Northeastern road trip
In the days following my last blog and leading up to my travels in the Northeast, I kept myself quite busy here in São Paulo. It was the last week that Tilly, Will, Lewis and I would all be together in São Paulo too, as our time in Brazil has started to come to an end, so we made sure to make the most of it. Tilly, Will and I were lucky enough to be able to watch the Maori All Blacks play Brazil in a rugby game here, meaning we got to see a haka, which was very exciting, and to make it even better, the tickets were only £4! Having never been to a rugby match before, I asked Will about a million questions, but it was good fun all the same. This turned out to be the beginning of a week of sport-watching (now that’s something I never imagined myself saying), as the following day Will and I went to support Lewis in his athletics events for the university, cheering him on and seeing him take home numerous medals after coming in the top three in all of his running events. Before going to watch the athletics, Will and I went to Camden House, a gastropub-style place where we satisfied our craving for an English breakfast, washed down by a glass of Pimm’s. For a foreign attempt at an English breakfast, it wasn’t half bad – I’d probably rate it about an 8/10. They even included homemade baked beans, which whilst not being “better than Heinz” as Will outrageously claimed they were, were definitely a good effort. Our week of sport ended on the Saturday, when we went to watch Corinthians play Vasco da Gama here in São Paulo. The only football game I remember going to before this was an Aston Villa non-league game, and to say the experience was different would be an understatement. The atmosphere at the Corinthians game was electric, and I enjoyed it so much that by the end I’d managed to learn the words to most the chants, something which I didn’t expect to happen.
After enjoying our last week all together in São Paulo, the four of us headed to the Northeast, along with Jack, a friend of Lewis’s from home. We arrived in Recife, and the following night tried (and failed) to work out which public bus would take us to Olinda, the nearby UNESCO World Heritage site. We ended up having to get an Uber after spending far too long on the wrong bus, but eventually we made it, and it was worth the hassle. Olinda is a beautiful old colonial town steeped in history, and it makes for a lovely day out. That evening, after the difficulty we had faced with the buses earlier in the day, we decided to hire a car for the next ten days to make the trip easier. Jack was nominated as driver, and off we went onto Porto de Galinhas, about an hour down the coast from Recife. The town of Porto de Galinhas itself is nothing particularly special, with quite a tourist resort feel about it, but there are some pretty beaches surrounding it, and lots of natural rock pools. Two days later, sunburnt but happy, we took a day trip to Praia dos Carneiros, which has often been listed as one of Brazil’s most beautiful beaches. If you walk down the beach, you will eventually come across an old church overlooking the sea, which is the postcard picture of Praia dos Carneiros. It is definitely a stunning beach, but if you want to splash about in the waves like Tilly and I did, you’re better off at the opposite end of the beach where waves crash in every direction.
Our next stop on our road trip was Maragogi, a charming fishing village that lies a short distance south from Praia dos Carneiros. This was one of my favourite stops on the road trip, largely due to the fact that the lack of tourists means the village has retained a very authentic feel. We stayed at Hostel da Praia, a relatively new hostel with very friendly staff, nice rooms and an amazing breakfast. Whilst in Maragogi, we spent an afternoon at Praia de Antunes, a nearby beach where, at low tide, you can walk out to sea to see some natural rock pools, and you are able to walk all the way there (about a half an hour walk) without going deeper than waist-height into the sea. After a few hours at the beach, we headed back to Maragogi where we came across a lovely simple restaurant called Sabor Nordestino that served a full home-cooked feijoada for as little as 15 reais (£3). 15 reais. Bear in mind you can share a feijoada between two, if that gives you an idea of how cheap this is.
