I were asked over to enjoy one of their few nights left in Jeri with them. Luanes' mother helped cook and Alex and Paulo who are also in the adult English classes joined us for a delicious pasta meal. Along with dinner was appetizers of bread with either a mussel dip or pesto. Barbara, with the help of their Italian neighbour, made the most delicious pesto from scratch.

My Portuguese only consists of a few basic phrases which were easily covered in the first few minutes. After that, Luanes' basic English and Juliannes' fluency in both languages got all of us by. However the true entertainment was brought by Barbara's boldness which I had never seen before. She was teasing Alex and Paulo while taking all sorts of funny pictures of us and rapidly chatting away in Portuguese. She even convinced her mom to pop the top of their champagne, although much to her dismay, Barbara was only allowed to drink Coca-Cola.

Harness Weggie!

I am seriously considering investing in a waist harness. My seat harness usually does a fine job, but that's when you are wearing a thick wet suit. With only a bathing suit and board shorts it gets to be a little bit uncomfortable after an hour or so one the water. Chafing on my thighs and what I call my 'harness weggie' does not result in the most comfortable of sails.

In other news, there's a freestyle competition in Jeri today! I actually know a few of the people signed up, so I think this will be an event to watch. Since the competition is in the middle of the windsurf day and the wind hasn't picked up yet, I think it may be an easy going day for me. The chop has been pretty rough recently, it makes it a lot harder to try new things when the only flat areas are in massive wind shadows. But I'll check out how the pros cope with the chop. I figure if they can do it, why can't I?! Oh right, most of them windsurf 365 days a year.

Yesterday the board and I got a little face on face action. Nothing big, apart from a little bit of swelling, but am 1 cm higher and the '$5000 smile' might have had some temporary readjustments. Not to worry folks; no pain, no gain!

Ponto Do Big

'Ponto' as I like to call this little hole-in-the-wall restaurant is a major highlight in both Jen's and my diets. After hours of hard work windsurfing, we are usually very ravenous and need a quick fulfilling meal. Because of its inexpensiveness, quantity and quality Ponto has become our go to place. I'd call it equivalent to any fast food restaurants back home, except it's moderately healthy, only 100 meters away from our Pousada and it is delicious. If one of us gets off the water before the other and isn't in our room, it's a safe bet to guess we're at Ponto enjoying either a picadinho (an authentic Brazilian ground beef and vegetable stew, my favourite choice) or a molho do frango (marinated chicken, Jen's usual pick). Both meals are of course accompanied with the usual rice, beans, salad, spaghetti and hot sauce.

The amazing Ponto meals are cooked in a 10' x 5' box of a cooking area surrounded by fluorescent green walls. The tables are in the middle of the busiest alley, so there plenty of people watching and talking going on. You can't eat an entire meal without someone you know joining you for a bit. Jen and I had a shock the past week when Ponto suddenly and without warning was closed. Jen heard through the grapevine that it was closed for renovations, so we half thought we'd never eat there again. It took a whole week of trying to find a new favourite spot before Ponto re-opened for business! That was probably the best meal ever, and since the renos, we have eaten there every day.

Ponto also has the best, most refreshing maracujá juice for only R$1. In fact, writing this has made me rather hungry...

Happy birthday Grandma C!

No Cook Cookies!

At home I bake quite often, I find it's a great way to take a break from homework and you get a delicious reward once you're done. The kitchen here is difficult to work in, the elements are quite temperamental and the oven needs some tampering with to get it going. But I figured I'd give Grandma K's Maui No Cook Cookies a try.

Obstacle 1: Obtaining the recipe and translating. I had to wait until someone back at home came online and I figured both parents would be needed: Mom to find the recipe and dad to scan it to me. That process was easy enough, and with Google translate I figured out all the Portuguese words pronto!

Obstacle 2: Finding the correct ingredients. This proved to be the most difficult task. The grocery store isn't very big, but it is packed full of items which are easy to miss. Leite (milk), açúcar (sugar) and manteiga (butter) were easy to find, and instead of buying the expensive pack of sweetened coconut I opted for buying a fresh Coco (coconut) and chopping it up myself. Finding cacau (coco) and aveia (oats) was a different story. Finally I found a container of good ol' Quaker Oats that looked like it had been sitting on the same shelf for a few years. Since I couldn't locate pure cacau, I went to the next best thing and bought the only hot chocolate mix that had cacau listed as the first ingredient.

