Brazil is as big as the whole of India and Western Europe combined - look at a world map if you don't believe me. So heading there for just two weeks is only ever going to mean seeing a tiny tiny bit of it. Granted a lot of the size of Brazil is still contained within miles upon miles of Amazon, but even within the rainforest, the amount of natural variance, things to do, things to see is vast and somewhat overwhelming. With our two weeks in Brazil we decided to stick to a couple of areas and to build traveling into what we were doing so that we could move a fair amount but in an enjoyable way. We ended up staying in 7 different places over 13 days without it feeling too hectic. Here's how.
Itinerary: Rio de Janeiro, Ipanema --> Natal, Ponte Negra --> São Miguel do Gostoso --> Ponte do Mel --> Canoa Quebrada --> Rio de Janeiro - Santa Teresa --> Ilha Grande.
(You'll notice that this doesn't quite add up to 13 nights because we saved some days of travel by taking internal night flights and sleeping on the plane - this is loads cheaper too.)
I'll split these posts into two, writing about The North East Coast here and then following up with Rio and Ihla Grande separately for those with less time flying into Rio.
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After two beautiful days in the scorching Rio sun (write up coming soon), we took a night flight into Natal from Rio. The Rio international airport Galeao is a short 45 minute taxi away from the city centre. Make sure to take Aerotaxi who you can call in advance because they offer a fixed price of R50 (under half of what you can end up paying for a Radio Taxi or on a tourist meter). The flight took off at 11pm and arrived at 2.30am. Flying into a different landscape and even slightly different climate in the night is an exhilarating experience. We wiped the sleep from our eyes, stretched our legs and walked out onto the runway. A short while later we were in a taxi, driving another 45 minutes through unlit streets and winding coastal roads to the popular Brazillian holiday destination Ponte Negra just outside of Natal. We arrived to be greeted by Villa Simone's night watchman, who showed us to our rooms. Even in the pitch black we could see that Villa Simone was a beautiful safe haven set just back from the cliffs with views straight out onto the sea. We tucked up for what was left of the night, eager for the morning to come.
Ponte Negra was the perfect choice for our first North Easterly stop. This authentic part of Brazil has more Brazilian holidaymakers than tourists, a handful of good restaurants if you know what to look out for and a lovely stretch of beach. If we were to do it all over again, I would return but then head for Pipa where there is a wild pod of dolphins that you can swim out to and play with. This was in the wrong direction for us, so we missed out but the people we met who had been really loved it.
Villa Simone is peaceful, homely, run by a French gentleman called Hugo (or "Ugo" for us Brits) and his beautiful Brazilian wife. They make a fine breakfast in the morning and will insist on you trying the local speciality tapioca which is served like pancakes with either sweet or savoury filling. The pool is cool and delicious, the ambience calm - you'll often find yourselves the only people in the grounds where you can lie back and be rocked to sleep in a hammock.
Natal itself is busy, modern and dirty without the benefit of more cosmopolitan restaurants that might falsely lure you in. The most popular fish restaurant on the sea is overpriced and serves almost everything 'au gratin' baked in cheese so no matter how fresh your prawns are, you're unlikely to be able to taste them at all. We walked in, sat down at our table, saw other people's food arrive and promptly walked out again.
For casual fine dining and pretty-much-perfect cocktails, go to Old Five in Ponte Negra - I'm afraid I didn't take my camera there so you'll have to take my word for it. You will best find it by asking a local for directions as walking along the beach at night isn't advised but reaching Old Five from the road involves walking down an unlikely looking dead-end and then nodding confidently at a security guard who sits at the top of a narrow flight of stairs down to the sea, smoking and sleeping in turn. If you do follow the stairs down, you'll reach a lovely little romantic restaurant on the beach which is very much worth the effort.
Two nights later we were picked up by our private driver and guide 'Sabia' and we set off on our 4x4 adventure. We had contacted Filipe, who coordinates different kind of tours through the region - some in the famous dune buggies of Natal, some group tours or if you're looking to set your own agenda he can find you a good driver and let you work to your own pace and criteria. We wanted to see as much of the coast as possible, stop at deserted beaches, stay in small interesting places and end up in Fortalza in time to take our night flight back to Rio.
On our first night we stopped at São Miguel do Gostoso where a desert-like beach stretched out before us peppered by a few fishing boats in the day and later on at sunset some football playing school children. We stayed in a very sweet self contained hut in a jungle-like garden - paradise.
Here's what we saw on day two.
That night we stopped in the tiny village Ponta do Mel, which isn't even on the tourist map. Our pensione appeared to be the only one in the village and had no other guests. We sat out on a stone wall facing the sea and watched the scene as the sun set - more beach football and some particularly sweet children playing on the grounded boats under the watchful eye of the local donkeys who ruled the streets.
Day three involved driving through miles upon miles of salt flats to a settlement where wild chameleons came down out of the trees to say hello. These beasts are fearless - unsurprisingly as they look like miniature dinosaurs. They are herbivores however so no real danger there.
We finally came to rest at Canoa Quebrada, which is a far more lively and touristy town than any we had been to so far. This final stop was a nice rest bite with a nice beach and a (very) good restaurant that we chanced upon called L'Atelier do Brazil. If you are ever in Canoa, this is the only place to eat but sadly I didn't go there with my camera so you'll just have to take my word for it: Brazilian, French fusion is good when it's conceived of by a young Brazilian, French couple. The rest of Canoa at night is somewhat tacky though, so we weren't sad to leave and head to the Fortazela airport to fly back to Rio. It was a bit tough saying goodbye to these guys though.
More on Rio and Ilha Grande to come…
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