Guest post by Jonathan Baggs

I’m interested in astronomy, so one of the things I really hoped to do when we were in Brazil was see the Southern Cross constellation. Whenever we’d been able to see the stars I was looking for it, but soon realized it wouldn’t come over the horizon until very late night/early morning. I figured I’d wait for the right place and opportunity to stay up to see it.   

Dune Buggying our way through Morro Branco

After a night in Fortaleza, we planned to go to Canoa Quebrada. We booked a dune buggy tour that would take us to Canoa from a charmingly eccentric woman who spoke some English. Our first stop was Morro Branco, a nice little beach town known for the amazing sand dune cliffs overlooking beaches. The dunes were amazing, but after a little while exploring them we noticed our tour had gone ahead without us. We caught up with them on the beach and got a lecture from the tour guide.

At this point we were picked up by the dune buggies. The other two passengers in our buggy were very enthusiastic Brazilian women who screamed with delight as we took off along the beach. The next few stops turned out to be a less impressive version of the Jeri tree and a beach cave. We weren’t all that impressed with the tour so far and were looking forward to getting to Canoa as we headed to the next stop. As we drove along we started picking up speed and were soon flying across the sand dunes. The thrilling ride across an amazing landscape was exactly the experience we’d been hoping for. With smiles on our faces, we arrived at a small, green coloured lagoon. I decided to get in for a swim, but Marieke was a bit hesitant to get in the murky water. It turned out the daughter of one of the women in our buggy was riding with Steph and she was a bit disappointed they were separated. Perhaps to make her feel better, they did a photoshoot of the girl on one of the buggies in her bathing suit. 

Canoa Quebrada

The fishing village turned hippie town turned tourist destination of Canoa Quebrada translates to “broken(cracked) canoe” in Portuguese. It has beautiful beaches below yellow sandy cliffs, similar to Morro Branco. The symbol of the town is a half moon and star. The origin of the symbol is a bit of a mystery, but the most common story is that a Muslim man from Morocco carved the symbol into the cliffs years ago. 

In the morning we headed to the beach for some swimming and sun and watched the paragliders that were flying around above the beach. Later, we stopped for a juice at one of the beach restaurants we’d passed and had a few games of Yahtzee. Our server was very excited to have us there and we took turns teaching each other Portuguese and English phrases. 

That evening we went to a bar with a pool table, hoping to have a few games. The staff were playing when we arrived and when we asked to have a game they told us they were covering the table because they had live music starting soon. It turned out to be a family band with the mother on vocals, father on guitar and young son on drums. All their songs were in Portuguese and we enjoyed them. 

The town was still bustling with people and music when we went back to our room for the night. The noise kept going until about 4am and kept us all from getting a good night’s sleep. 

Paragliding over the Cliffs

The next day we decided we’d go for the paragliding experience. We were each strapped in with a pilot and were soon flying above the beach. The views of the beach, cliffs and ocean were amazing. We’d swoop down through gaps in the cliffs and over the beach and restaurants. My pilot stopped a couple of times and hovered over people he knew on the beach to talk. Before landing we were taken high up where we could see the whole town and horizon. It was an amazing experience and I was surprised by how safe and controlled it felt.

To celebrate we headed to a sand dune where people gather to watch the sunset. The place was crowded, but beautiful. There were young boys wrestling and practicing backflips on the edge of the dune while older boys tried to run and slide down the high dune without wiping out. 

That night we tried hard to stay up until it quieted down, but eventually gave in to exhaustion. 

Natal

We got the bus to our next destination, Natal, the next day. It was a long bus ride and we didn’t arrive until evening. The apartment we’d rented was in a gated complex with a pool. 

It was Sunday and my football team the Chiefs were playing in the conference championship game. Our apartment had cable tv, so there was no hassle trying to watch it. Marieke and Steph went to a pizza place to order us dinner while I grabbed some beers and went back to watch the game. The girls made it back to catch the second half. The pizza was good and the Chiefs pulled off a huge victory to put them in the Super Bowl. 

The next day we visited the world’s largest cashew tree. What looks like a forest is actually one huge tree that takes up a full city block. It was a bit expensive and not super interesting, but we enjoyed the walk through the site and the tiny monkeys that live in the tree. 

Nighttime in Natal

We read that there were a few hookah bars in Natal, so we decided to check one out. When we arrived the bar was full of Brazilians enjoying loud dance music. We weren’t as enthusiastic about the music, but luckily there was a deck with some outdoor tables. We ordered a hookah and some beers and relaxed. At some point we started talking to a young Brazilian guy in English. He said he’d seen us around town and was excited to see us at the bar. He introduced us to his friends, one of whom was a young girl who really enjoyed twerking. We found out they were all in their late teens/early twenties and they were shocked to hear we were in our mid-thirties. One of them said “that’s my mom’s age”. 

Feeling very old but happy, we headed home. It was a very late night for us at 2am. As we walked, I looked up to see the stars. The clouds moving across the sky parted to reveal the Southern Cross.