Obstacle 3: Cooking to No Cook Cookies. This was easy enough; just melt, boil, stir, mix and cool. The real challenge here was not eating it all at once! The cookies turned out great and maybe for my next kitchen adventure I'll take on the oven.

Halloween

Well in true form I always come up with my costume in the 11th hour. This Halloween I definitely had nothing much to work with. I had a bandana and... that's it. So I went as a bandit of sorts. I'm not really sure, it didn't matter any ways because with a little face paint no one cares what you are exactly! Jen and Arrianne went as Greek Goddesses full out in togas and plants in their hair. During the night they found their Greek God, Thomas, who was also a fellow toga wearer. I'm not really sure what Pete or Julien went as, but they had their entire faces painted in various colours. Laura and Bas were African tribal folk, and Peter went as a prisoner with a coconut ball and chain. Berit was a cowgirl who then turned into Captain Jack Sparrow's, aka Tom's, hostage.

We had fun getting ready then headed over to the Swedish guys place where the Capirinhas were plentiful. None of them were dressed up except for Anna and Amy who were preparing to roll around in the dirt and go as trolls. As the night went on the Swedish guys all put on plaid shirts and called themselves lumberjacks. (Or 'lumberyacks' as they pronounce it!) Also Halloween wouldn't be complete without some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and I'm happy to say I saw one Leonardo walking around and one turtle who was lacking a mask. Tayna, Max and Alli were members of a rock band, Maeli was Cat woman and I don't even know if Bryan knew what he was.

Over all it was a good Halloween. We got a few funny looks walking around Jeri because Halloween is not a big event here. It's really not even an event, mostly just kids dress up. But we got into the spirit all the same, its fun how an ordinary party becomes lots more fun with costumes. There was old music (aka from our childhood) playing such as the Backstreet Boys and other fun music in the 'lots of fun to dance to' genre. The only thing lacking was the amount of candy that was consumed.

P.S. Happy Belated Birthday to Trevor!

Side Trip to Fortaleza: Adventures

This is a continuation of yesterdays blog post, and our adventures in Fortaleza. Well as you should have read Jen and I enjoyed a delicious breakfast. After that, we were on our way to the bus ticket office which was located about 6 km across the city to get tickets for the bus that would take us back to Jeri at 5:30 that night. We mainly walked along the smaller side streets to get more of a feel for Fortaleza. The area where we started was in the center of the city, and much more worn down then near the beach promenade. It was an extreme reverse of anything you would see in Vancouver. There were essentially no plants or green spaces, each home had a high concrete wall surrounding it or the buildings were just built out to the street so no one had any yard space. The sidewalks seemed to be the responsibly of the people that lived next to them. It was clear how some cared for their small bit of sidewalk by putting down tiles, sweeping and cleaning their area regularly. Others however did not, you definitely always have to watch your step when walking through the neighbourhoods.

After reaching the Avenida Beira Mar, the boardwalk along the ocean, we had a cool and refreshing coconut. The beach was nice, we walked along with our feet in the ocean and admired the huge buildings. It seemed weird to see the high rises because Jeri is in the middle of a national park and there are strict building restrictions. There are new modern buildings mixed in with semi torn down ones and some that are a decade or so old. The mix creates a unique capture of Fortaleza. Along our walk we ran into an old and rusty boat that is slowly deteriorating on the beach. You couldn't see that back in Canada, there would be all kinds of chemical tests and environmental issues brought up.

We walked to the Dragão do Mar Center of Art and Culture. There was some modern art that we had a look at, I realized I'm not a fan of was passes for modern art. It was interesting to look at and there was one section on the Brazil coffee, beans and rice industry and its history which I found interesting. From there we walked over to the massive Central Market. It is a building the size of a shopping mall, but all open in the center. There were five floors of one shop after another. You can buy any and everything there. We ended up bartering for a hammock each, only R$25! They have already been well used as we just happen to have two hammock hooks in our room. The market also had a big buffet of the typical Brazilian foods we engorged on: Lots of different flavours of rice, beans, fried things, marinated meats and some fruit for dessert.