From Maragogi we headed further down the coast to stop overnight in Maceió. Personally, I don’t think there’s anything special about Maceió, as it just felt like a poor-man’s Rio de Janeiro, but I’m sure it has its merits. From Maceió we split the 8 hour drive to Salvador over 2 days to make it easier for Jack, stopping briefly at Praia do Francês, Penedo, Aracaju and Praia do Forte on the way. After 2 days on the road with an overnight stop in Aracaju, we finally arrived in Salvador. Now, bar a lot of potholes, uneven speedbumps, and driving past a completely wrecked crashed bus , the drive to Salvador from Recife had gone by pretty smoothly, with no major challenges. Therefore, driving in Salvador was a bit shock to the system for us all. It seems that on the roads in Salvador, it’s every man for himself. Motorbikes seem to come out of nowhere, nobody indicates, there appears to be no speed limit – in short, it’s chaos. Kind of like driving in Grand Theft Auto, but worse, because it’s not you driving like a maniac, it’s everyone. On our way to find where we were staying, we somehow ended up in a favela. All very well and good, except for the fact that the roads seem to lead to absolutely nowhere. Oh, and there was a man on the side of the road with a huge chunk of his leg missing, and blood pouring everywhere, which isn't exactly what you want to see when you get to a city for the first time. Anyway, we got out of the favela and Jack’s road rage subsided (until the following morning when he had to reverse out of a narrow parking exit onto a main road), and we spent a chilled night in Salvador before carrying on to Chapada Diamantina National Park the next day.
For the most part, the drive to Chapada Diamantina was pretty smooth, as it was mostly just one long, long, long road. However, we did come across an overturned lorry, which had gone off the road down into a ditch. Along with the crashed bus from the previous day, this was testament enough to why the Brazil Lonely Planet guide starts of its section on driving with something along the lines of “driving in Brazil is dangerous”. Good thing we didn’t read it until we’d already started the road trip! After a long drive, we finally arrived in Lençóis, a town in Chapada Diamantina. After freshening up a bit, we were about to set off on a walk around the town, and were just waiting for Lewis to get his stuff out of the car boot, when Jack closed the boot. With the car keys inside. Amazing. Throughout the trip we had been locking the back doors of the car from the inside to make sure they were locked, so Lewis ran to check them in the hope we hadn’t yet locked them. Obviously, we had. The look of dismay on the boys’ faces sent me into fits of nervous laughter, and I went and stood at the edge of the road with Will to calm down. As we looked down at the road below, Will and I spotted exactly what we needed. A local garage! It appears miracles do happen. We went down and explained what had happened, and without batting an eyelid, the men accepted the task, their only comment being that they “do this all the time”. Reassuring I guess? One of them went off and picked up a friend, and upon his return, his friend looked at the car, gave himself a satisfied smirk, and set to work on opening the car. Within ten minutes, he had gotten into the car, we had the keys back, and luckily, the car was unscathed. What a legend that man was.
The next morning came the best day of the whole trip. We set off early to do a two hour drive to the spot where our 22km hike would begin. Yes, I did a 22km hike. Very unlike me I know, and what’s even more surprising is that I really, really enjoyed it. We walked through some stunning landscapes, waded through a river, and crossed paths with lizards before coming to a stop at an incredibly breath-taking canyon. And when I say breath-taking, I mean it literally took my breath away. I’ve never seen anything like it, it was honestly one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. After a few minutes here taking photos and marvelling at the natural beauty in front of us, we walked to a small waterfall where we swam before having lunch and starting the walk back to our car. When we finally got back to our hostel we were all shattered and went straight to bed, ready for our drive back to Salvador early the next day so that we could hand the car back in, and so that Lewis could fly back to São Paulo for his last week in Brazil.
We then spent a lovely few days in Salvador, which is the most vibrant city I have ever visited. An old colonial city, it is full of colour and life, and the people are some of the friendliest I have ever come across. We stayed in a great hostel called Hostel Galeria 13, which offered breakfast and a caipirinha happy hour in the room price, and was the perfect place to chill out. We were also lucky enough to be there on both the National Day of Samba and the Festa de Santa Barbara, the former of which was a fun celebration with a lot of people dancing in the street, and the latter of which was a religious festival for which everyone wore red and there was live music and people flooded the streets. We also visited the lighthouse at Barra, which is the oldest lighthouse in the Americas and offers stunning coastal views and houses a museum on marine life and exploration. Another museum we visited was the Afro-Brazilian museum, which, although small, is incredibly powerful. It currently only offers descriptions in Portuguese, but much of the works speak for themselves. Food-wise, Tilly found an amazing little café called Cafelier in Pelourinho, which did substantial portions of tasty dishes at very good prices, and the same can be said for Poró, another small restaurant on the same street.
