● For full details on our route, transport info, hotel details, etc, look at our Google Maps page

Friday 2 May 2008

Trancoso

28th April – 2nd May

After settling into our new home we set out to explore Trancoso further. We found the newer part of Trancoso, where the locals reside, fairly quickly. It was good to see another side to this
idyllic town, and I think it would be fair to say the locals were having a much better time than many of the well heeled tourists! We joined them for dinner at one of the town’s choice restaurants, a real minimalist affair with the usual yellow plastic tables and chairs – in our eyes these plastic furnishings had become the biggest giveaway to enormous platefuls of tasty food for next to nothing. I think the meal we had here was even tastier and even cheaper than our favourite yellow plastic chair hangout in Itacaré.

On Tuesday, Clare decided to put on her tour guide hat and show us the mud pools along the beach between Arraial and Trancoso, tempting us with hopes of also seeing the nesting turtles. The guidebooks tell you to allow 3 hours for this walk, which was approximately 12km. The last time Clare had walked between the two towns the tide had been completely out. However full moon had come and gone and this morning was a very different story! One hour into the walk and we had to half scramble, half rock climb across a rather daunting set of rocks to avoid drowning in the surf, clad in bikini’s and havianas and not the hiking boots and safety helmets one would have worn at home for this kind of thing!

Another set of rocks at the other end of the bay (by the time we were all pros!) and we were on our way to the mud. Unfortunately the turtles didn’t make an appearance, maybe they didn’t like the high tide either! When we arrived, (by which time we were just a few hundred metres from our old sunbathing pitch at Pitinga!) we all looked at one another in bemusement. The morning had been particularly hot and the mud pools had almost completely dried up, leaving a small pool of some rather dubious looking, stagnant, muddy water, complete with a wooden warning sign we all struggled to decipher.
After some encouragement from Claire and a lot of scepticism on our part, we were all slapping great handfuls of wet mud onto our bodies, faces and hair, not to mention a fair amount of mud throwing at one another! Check out the photos to see the fun we had! Thankfully the sun was so hot the mud dried on pretty quickly, so we could rinse off the now rather smelly sulphurous mud in the sea. The result achieved from our “treatment” was certainly equal to that experienced at any spa retreat, and all for nought! All that remained was for none of us to be stuck down with mysterious sickness the next day!

After another quiet day on the beach we wanted to head further down the coast to the nearby village of Caraiva. Until as recently as this year, Caraiva had no electricity and no motorized vehicles. You have to travel across the river by canoe to reach the village and whilst on the mainland is completely cut off by river/mangrove at either side. The journey down to Caraiva is short in distance but could be expected to take up to two hours by bus, due to the poor condition of the dirt/sand tracks. Eager to get back on two wheels we decided to hire a bike to ease the journey and to explore the area further.

To make the most of the bike, we set the alarm for 5am and slipped off down to the beach to see the sunrise. Now this isn’t something either of us would normally do, but for the complete lack of sunsets in Brazil (being on the East coast of course). It wasn’t quite a spectacular as we’d hoped but the photos look quite cool all the same.

After a couple of hours back in bed we set off for Caraiva. After the first 10k of tarmac the road turned into a composition of stone, dirt, and when the going got really tough, soft golden sand! Anyone used to riding two wheels will understand how much fun this can be, especially when you have a fidgeting pillion!

Just before we got to Caraiva, black clouds rolled in. We pulled over and got a drink from a shack on the side of the road. It was great timing as in true Brazilian style the heavens opened. Ady had just becoming accustomed to riding a new bike through the dry sand when the road was about to turn to mud!

15 minutes later we were in a canoe heading across the river – leaving the bike behind. The guys offered to take it over the river for us – we declined – a wise move as we shall describe later.

Caraiva was very quiet and there were few people around. We strolled around the sand streets and had some breakfast. There were many expensive looking apartments and Pousadas, although the place was very basic it had an air of exclusivity about it. Maybe the kind of place that celebs would be helicoptered into!

We strolled down the deserted beach, much more beautiful than the other beaches that the Brazilians seem to like… They have a preference for lots of tables, chairs and loungers and countless people selling things on the beach. Here it was just us and the wild sea and the sand.

Keen to explore further on the bike, and having been recommended ‘Bahia’s most beautiful beach’, we decided to leave Caraiva and head back towards Trancoso. Back in a canoe, we soon realised the crossing was going to be a little more interesting, when we discovered we would be sharing the canoe with one of two motorbikes that needed to cross. The first bike was loaded onto another canoe, precariously balanced in the middle. The girl who was riding held onto the bike and the canoe was pushed away from the shore. As soon as it set off, the bike began to wobble. We saw it coming as the girl lost control and the bike ended up slowly sinking underwater! By now the second bike was balanced on our canoe, everyone seemed to be concentrating on rescuing the other bike and didn’t see the first canoe heading to bump into ours! Ady jumped into the water and pushed away the first boat – it was nearly two bikes in the water. Surprisingly, when the bike was recovered, it wouldn’t start… we jumped back on our bike, thankful we hadn’t accepted the offer of taking it in the canoe, and headed to Espelho.

Espelho was not what we expected… a very thin strip of sand, with very expensive Pousadas and Restaurants. The sea was very rough and not the flat calm we had been told about. It was very windy too. Walking down the beach, we recognised a couple of bronzed bodies who had walked to Espelho from Caraiva for the day- it was Thomas and Clare!

We didn’t stay around for long as the weather looked like it was closing in, so back onto the bike to head back home!

Our last day in Trancoso was meant to be spent at the beach. It was Friday and we had a flight at 4.30am on Saturday morning. Wanting to save money, we checked out of our Pousada in the morning and were now homeless!

So much for the beach. It rained all day, so we spent the time running between internet café and bar, and eventually gave up on getting to the beach. We decided to get the bus to Porto Seguro, and spend the evening in the town, before heading to the airport. By now the weather had cleared, and after some great Sushi at the port, we set about killing the 6 hours we had before we could think about going to the airport. There was a tourist market on and tens of coach loads of Brazilian tourists set about their hunt for bargains. We found a step by the side of the road, sat on our packs and people watched. Brazilians have an obsession with cake. There were several stalls selling huge slices of gateaux – how could we resist.

The rest of the evening was a blur – a taxi, a sleep at the smallest airport in the world, a 1 hour flight and then before we knew it we were in Belo Horizonte – the first time in 5 weeks we couldn’t see a beach!

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