After all these tours and hiking in Lençois I thought I will take it easy for a few days on the beach in Praia do Forte (about 70 km north of Salvador), but things turned out differently :)
Praia do Forte is a popular vacation destination for people from Salvador and it also has quite a few beautiful and expensive beach villas of very rich people (which are vacant most of the year with only security guards minding the house, pool & garden - a shame!). The beach is a reef on one side that has natural pools to snorkel in and the other side is sandy and has some waves but is rather calm for swimming.
On my first day I met "Miau", a local who is a surfpro but at the moment is selling coctails and coconuts on the beach for lack of a sponsor. He is a very funny guy and we get along really well and hang out together most of the time.
We went surfing together, however we went out to the reef where his friends surfed and the waves were a little big for me. So I got trashed around, still had some fun and was proud of myself that I can hang out there in the line-up with the good sufers and not be afraid of the kind of waves that come along (a big step forward in my surf progress!). I didn't catch any waves but I at least tried. Miau's friends were joking "get that woman out of the water!"
So, if you´re visiting Praia do Forte make sure to stop by the beach by the first piscina and look out for Miau. He will help you with anything, whether you need surf lessons, a guide or just an excellent coctail!
Loads of turtles hanging around Praia do Forte - they have a project to save endangered species of sea turtles called TAMAR, which is right at the beach and really worth visiting.
On one of our walks at a more remote beach Miau and I encountered this little fellow who seemed to be a bit lost on the way to the sea:
Let´s hope he made it!
Yesterday we all went to a "Rave" together which was about 50 km away from Praia do Forte towards Salvador. It was in the garden of a house with pool, huge sound system and international DJs. It was all a bit chaotic (getting there, getting in etc.) but it was good fun in the end. I even met the nephew of Rejane in the middle of the party, he had come from Salvador. It's really funny, I know 4 people in Salvador and then meet one of them at a party!
The guy we got a lift from promised that we return around 8 a.m. in the morning but in the end he did not want to leave and we were all stuck there until noon (none of us had any money left, so the omnibus was not an option), that was a bit of a drag, but in the end we got back o.k.
Since we already knew that we won't be back from the rave all night I checked out of the rather expensive Youth hostel and left my backbag in Miau's house. I've never seen such a place before!
The house has a width of 2 m (!) and the whole family (3 brothers, 2 sisters and the mother) lives in 1 room in the first floor that has the length of 2 1/2 beds - so that means there are 6 bunkbeds, 3 on top of each other and about 1 m space before and after and half a meter on the side. There is no kitchen (the mother runs a little local restaurant nearby, which serves as their kitchen), only a shower and a toilet curtained off. To get into this "apartment" you have to climb a small metal staircase outside that has no railings, which is rather tricky. Kind of favela style... (it is only the top part there where the whole family lives):
So, I'm going back now to see if Miau is already awake and we can go for dinner in his Ma's place (she cooks really delicious dinner, and it costs almost nothing compared to the tourist restaurants on the main street).
Tomorrow I'm going to take an overnight bus to Recife and will explore the famous Porto de Galinhas and a pretty town called Olinda.
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