Joao Pessoa

After spending some time with the Frenchies in Olinda, I then headed off further north in order to do the final part as it were, of my trip. I headed towards Joao Pessoa which is supposed to be a beautiful city on the North Eastern coast, with a historical centre, beaches, and has a reputation for being the greenest city in Brazil. I got there fine and got a cab to my hostel which turned out to be in a really fancy looking neighbourhood and was a really decent hostel. On the first night I didn't do anything except go for dinner in a fairly expensive restaurant that served local foods and had been recommended to me by the receptionist. Back at the hostel I immediately met a very inquisitive Swiss guy who I was at first a bit reluctant to talk to as he kept asking me so many questions. But then came along an english guy and so we all started chatting together. They were both quite interesting people. The Swiss guy had lived in Joao Pessoa for 3 years and spoke perfect portuguese, but had decided overnight to move back to Switzerland due to a job offer and was now back in Joao Pessoa on holiday. He seeemed to be very bright and keen on moving back to Brazil. The english guy had been travelling through latin america and in particular Venezuela, filming a documentary there about politics and the elections, and getting people's opinions. His work seemed to be interesting there, and if I can find a link I will put it up. He was looking to buy some property in Joao Pessoa and was thinking of spending half the year there and half the year in england. He was a definite adventurer.

The next day, I spent the day on the beach just chilling out. The beaches here in the Northeast are fabulous: turquoise waters, white sand and the water is always warm. The hostel was right near the beach so I decided to make the most of it and spend the day in the sun. The only thing was, there weren't many people on the beach at all: practically deserted. Still, at least it was nice and peaceful. In the evening I met yet another english guy in the hostel who didn't speak a word of portuguese so we got chatting and he got me playing scrabble. He had a small scrabble board he travelled with and was absolutely obsessed with playing. The next day, I decided to get the bus to the bus station and into the old part of town. The english adventurer had told me the bus got you there nice and easily and that there was a small train nearby that one could ride. I asked the receptionist where to get the bus but for some reason decided not to listen to her and to get the bus that I had seen on the beachfront that said "bus station". So I got on the bus and it started driving off further and further away. After a while I decided that I was possibly going in the wrong direction but decided to trust the bus driver and that we would get there eventually. After an even longer while though, we were really getting out into the sticks, and it was getting more and more rural, with horses in the street and all. So I asked the bus driver if he went to the bus station and he said "What, in Joao Pessoa?" so it turned out we had already left Joao Pessoa...When I asked him whether I should get off he said yes and to pick the bus going in the other direction. When I pointed out that there were no bus stops I said, "What should I do, I can't see a bus stop?" and he shrugged so I said "do I have to just get off and make my own bus stop?" and he said yes. Typical Brazilian style, you just have to stand by the side of the road and be your own bus stop. How funny!! Luckily for me, Joao Pessoa is a safe city so I was in no real danger and got the bus right back into the centre, and then back out again to the hostel. So my discovery of Joao Pessoa was mainly riding around it on a bus. The weird thing about Joao Pesso was that it seemed to be a very calm and respectable city. But at night, the prostitutes would all come out and line up along the beachfront, just standing there by the palm trees. It was strange because the atmosphere of the city was not like that all, except that at night it became seedy. At one point, I saw the police on the other side of the road just standing there, chilling out, and the prostitutes too on the other side of the road, chilling out. I didn't understand but when I asked some Brazilians they explained to me that prostitution in Brazil is not illegal. It is illegal to be the pimp, but it is not illegal to prostitute yourself, nor is it illegal to pick up a prostitute, as far as I understood. Strange isn't it?

I had no luck with the weather as the rain was indeed following me and whilst I was in Joao Pessoa it rained quite a bit. On my last day I went on another adventure bus ride with the english guy that spoke no portuguese. He convinced me to jump on the first bus that was coming along and so off we went to we didn't know where, on a mini adventure. We didn't go as far as I had done the last time though, and came back in order to go and watch the sun set at the Praia de Jacuma. Apparently it is THE thing to do there in Joao Pessoa is to go and watch the sunset whilst listening to the saxophonist play. It was cheesy but actually really cool as the sun sets over a river of calm water, orangey colours all whilst listening to the bolero on the saxophone. Whilst we were sitting there on the waterfront I saw a group of kids playing a percussion game and I asked them if I could join in. They deemed cool enough and so we sat there playing the percussion game and rock scissor paper for ages. They were loads of fun! When we got back from the sunset we met up with a few other people from the hostel as the english adventurer guy had seen some forro in a bar down the road and managed to motivate us all to go out. It was fun and I was well surprised to see that one of the english guys could dance pretty well. WE even managed to get in for much cheaper than they originally tried to make us pay! All in all I would say Joao Pessoa was a bit of a boring city, but it was fun due to the people that I met there who were interesting and kept me good company. After that I headed off to Natal where I am now, and I will write more about that in my next post! That's all for now I think...