Smooth Portuguese transitions

And then, all of a sudden, I’m hiding in the local snack bar of the town where I grew up, waiting to see my mom get home, so I can surprise her on her door step, one day earlier than she thinks she’s going to pick me up at the airport.

Staying in Portugal was the greatest idea to make a smooth transfer from Brazil & Colombia’s hot weather and slow paced life before taking a break from that easy way of living, refill the savings depot and upload some TLC from friends and family in Dutchlandia. Portugal made missing Brazil less stingy. It’s strange to feel a sense of aching, like missing a limb, when you leave a place that you only know for some months, but came to love so rapidly. Some places simply steal a piece of your heart from the moment you set foot on land, to never be returned.

Lust for life

All the new things that were felt and enjoyed, lessons that were learnt in the first part of this new lifestyle, were the perfect start. Simpler life and Brazil’s tranquil pace made me relax and enjoy daily life tremendously. Just thinking of the music, the effect of nature close to me, and the people, vibrant and so full of lust for life and willingness to share, even when they didn’t have much, make my heart glow.

And although I haven’t seen streets with people randomly dancing to music so loud that windows are about to break; Portugal definitely has that Latin ‘thing’. They looooove to party and guess who arrived right into the yearly month of festas? Not to mention being around to see the national team winning the EuroCup. Regarding timing I did not bad at all.

Hearing that sexy, singing language, covered with honey, has become very dear to my ear. Even though the first few weeks I thought I had arrived in Russia. By the way they looked at me when I tried to say something in the Brazilian Portuguese I’ve learnt, I think they felt the same about me. Food is fresh, authentic and kindly priced. The long stretches of beach felt South American, although they did forget to turn on the hot water on the European side of the bath tub. Surfing requires wetsuits and going for a dip, even in summer, takes courage.  

Eye candy

The people are heart warming and welcoming though, just a tiny bit less straightforward maybe. Arriving in Lisbon had the same exact same effect on me as when I first saw Bahia’s eye candy; I had to be careful not to walk into parked cars while busy staring at the mostly dark haired and light eyed pretty people. And for sure that tuk tuk companies do some sort of cuteness selection when choosing their drivers.

Having Portuguese friends made me see less visited parts of this amazing country, feel their good vibes and the warmth of sharing and living with them. It is something that Southern Europeans seem to do much more than ‘us’ Northerners; inviting people you’ve just met to come and stay in their house whenever you want. 

So from the sofa of one of these great fresh friends, I salute you, Holanda, and all that is so great about you and your summer too. I had a sneak peak week with my Best Friend, visiting me in Portugal. So, I'm ready for a break from Latin life & and a lot of catch-up hugs with my other home boys and girls!

Donkey town & loving Latin life

Sleep. Chill. Eat. Repeat. It's all about chilling and relaxing in sleepy, sandy, dreamy Jericoacoara. And kite surfing, if you wish. After a while, I figured it's ok to do absolutely nothing (active) for a little while and surrendered to easy, lovely life in Jeri with watching the daily sunset as the main activity.

Jericoacoara, a sleepy little town, only to be reached by a 45 minute ride by buggy or beach truck, through the surrounding dunes, lakes and oases with palm trees and fresh water inside. Horses, cows, but mainly donkeys seem to love to hang out at this surreal looking area.

A few artisanal artists sell their crafts to the wealthier South American visitors and some backpackers that come to Jeri to enjoy the silence for a bit. Not a lot of massive partying going on here, or at least not in low season, when I've only seen capoeira and soccer at sunset, forró and reggae nights with cocktail bars and bonfires under the stars.

The streets all consist of soft, white sand and I tried to go Hiawatha and live without shoes again, but apart from the risk to take on some bug that gets under your skin and starts traveling there, my feet proved not to be made for shoeless adventures - again. 20 km dune and beach walks to see magical fluorescent orange sea horses will only be done again on proper footwear. I guess once corrected flat feet don't allow to go back natural after a certain time, so don't try this at home, fellow former flat footed boys and girls!