Our time in the Northeast sadly came to an end last week, and on Sunday it was time for Lewis to head home to England. Will, Gabi and I went with him to the airport, after a weekend of goodbyes with different people. After a dismal meal at the airport’s Bob’s, we said an emotional goodbye to him, and a lot of tears were shed by me (no surprises there, we all know I love a good cry). This Sunday Will and Tilly are also going home, and now my own time in Brazil seems to be coming to a very quick close. My five months in Brazil have been better than I ever could have imagined, and I’m going to try and enjoy this last month as much as I possibly can before I move on to my next adventure in January.
Beijos,
Lola
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| Lewis at his athletics event |
After enjoying our last week all together in São Paulo, the four of us headed to the Northeast, along with Jack, a friend of Lewis’s from home. We arrived in Recife, and the following night tried (and failed) to work out which public bus would take us to Olinda, the nearby UNESCO World Heritage site. We ended up having to get an Uber after spending far too long on the wrong bus, but eventually we made it, and it was worth the hassle. Olinda is a beautiful old colonial town steeped in history, and it makes for a lovely day out. That evening, after the difficulty we had faced with the buses earlier in the day, we decided to hire a car for the next ten days to make the trip easier. Jack was nominated as driver, and off we went onto Porto de Galinhas, about an hour down the coast from Recife. The town of Porto de Galinhas itself is nothing particularly special, with quite a tourist resort feel about it, but there are some pretty beaches surrounding it, and lots of natural rock pools. Two days later, sunburnt but happy, we took a day trip to Praia dos Carneiros, which has often been listed as one of Brazil’s most beautiful beaches. If you walk down the beach, you will eventually come across an old church overlooking the sea, which is the postcard picture of Praia dos Carneiros. It is definitely a stunning beach, but if you want to splash about in the waves like Tilly and I did, you’re better off at the opposite end of the beach where waves crash in every direction.
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| Praia dos Carneiros |
From Maragogi we headed further down the coast to stop overnight in Maceió. Personally, I don’t think there’s anything special about Maceió, as it just felt like a poor-man’s Rio de Janeiro, but I’m sure it has its merits. From Maceió we split the 8 hour drive to Salvador over 2 days to make it easier for Jack, stopping briefly at Praia do Francês, Penedo, Aracaju and Praia do Forte on the way. After 2 days on the road with an overnight stop in Aracaju, we finally arrived in Salvador. Now, bar a lot of potholes, uneven speedbumps, and driving past a completely wrecked crashed bus , the drive to Salvador from Recife had gone by pretty smoothly, with no major challenges. Therefore, driving in Salvador was a bit shock to the system for us all. It seems that on the roads in Salvador, it’s every man for himself. Motorbikes seem to come out of nowhere, nobody indicates, there appears to be no speed limit – in short, it’s chaos. Kind of like driving in Grand Theft Auto, but worse, because it’s not you driving like a maniac, it’s everyone. On our way to find where we were staying, we somehow ended up in a favela. All very well and good, except for the fact that the roads seem to lead to absolutely nowhere. Oh, and there was a man on the side of the road with a huge chunk of his leg missing, and blood pouring everywhere, which isn't exactly what you want to see when you get to a city for the first time. Anyway, we got out of the favela and Jack’s road rage subsided (until the following morning when he had to reverse out of a narrow parking exit onto a main road), and we spent a chilled night in Salvador before carrying on to Chapada Diamantina National Park the next day.
