Jeri and Dune

Jeri and Dune
Jericoacoara, Brazil

Jericoacoara, Brazil

After an amazing few days in Pipa it was hard to believe that we had saved the best of Brazil until last but it seems that with Jericoacoara (or Jeri for short) we had somehow managed to do just that.

The best and worst thing about Jeri is that it is not easy to get to as it is just a little oasis in the middle of a sand dune on the northern coast of Brazil. To get there from Pipa we took a transfer to Natal airport, flew to Fortaleza and stayed the night. We had low expectations of Fortaleza and once again brazil surprised us and the Sunday afternoon walk we took along the beach promenade was buzzing with people skating, cycling, running, slack lining, practising capoeira, eating, drinking, shopping and watching the sun set. We just had one brief night before heading to Jeri.

Our bus picked us up bright and early and we started the 6 hour drive to Jeri, the bus only takes us as far as a town called Jijoca where we were loaded into a 4 wheel drive converted pick up for the final 45 minutes for a bumpy trip across the sand dunes. Anyone going to Jeri, even if they have their own car has to leave it in Jijoca and take this transfer to their hotel which I suspect puts off some of the less adventurous travellers. This transfer was slightly nerve wracking as the roof swayed about a foot each way weighed down with our luggage and I spent the vast majority of the trip watching the dodgy looking welding willing it to keep the roof safely above our heads.

Before our arrival in Jeri we had planned ahead and had booked a cheap hostel which had good reviews and a little pool area with hammocks so we could while away our days relaxing. However as with all the best laid plans things didn’t quite go to plan and we received an email from hotels.com telling us that the hostel could not honour our booking. It seems that someone was looking out for us as Hotels.com gave us a list of nearby hotels with similar facilities that they would offer us for the same price as our cheap hostel and for the inconvenience they would send us a $50 voucher for our next booking. So because we had amazingly found a cheap hostel with a pool all the options we were sent had pools and were 4 times the price of our original booking. We ended up with a fabulous little hotel with our very own hammock and comfy chair on the balcony and a huge pool with comfy bean bags and sunbeds and not another guest to be seen for 5 days. We well and truly made the most of our upgrade and for the first time in a very long time relaxed around the pool reading our kindles and working on our tans.

Jeri was declared a national park in 2002 and has been an environmental protection area since 1984, leaving it as one of the most undeveloped and quaint places we have been. There are no roads, no paths, no pavements, no cars, just sand, beach buggies and horses and carts. There are lots of small hotels, restaurants, shops and beauticians offering £10 massages which were a very welcome find. Jeri only got mains electricity in 1998 and still streetlights are forbidden by local law meaning that the night sky is magical with no light pollution.

Jeri is a haven for kite surfers and surfers alike but the main activity that people gather for each day is sunset. The sand dune that stands at the side of the beach becomes awash with people at 4:30pm and every tourist in the town climbs the dune to watch the sun vanish into the ocean. Aside from being sand blasted from the wind blowing over the dunes the sun set was fantastic.

Our final day we prepared ourselves for our return trip to Fortaleza and were very surprised to discover that our return transfer included a free daytrip to a local lagoon. Sadly the sun was not shining as much as it had been over the previous few days so the lagoon was not the bright aqua blue that we had seen on post cards, but the sand was white, there were hammocks floating in the ocean and we had a couple of hours to relax and enjoy the last of our time here before the bus picked us up. The hammocks in the sea had looked so inviting on the pictures we had seen, but with the wind blowing and the waves of the lagoon lapping the hammock we were very quickly either overcome with small waves lapping our faces or made to feel so sea sick that it was the least enjoyable hammock I have ever sat in. Thankfully there was a little wooden platform in the lagoon so we sat ourselves on it and watched as the other tourists all rushed to the hammocks and lasted 2 minutes before they abandoned them just as we had.

Our transfer back to Fortaleza was as smooth as can be, we took a chiva bus from the lagoon and then a 6 hour bus straight back to our hostel where we took another walk along the waterfront dodging the skaters, cyclists and joggers.

It was unbelievable that our time in Brazil had come to an end, it had been absolutely amazing from the moment we arrived. Every single city, town and tour had been amazing and had something different to offer. I originally had no desire to travel Brazil and the little gems that we found were some of the most special of our travels. After another quick overnight in Fortaleza it was time to head to the airport.

Another day, another country. Bogota, Colombia here we come.