Rumba to Europe
T here's no way I could have had a more relaxed ending to this chapter of Brazil before hopping over to Cartagena (Colombia) to get on board of the cruiser towards Europe. Cartagena has changed quite a bit since I was here 8,5 years ago, but she certainly hasn't lost her beauty. Tourism helps the economy and the Cartageneras, so no reason to complain about it feeling a bit less adventurous and 'unexplored' then before. Go Colombia!
Also, I was mainly busy spending time catching up with some of my favourite boat friends anyway, as a warmin up for the following 13 magical days on the Atlantic, making sure we drank enough Baileys, gin-tonics and Cava to make up for our unlimited drinks package.

At arrival in Portugal, we 'fell with our nose in the butter', as we would say in Holanda: June is party month in Lisbon, so Latin life seems to continue by people eating, drinking and dancing in the streets... So transitioning from Latin life to European summer has never been easier :)

Lost in Wonderland

Little did I know when I arrived in Pipa more than 2 months ago. I didn’t know I would extend my stay over and over again, nor did I have an idea of the amount of wonderful people I was about to meet. 

Friendship

Unnecessary to explain to people that travel how connections of any kind don’t need a long time to leave an everlasting smile tattooed onto your heart. Luckily mine is big enough for all the friends I already had the luck to find, plus all the new ones coming and yet to come. 

A single 1½ hour breakfast conversation with unfortunately just briefly met, but wonderful people, to daily updates with ‘long’ term ones that stay a little longer and who become your everything for the hours, days or weeks you spend together. This town made me get to know and learn from so many new friends from all over the world, that it was a big deal to eventually leave.

Pipa Paradise

The daily shot of dolphin fun didn't help moving on either. Pipa's nature is an absolute winner. Regardless of being one of the main tourist attractions of the Northeast, people, nature and animals seem to live quite peacefully together.

Sea turtles, frogs, chameleons, butterflies, centipedes, giant snails, hummingbirds (that are cutely translated into ‘flower kissers’ in Portuguese), cuddly stray cats and dogs and many others show up at your door step. The dolphins literally swim around you while you're for a wave, baby turtles run as fast as they can to get to the ocean for their first dip and when you walk around with an open vision, at least one more thing will take your breath away. Every day again. 

The energy that circles around the cliffs of Praia do Amor, the cotton candy skies and ever changing ocean, the beaches on a sunny or cloudy day, during a thrilling sunset or with a surreal full moon hovering above them. The temperature that belongs to a place close to the equator comes with a wonderful breeze most of the time and… with not too many mosquitos, life gets pretty close to perfect.

Freedom

I’m pinching myself all the time to realize I am actually living a life I was dreaming of before. About 6 months later, I still find it hard to believe that this now is 'real life'. Always doubted how to get this work & travel lifestyle in practice and although there’s still lots of room for improvement (mainly on the work section): here we are. Doing it and could not be any happier about taking that leap!

Free of make-up, a tight schedule and that sometimes somewhat overwhelming society in the Wild Wild West. Not so much of a daily routine and way less unnecessary worries. The universe knows exactly where I am to teach me some life lessons, but all of them are easier to deal with in this ‘here and now’. The sun kissing my face, the sand giving my feet a natural scrub, the sea at a stone's throw away and the wind playing with my hair... It’s great to live & learn like this. Letting some things be and to letting a few other things go.

To not be too over-the-top-happy-camper-cheesy-annoying-zen, I won't say ‘Amen’. 

Just doe-doei!

Carnival kisses & acaï love

Scrolling back in time: Bahia seems a while ago and all feels different after swopping places, friends and lifestyle. I’m still in Brazil, which is not weird at all, considering that the country is bigger than Europe. I'm not ready to leave at all. Time – as always  – is way ahead of me and runs faster than my daily acaï goes down.

Acaï love

Acaï* is my favourite new addiction, especially after an attempt to surf, it becomes my favourite moment of the day. Everything is just better with acaï. Said to be ‘good for you’, because of the anti-oxidants that the acaï berry originally contains, but almost all of them are sugar bombs in disguise. Even if you wouldn't overload it with all the candies and syrups in the self-service bars; a McFlurry might be healthier.