After the overwhelming market atmosphere we walked over to have a look at the near by Fortaleza Metropolitan Cathedral. It looked quite dingy from the outside, but once you entered there was calming music, beautiful stain glass windows and sculpted pillars. By this time our feet were pointing us in the direction of the beach. We walked back to where the bus would pick us up as the sun was setting on our day in Fortaleza. One sleepy bus ride later and we were back in Jericoacoara by 2am. I found the big city was too overwhelming to spend much time there, it was nice for a day, but I much prefer to call the little town in the dunes my home.

Side Trip to Fortaleza: Visas

The wind had been light for a few days with no sign of it picking up so Jen and I decided to go on a trip to Fortaleza, the large city near Jeri. Really the wind being light was just a perk, we had to go into the city anyways to get our visas extended because we are staying two days over the 90 days we are allowed in Brazil. We took the night bus leaving Jeri at 10:30 p.m. and arrived in Fortaleza at 5 in the morning. Some how Jen fell asleep on the 1 hour ride across the very bumpy, stop & go dunes from Jeri to Jijoca. I don´t know how she does it but that´s almost equivalent to falling asleep on a rollar coaster ride. The bus that runs from Jijoca to Fortalzea has comfy seats that go way back and the bus is kept at a nice and cold temperature. However it is still a night on a bus and neither of us slept very well and were very exhausted by the time we arrived at the bus station in Fortaleza.

The Federal Police Station didn´t open until 8:00 so we had some time to kill before going for our visas. We stumbled around the busy bus station until we found some seats to plunk down in for an hour or so because Fortaleza isn´t the safest city to be walking around in before sunrise. Once the sun was up, we decided we were in desperate need of a coffee and there was a very conveniently located hotel across the street with café and pequeno almoço (Coffee and Breakfast) written on the windows. After asking if we could just purchase a cup of coffee and didn´t want a room, we happily sat down and had a cup-a-joe and snuck a refill when the servers weren´t looking because the cups were tiny. As it turns out you should always ask how much something is before consuming it. When we went up to the front desk to pay, we thought the clerk said "três" (three) but when we tried to give her only three reals, she shook her head and clearly said "trinta" (thiry reals). That was a bit of a shock, and has got to be the most I´ve ever paid for a tiny cup of coffee as the glasses were only about 250 mL. We wanted to just leave and not pay, but since there was security at the doors we forked over the money and left. (R$30 = $20 CAD).

We had google mapped the location of the Federal Police Station that we found online so we semi knew where we were going. The map made sense and we made it to the police station by 7:00. Luckily the gate was partially open so we walked right in. There was a friendly man sitting at the front desk, who attemped to explain we were at the wrong location and where we should go. So after a lot of hand gestures and using common english-portuguese words we gave him our map and he pointed us in the right direction. The walk wasn´t too far, just back to the bus station and a few blocks the other direction. When we arrived there were a few people already standing out front so we knew we were in the right place.

Eight o´clock rolled around and the guard greeted us with a bom dia! (good morning!) and let us in. The wait wasn´t too long as there were only a few foreigners in line. Once we got to the brazilian visa guy, with all our papers and documentation ready, we figured we be done and out of there pretty quickly. The latter was true, we were only in the police station for about 15 minutes however all was not done. As it turns out you can only get your visa extened within a week of it expiring. Humph. It was rather hard to argue with the man and try to get them extended then when he didn´t speak a word of english. We were a little bummed after that, and the trip into Fortaleza seemed like a huge waste of time and money. We were tired, hungry and still a little bit fazed about the R$30 coffees.

We wandered up the street a bit, put on some sunscreen and then walked past a very happening breakfast/bakery/restaurant/bar. It was currently in breakfast mode, so we sat down, had a delicious completo sanduíche (A breakfast sandwhich with the works) and a very good and reasonably priced coffee. From then on, we had a great day in Fortaleza seeing the sights and exploring the city.

I´d like to pass on some wishes for a very happy 80th birthday to my Grandpa today!!!!
Or as they say here: Feliz Aniversário!

