This past weekend I was fortunate enough (as well as thinking about my entire experience this summer) to go visit some Brasilian beaches. We left on Friday and came back on Saturday. This meant it was an entire weekend 2 hours away from Joao Pessoa, where I have been staying for the past 8 weeks. At first, I was quite nervous, but once we got on the road every fear I was having, disappeared.
Friday
The drive to Pipa, which is a famous tourist town in another state, Rio Grande do Norte. It was a two hour drive to Pipa, with beautiful landscapes to view on the way. Once we got to Pipa, we (as one jokingly put it) parked the car. After parking the car we had to wait for our rooms, since others were still occupying them.
Oh yeah, it was a hostel too.
A couple days before we left to go to Pipa, the people who were bringing us told us that we would be staying in a hostel. Well, what went through my mind was not what the hostel was actually like. The movie Hostel was running through my head more than anything, but once we got to Pipa and saw the hostel it was not the case at all. It was run by a very very nice lady, who was very open with dealing with 9 college age kids. Especially the fact that it was 4 American's and 5 Brasilian's staying together.
Since we couldn't go into our rooms, we decided to go straight to the beach. Mind you, I am not that big of a beach person, but decided to let that feeling in me subside for the weekend. We got to the beach, and it was one of the most beautiful sites that anyone could ever see. A jaw dropping, pants splitting moment for most people, even including an introverted anti-beach bum like yours truly.
Once done gawking at the beach, we decided to get a snack/lunch to hold us over until we back to the hostel to settle in and make dinner. After lunch, we went walking along the beach, trying to find natural pools of water that form close to the shore. We were not able to find very deep pools of water, but we did find a giant rock to climb on and take pictures, you know, like the young reckless people we are.
After playing on the rock and climbing the cliffs (which I did not partake in) we decided to go into the water. Up to this point, this was the only thing that I wanted to do during the weekend. Needless to say, since being born and being on this experience in Brasil, I had not gone swimming in the Atlantic Ocean. Is your mind blown? People on the trips minds were completely blown (not really, but in my mind I took their uninterested looks as mindblown-ingly).
Once we had enough of fighting waves and baking in the sun we decided to head back to the hostel to make some dinner. Back at the hostel we decided to split both rooms we got into American's in one room and Brasilian's in another. Mind you, once back at the hostel I was quite curious of the shower. If I haven't brought this up before, the shower in my hotel room in Joao Pessoa has cold water. Yes, it's been 8 weeks of cold showers and in my mind I was hoping that the showers at the hostel would be warm.
It. was. warm.
I felt like I just won a challenge on Survivor and a warm shower was the prize.
This being a relief, for a couple of days at least, I was ready to take on the rest of the night. Once we all freshened up we had a nice dinner of spaghetti with tomato sauce and tuna. It was delicious. After cleaning up the mess we made for dinner, most of us decided to take a nap before heading out for some fun in Pipa at night.
After napping for a while, we headed out to the club scene on the main road in Pipa. Just as I am not a beach person, surprisingly I'm not that big of a clubbing person either. At first, I just sat at a table with another person and chatted about how interesting and amazing both Pipa and Brasil are. Then after a little bit others want to hit up another club to dance somewhere else. Let's just say, once we got to that club my dancing shoes magically appeared. Remember, we didn't leave the hostel until around 11pm, so by the time we go to this club it was close to 1am. Once the dancing shoes came on, they didn't want to come off. The dancing went on for a solid 2 hours, and was one of the most fun I've ever had dancing.
A note on dancing in Brasil: people dance in a circle, and there is very very little bumping and grinding. This surprised me for some reason. Shockingly, it was more about dancing here in Brasil than trying to get laid on the dance floor. Which, to me, is the case at most clubs in the USA. I'll stop being a cynic about dancing... But it was a blast, especially with the group of people I was with.
Saturday
Getting back to the hostel (at around 3:30am) all of us crashed, and crashed hard. The amazing part was, that we all got up around 9am that day. We all got up and had breakfast, along with discussing plans for the day. Knowing that I would be exhausted the entire day, I decided to stay back at the hostel and relax for a bit. The group went out to a different beach. But having very nice hosts, two of the girls came back to get me as well as another person who showed up mid-day on Saturday. Good thing they did, or else I would have missed one of the most beautiful scenes in the world.
After regrouping with everyone, we headed back to the beach that everyone was so we could go to another place. Here is a picture of the beach that everyone was at for the entire day, up to the point I got there.
From here we decided to head to some cliffs that overlook the Atlantic Ocean; very beautiful.
Once we admired the natural beauty of the ocean, some of the others decided to run up a sand dune to try and get a better view of the sunset.
Since this wasn't a great spot to see the sunset, we decided to venture to another dune to see if the view was better. The walk was a bit of a hike, but well worth it.
Oh yeah, and about what was over the sand dune...
And the sunset.
Needless to say, this was one of the best parts of Brasil. Where else can you see such an amazing natural peaceful sight? Not a lot of places in the world afford us this.