For the most part, the drive to Chapada Diamantina was pretty smooth, as it was mostly just one long, long, long road. However, we did come across an overturned lorry, which had gone off the road down into a ditch. Along with the crashed bus from the previous day, this was testament enough to why the Brazil Lonely Planet guide starts of its section on driving with something along the lines of “driving in Brazil is dangerous”. Good thing we didn’t read it until we’d already started the road trip! After a long drive, we finally arrived in Lençóis, a town in Chapada Diamantina. After freshening up a bit, we were about to set off on a walk around the town, and were just waiting for Lewis to get his stuff out of the car boot, when Jack closed the boot. With the car keys inside. Amazing. Throughout the trip we had been locking the back doors of the car from the inside to make sure they were locked, so Lewis ran to check them in the hope we hadn’t yet locked them. Obviously, we had. The look of dismay on the boys’ faces sent me into fits of nervous laughter, and I went and stood at the edge of the road with Will to calm down. As we looked down at the road below, Will and I spotted exactly what we needed. A local garage! It appears miracles do happen. We went down and explained what had happened, and without batting an eyelid, the men accepted the task, their only comment being that they “do this all the time”. Reassuring I guess? One of them went off and picked up a friend, and upon his return, his friend looked at the car, gave himself a satisfied smirk, and set to work on opening the car. Within ten minutes, he had gotten into the car, we had the keys back, and luckily, the car was unscathed. What a legend that man was.
The next morning came the best day of the whole trip. We set off early to do a two hour drive to the spot where our 22km hike would begin. Yes, I did a 22km hike. Very unlike me I know, and what’s even more surprising is that I really, really enjoyed it. We walked through some stunning landscapes, waded through a river, and crossed paths with lizards before coming to a stop at an incredibly breath-taking canyon. And when I say breath-taking, I mean it literally took my breath away. I’ve never seen anything like it, it was honestly one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. After a few minutes here taking photos and marvelling at the natural beauty in front of us, we walked to a small waterfall where we swam before having lunch and starting the walk back to our car. When we finally got back to our hostel we were all shattered and went straight to bed, ready for our drive back to Salvador early the next day so that we could hand the car back in, and so that Lewis could fly back to São Paulo for his last week in Brazil.
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| At the canyon in Chapada Diamantina |
We then spent a lovely few days in Salvador, which is the most vibrant city I have ever visited. An old colonial city, it is full of colour and life, and the people are some of the friendliest I have ever come across. We stayed in a great hostel called Hostel Galeria 13, which offered breakfast and a caipirinha happy hour in the room price, and was the perfect place to chill out. We were also lucky enough to be there on both the National Day of Samba and the Festa de Santa Barbara, the former of which was a fun celebration with a lot of people dancing in the street, and the latter of which was a religious festival for which everyone wore red and there was live music and people flooded the streets. We also visited the lighthouse at Barra, which is the oldest lighthouse in the Americas and offers stunning coastal views and houses a museum on marine life and exploration. Another museum we visited was the Afro-Brazilian museum, which, although small, is incredibly powerful. It currently only offers descriptions in Portuguese, but much of the works speak for themselves. Food-wise, Tilly found an amazing little café called Cafelier in Pelourinho, which did substantial portions of tasty dishes at very good prices, and the same can be said for Poró, another small restaurant on the same street.
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| Salvador during Festa de Santa Barbara |
Our time in the Northeast sadly came to an end last week, and on Sunday it was time for Lewis to head home to England. Will, Gabi and I went with him to the airport, after a weekend of goodbyes with different people. After a dismal meal at the airport’s Bob’s, we said an emotional goodbye to him, and a lot of tears were shed by me (no surprises there, we all know I love a good cry). This Sunday Will and Tilly are also going home, and now my own time in Brazil seems to be coming to a very quick close. My five months in Brazil have been better than I ever could have imagined, and I’m going to try and enjoy this last month as much as I possibly can before I move on to my next adventure in January.
Beijos,
Lola
Hi Lola, great article.
ReplyDeleteThank you wordoftravel!
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