Jeri Sports Festival 2010

Oí! There have been a few concerts in Jeri, never much advertised and not too large of crowds. This weekend however there has been a huge festival here in Jeri. In fact, it´s the annual Jeri Sport Music Festival. They set up a mammoth stage, drew in a crowd and cranked up the volume.

On friday morning there were kitesurf and windsurf downwinders from Pria to Jeri. The wind was so extremely light, no one else was on the water. We watched the kiters race in, I was slightly impressed none of them got their lines crossed because about 10 of them came blitzing in at the same time to one little strech of beach. We didn´t see the windsurfers come in, and haven´t heard of who won so I get the feeling the wind was too light for the windsurf race.

Since the wind has been so light, we didn't feel so bad if we stayed out late. Which was a good thing because the bands definitly were running on Brazilian time. Each night the main act which was alway schedualed to start at 10:00 p.m. began a little later. On Thursday it was a 10:30 start (not too bad), 11:30 on Friday (little bit on a wait) and on Saturday the band didn´t roll on the the stage until midnight. The concerts have attracted a huge crowd. I didn't know there were so many people in Jeri, although I think a lot of people have come in for the festival. I'd say on average there is between 2-3 thousand people having their ear drums pounded each night. We found the music a bit too loud standing up close, especially when you don't know the lyrics and when you don´t know when the songs volume´is going to amplify. So we usually wandered to the beach to sit, listen and relax. Although I did enjoy standing in the crowd when everyone was singing along to the songs, it really made you feel a part of everything to bob your head along with them.

Juggled to Jijoca

Somehow we managed to get by on very little cash for the first month in Jeri, but it was time to bite the bullet and go to the bank. The town of Jericoacoara doesn't have an atm in it, so it was off to Jijoca, the neighboring town. Usually tourists get roped in to taking the scenic route to Jijoca by paying for a buggy ride in and around the lagoons but since we're gringo-locals (or at least we like to see our selves that way!) we hitched a ride in the back of a pickup truck for R$7. These trucks are Jeri's form of public transit: there are two benches in the back and a wooden frame above the bed. Our driver was a little crazy. First we drove around Jeri for a good 45 minutes (he said we'd be leaving in 10...) trying to pick up more passengers. Then we embarked on possibly the fastest, most wild and bumpy ride anyone has ever had across the dunes. Ever. It really didn't help that mid way there he decided to take a new path because apparently the one he was on was quite rough enough, but he hit one bump too many and had to stop to fix something around the wheel. Uh oh. He slowed down a bit after that, but had to stop every few minutes to fix something new. We did finally make it into Jijoca in one piece.

Walking around Jijoca was weird. Paved streets, two way traffic, tall buildings, sidewalks and traffic signs seem very foreign to us after not leaving to beach for over a month. After we figured out how to use the atm machine (it was all in Portuguese) we wandered around town. As it turns out, the super cheap prices in Jeri are actually inflated quite a lot compared to the rest of Brazil. A meal in Jijoca costs at least half of what it does in Jeri, of which is already half of what it would be back home. We didn't end up spending much time in Jijoca, I found it was just moving too fast for my liking. We wanted to get back to the beach and the relaxed atmosphere of Jeri.

Slight Electrocution

Today was a very light wind day, I was out on a 4.7 & 84L and Jen was on 4.7 & a 90L board. The was just enough wind for me to get on a plane, so I played around a bit doing a few circles around Jen as she tried to slog in. Over all it was a bit of an exhausting day for my arms, lots of pumping and juggling of my rig.

In the evening we took a page from the tourist textbook and rode horses up to the top of some petrified dunes to watch the sunset. It was very nice, I had a bit of a reluctant horse as it kept to the far back of the group and needed a bit of prompting to get going. Jen's horse decided to gallop a bit, which 10 minutes later we realized caused the camera to fall out of her pocket. Of course she had taken my camera (after I told her not to!) so now it's full of sand. Luckily it still took some great pictures which will be uploaded as soon as we find a new voltage adapter. Why do we need a new adapter? Well today Jen also thought it would be a brilliant idea to hang her dripping wet rash guard and bathing suit directly above the outlet. When we came into the room later, it smelled like burn plastic. Initially we thought it was just the computer because it keeps over heating, until we realized the computer was shut down because the power apparently disconnected. But no, it was just the adapter that was fried. So after a minor electric shock to make sure it was really busted we now only have half a battery's life left for the two remaining months of our trip.

