Pipa

Last post before the madness of carnival!

I forgot to mention another funny thing about Natal which totally fits in to the madness of life in Brazil. On one day we were giving a lift to Mestre Shotokan in order for him to catch his bus home after the event. The only problem was that he was running late, his bus was meant to leave at 6pm and it was 6pm already. So we drove like mad in order to catch up with the bus, driving through red lights and all. Finally we saw the bus, and we started flashing it and honking at it. Then, when we reached a red light he got out of the car to go and ask if it would let him in, and it did! It drove a bit further on and then pulled over on the side of the road and let him in. How crazy!! One would never witness this in Europe, but I thought it was hilarious, and also so representative of what life is like in Brazil.

After Natal I went to Pipa, a beach resort south of Natal. I decided not to go all the way to Fortaleza as I just could not face another long bus ride from Fortaleza to Salvador and decided to go and chill at a beach instead. M. Ataulfo kindly offered to drive me to Pipa and so we made a day excursion of it: me, Horrivel, Capacete and M. Ataulfo all drove down to Pipa and spent the day there just enjoying the sun and the nice view. M. Ataulfo is really sweet and is really interested in learning english so he was asking me all sorts of questions on the language and how it worked. At the end of the day they dropped me off at my pousada and headed home. The pousada in Pipa was lovely as it was brand new, and all the rooms had great balconies with hammocks on them, a fantastic idea! It also had a nice pool and two brand new computers. I met lots of people there, mainly english people, and interestingly enough bumped in to the SAME english guy I had first met in Rio and then in Olinda. How random!!! Anyway it was nice as I met an english girl from London called Abby, a Brazilian girl from Porto Allegre called Vania and a whole group of English guys travelling together as well as loads more people. Pipa was nice as it is surrounded by cliffs and has an impressive setting. Also, the water, as always in the North East is an amazing turquoise which makes it all the more impressive, and Pipa has a reputation for having lots of dolphins in its waters.

On the first day we all went for a surf lesson and walked accross several beaches to get to the surf beach, including a very looooong crossing of rocks and stones to reach the final destination, which was painful and tiring. Finally we made it, and went into the waters to try and surf. It was very frustrating as the hardest bit really, was getting out to sea as every time you made some progress a big wave came and carried you back out towards the shore. I found this very frustrating as really the moment you ride the wave does not last very long and then you have to start battling again to get out to sea. It is so exhausting!! Also, I was not very good at getting up on the board which frustrated me too. Still, it was good fun and at least now I can say I tried. The next day, my pecs were killing me like crazy from all the pushing up with your arms on the board. The next day I went to the praia dos golfinhos in order to try and get some pictures of the dolphins but it was rather unsuccessful, and I almost regretted having the camera as I couldn't go out and swim with them. On my last day in Pipa we went back to the surf beach, and that was when I saw the most dolphins. Some of them were really close to the shore, and I even saw one jump out of the sea several times, just like in the documentaries! It was very exciting and I was glad to be able to have seen them, even if I didn't get to swim with them.

In the evenings we went out a few times but I was actually not much impressed by Pipa nightlife. It existed, but it was way to European for my taste. The bars there just blasted out European hip hop and commercial techno tunes which I just hate! It was obvious that all the customers were Europeans and so that's what they were catering to, but it's just not my taste. I love Brazilian culture and did not come to Brazil to experience Europe so was not too happy with that. Still, it was good to be able to go out at night and have some company to have fun. My plan of chilling out and resting before carnival obviously failed...

I managed to get a lift back from Pipa with a Brazilian guy from Porto Allegre. He was driving to Recife and originally I had asked him if he could drop me off in Joao Pessoa. However he pointed out to me that Recife was closer to Salvador and that there would be more frequent buses, so I figured why not save myself a few more kilometres and go down to Recife. It was me and Vania, the other Brazilian girl,as well as him in the car, and he felt perfectly safe, and so he was! We stopped off quite a bit on the way looking at the views and taking pictures, and he drove Brazilian style. Eventually we made it to Recife but as it was a Sunday decided to stop off in Olinda first to see the last mini carnival before the real carnival. That was really cool and in the end I decided to stay in Olinda again as I had liked it there so much. It was really nice as by then the city was fully decorated for carnival and the atmosphere was getting much crazier due to the start of carnival being so close. I happened upon the frenchies again and actually got to see those that were still there playing in their band in the parade which was nice. It was also really lovely to have been able to see the progession in the decoration of the city of Olinda, with it being fully decorated that sunday with all the colourful bits of paper hanging in the streets, and lots of new graffiti and drawings having appeared on the walls of the houses. Near the hostel they had set up a huge outdoor stage with free concerts, and so on Sunday night we got to go and see the Velha Guarda of Mangueira samba school playing. Mangueira is a really famous samba school from Rio and the velha guarda were so sweet: little old ladies and men living it up to the samba! The next day Marcelo D2 was due to be playing, and I was absolutely gutted that I had to get the bus to Salvador that same evening. I love Marcelo D2 and the chance of seeing him play for free in Brazil was next to none, and I can't believe I passed it up! Still, during the day I heard him rehearsing and so I ran over to the scene to see if it was him, then ran back to the hostel to get my camera, and then ran back to the stage. Unfortunately, shortly after he stopped rehearsing as the sound was bad, but at least I got to see him up close and see a bit of the rehearsal. How exciting!! And, one last coincidence for Olinda: as I woke up and went down for breakfast on the Monday morning, who did I run into but Mariana from the London School Samba!! Mariana is a Brazilian lady who teaches with the LSS and I had met her several times before in London. How incredible to happen upon her in Olinda. It was really nice though as we got to have a chat and she filled me in on what she was doing in Brazil and her travels.

I think that is enough for now about Pipa and Olinda as my last post will be about my return to Salvador and the carnival which is currently going on outside the window. I can't believe my trip is so close to its end. More soon, as a last post and synopsis come along. Happy Carnival everyone!