I could go on about acaï forever and tell you how good it is in its standard set-up with granola and banana, but also about the wonderful combination with coconut, paçoca*, mango, chia and cacao. But let’s not, because carnival is also a Very Important subject. Duh. In Recife and Olinda we were promised to have a more local celebration, following Brazilians resources. And even though there must have been more gringas then just us, we indeed felt like the only ones for most of the time.

   

Carnival kisses & trash

Olinda’s street parties had a young and intimate crowd. The carnival kiss is a common thing and one should not worry about asking silly questions such as ‘Where are you from?’ or ‘What’s your name?’ beforehand. Approach, smile and if you’re a decent cara (meaning ‘dude’ mais ou menos), you can try asking for one first. Or if you’re badass, get closer (if you can get any, being in the middle of a one way moving pile of people) and go for it. 

In case you're the one that's almost being kissed and it's undesired; duck (or) dive. They will say 'But it's carnival!!!!' and that you're missing out on getting to know the Brazilian culture, but at least you won’t end up with the after carnival flu. Or a baby in this year November’s baby boom.

Carioca, samba, maracatu and frevo: me being a complete idiot when it comes to dance, I still wouldn’t know what is what, but it was fun either way. I adore the seemingly never-ending party mode/ mood and people dancing, drinking, laughing everywhere you look and sharing that energy with everyone.

It's almost the same as a week long Kingsday*** with a heat stroke.

Sad to see though, that like in most other places I’ve been, these cities also struggle with processing all the garbage. I’m not too sure about how much the government is to blame here, but I still believe there are things that people can do differently themselves. But I guess that as long as moms with kids keep throwing empty water bottles and cans of Coke and crisp bags out of the window of a driving bus, it will take time to make today's people and the following generation aware (and give a shit).

  

 

City – beach – city – beach

It's a wonderful rhythm to me. So after carnival craze came Maracaipe, a small beach town next to another beach town, Porto de Galinhas****. The latter again very much promoted by Brazilians. We couldn’t see the glory of it, as we couldn’t look past the amount of parasols, which made walking on this beach almost impossible. The advertised natural pools were overflowing by groups of people in UV protection shirts, wading through them and following a guide, like a group of elephants following the leader of the hurd through a puddle in the desert, which I personally am not a great fan of. But Maracaipe itself had pretty beaches and great sunsets to enjoy. The hostel had strong Wi-Fi so I could actually get some work done AND it has a place selling acaï that ended up in my personal top 5. So everything was still just perfect.

BH90210

Back to Boa Viagem, the uptown part of Recife, for a bit of Beverly Hills 90210 living before moving further north. Perhaps a little less shiny than The States, but it seems like a quite wealthy area with condominiums and private parking lots, massive 24/7 supermarkets, hipster coffee bars and healthy salad bars around.

I enjoyed having a dip in the roof top pool or doing morning yoga right next to it, overlooking the ocean’s shades of blue. No dips or water sports in this one though, as this is shark territory. Instead I had evening runs and workouts on the boulevard. The palm trees I looked up to while running, have a fake-ish moonlit wet-look; as if they had just returned from a quick shower.

After parting ways with my longest travel friend so far, this time not knowing when we will see each other again, Recife was the perfect place to ease into being on my own again. 

Luckily it turned out that I'm still pretty damn good at it! Like now, living probably my favourite way of living in Pipa-Paradise. Touristy yes, but it's easy to get away from the crowd and enjoy all of this gem's beauty in relative peace. And… when dolphins pop up right next to you when you're in the ocean every day, you kind of forget about anything that doesn't fit in your magical place. 

More on Pipa's magic & more next time.

Até logo!  

* A frozen, sorbet ice cream-ish fruit puree of the acaï berry that originates from the Amazonian region and is very big in Brazil.

** Peanut butter candy

*** My favourite national holiday in Holanda

**** When new slaves were brought into 'Chicken port' together with actual birds, slave traffickers would secretly spread the news by saying 'there are new chickens in the port'. This explains the city's name. To me it doesn't explain why you would still proudly want to sell chicken souvenirs everywhere...