Crêpe Night

If there is someone to make delicious crêpes with, its the french couple staying at our pousada. My crêpe attempts usually turn out unevenly cooked, too thick and most of the time fall apart when I try to eat them. Laura and Bastiens crêpes were amazing! A group of us got together for crêpe night: Jen, myself, Laura & Bastien from France, Anna from Holland, Vicky from the UK and Greg from the states. While I cooked the bacon (yum!) everyone else chopped, diced and sliced all sorts of vegetables and fruits for both savory and sweet crêpes. Then while the rest of us enjoyed a cool beer or icy caprihina Laura and Bastien slaved over hot elements cooking more then enough crêpes for all of us.

This was probably the best crêpe experience you can ever have. The shmorgishborg of toppings ranged from bacon, tomates, queijo (cheese) and especiarias (spices) to mangas (mango), abacaxí (pineapple), Doce de Leite (caramel topping) and, of course, nutella.

Have I got your mouth watering yet? Mine sure is talking about it. It sure was a fun bilingual night. As it turns out my high school french is better then I thought and although I can't carry on a conversation, I can understand a good part of it. Thank you Canada for making all students learn a second language, it's about time I put it to use.

Streamers, Candy, Pop, Loud Music and Games

Yesterday was Childrens Day, and boy did we celebrate it in style! Instead of English classes and childrens capoeira classes we put on a huge party. Julianne made streamers, Jen and I coloured signs and blew up balloons. Plenty of games ensued ranging from duck-duck-goose, competitive darts, capoeira and mind games. The party seemed to get louder as more and more candy was quickly consumed. It was fun to play with the kids here, a lot of the younger ones would chat to us in portuguese and not care that we haven't a clue what they are saying. I think its an annual tradition that should be brought to North America! Then again according to parents: every day is childrens day.

Nossa Senhora de Aparecida

This weekend the population in Jeri grew about two times larger than usual because on October 12th there are two holidays: Nossa Senhora de Aparecida (Our Lady of the Appeared Conception) and Dia das Crianças (Childrens Day!)

The story behind the Apparation and creation of Nossa Senhora de Aparecida:

In October 1717, Dom Pedro do Almeida (Count of Assumar and Governor of São Paulo and Minas Gerais) was on his way to an important gold mining site when he passed through the city of Guaratinguetá. The people of this city wanted to hold a feast in his honour but it was not fishing season. Regardless, three fishermen: Domingos Garcia, João Alves, and Filipe Pedroso prayed to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, asked God's help and went out fishinhg. They werent successful and after a few hours they were ready to give up when João tried his luck one more time. They were near the Port of Itaguaçu when their net brought up the body of a statue missing its head. When the net was cast again, this time statue's head was caught. The fishermen found that it was a black version of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. As Legend follows when both the figure and head were recovered the Aparecida Virgin became so heavy that they couldn't budge it.

The fishermen named their find Nossa Senhora da Aparecida Conceição (English: Our Lady of the Appeared Conception), wrapped it in cloth and continued to fish. Now their catch was so great, their boat threatened to sink with the weight of the fish. This miracle was attributed to Our Lady of Aparecida.

Children´s day is basically self explanatory.

Happy Thanksgiving! Jen and I will have to hunt down a turkey tonight. Some how I think we´ll have to settle for eating chicken instead of turkey, rice in place of mashed potatoes, and beans for the usual delicious candied yams, curried cauliflower and sesame broccoli. Nothing can replace stuffing though. Jen is feeling kind of bummed because she´s got an eye infection so no swimming for her for a bit. Maybe I´ll try to make a pumpkin pie to make her feel better, although the stove needs some tampering with to get it working.

PS This post is being written on our Pousada´s computer. The spell check is in Portuguese so it thinks I´m spelling everything wrong and neglects to inform me when I really do have a spelling error. I´ve had to look up the spelling for a surprising number of words. Oh technology, how much I depend on you!