After we watched the sunset, we headed back to the hostel to make dinner. Now, we started dinner at 6pm, with the hopes of being done with it by around 8pm (mind you we had to feed 9 people). It started with making a few dishes, and ended up being around 7 different dishes that we made, oh yeah and we didn't sit down to eat until 10pm. But it was delicious. After we cleaned up from dinner, we all decided to stay in for the night since we were so exhausted from the day. A great end to a great day.
Sunday
After waking up on Sunday, we all headed out to a different beach called Dolphin Bay (I do believe). It took us about 20 minutes to walk there from the hostel, but was well worth the trip. First off, the sand and water was beautiful. The waves were also of perfect height, so perfect that we all were able to have some fun bodysurfing.
But.
When they say dolphin bay, they mean it. Another person and myself were out in the water and all of a sudden there was a dolphin swimming about 15 feet away from us. I was shocked that they got so close to the shore, even more so that they got so close to unbeknownst humans. A very surreal and fun experience to say the least.
Once done getting crispy at the beach, we decided to head back to the hostel to shower and collect our things to head back to Joao Pessoa. We ended up leaving after lunch around 4:30pm and got back into Joao Pessoa around 7pm. It was a very fun weekend, with good people and once in a life time experiences that I am very grateful for.
If you want more pictures of the whole weekend don't hesitate to ask!
- a hero within
Friday
The drive to Pipa, which is a famous tourist town in another state, Rio Grande do Norte. It was a two hour drive to Pipa, with beautiful landscapes to view on the way. Once we got to Pipa, we (as one jokingly put it) parked the car. After parking the car we had to wait for our rooms, since others were still occupying them.
Oh yeah, it was a hostel too.
A couple days before we left to go to Pipa, the people who were bringing us told us that we would be staying in a hostel. Well, what went through my mind was not what the hostel was actually like. The movie Hostel was running through my head more than anything, but once we got to Pipa and saw the hostel it was not the case at all. It was run by a very very nice lady, who was very open with dealing with 9 college age kids. Especially the fact that it was 4 American's and 5 Brasilian's staying together.
Since we couldn't go into our rooms, we decided to go straight to the beach. Mind you, I am not that big of a beach person, but decided to let that feeling in me subside for the weekend. We got to the beach, and it was one of the most beautiful sites that anyone could ever see. A jaw dropping, pants splitting moment for most people, even including an introverted anti-beach bum like yours truly.
Once done gawking at the beach, we decided to get a snack/lunch to hold us over until we back to the hostel to settle in and make dinner. After lunch, we went walking along the beach, trying to find natural pools of water that form close to the shore. We were not able to find very deep pools of water, but we did find a giant rock to climb on and take pictures, you know, like the young reckless people we are.
After playing on the rock and climbing the cliffs (which I did not partake in) we decided to go into the water. Up to this point, this was the only thing that I wanted to do during the weekend. Needless to say, since being born and being on this experience in Brasil, I had not gone swimming in the Atlantic Ocean. Is your mind blown? People on the trips minds were completely blown (not really, but in my mind I took their uninterested looks as mindblown-ingly).
Once we had enough of fighting waves and baking in the sun we decided to head back to the hostel to make some dinner. Back at the hostel we decided to split both rooms we got into American's in one room and Brasilian's in another. Mind you, once back at the hostel I was quite curious of the shower. If I haven't brought this up before, the shower in my hotel room in Joao Pessoa has cold water. Yes, it's been 8 weeks of cold showers and in my mind I was hoping that the showers at the hostel would be warm.
It. was. warm.
I felt like I just won a challenge on Survivor and a warm shower was the prize.
This being a relief, for a couple of days at least, I was ready to take on the rest of the night. Once we all freshened up we had a nice dinner of spaghetti with tomato sauce and tuna. It was delicious. After cleaning up the mess we made for dinner, most of us decided to take a nap before heading out for some fun in Pipa at night.
After napping for a while, we headed out to the club scene on the main road in Pipa. Just as I am not a beach person, surprisingly I'm not that big of a clubbing person either. At first, I just sat at a table with another person and chatted about how interesting and amazing both Pipa and Brasil are. Then after a little bit others want to hit up another club to dance somewhere else. Let's just say, once we got to that club my dancing shoes magically appeared. Remember, we didn't leave the hostel until around 11pm, so by the time we go to this club it was close to 1am. Once the dancing shoes came on, they didn't want to come off. The dancing went on for a solid 2 hours, and was one of the most fun I've ever had dancing.
A note on dancing in Brasil: people dance in a circle, and there is very very little bumping and grinding. This surprised me for some reason. Shockingly, it was more about dancing here in Brasil than trying to get laid on the dance floor. Which, to me, is the case at most clubs in the USA. I'll stop being a cynic about dancing... But it was a blast, especially with the group of people I was with.
Saturday
Getting back to the hostel (at around 3:30am) all of us crashed, and crashed hard. The amazing part was, that we all got up around 9am that day. We all got up and had breakfast, along with discussing plans for the day. Knowing that I would be exhausted the entire day, I decided to stay back at the hostel and relax for a bit. The group went out to a different beach. But having very nice hosts, two of the girls came back to get me as well as another person who showed up mid-day on Saturday. Good thing they did, or else I would have missed one of the most beautiful scenes in the world.
After regrouping with everyone, we headed back to the beach that everyone was so we could go to another place. Here is a picture of the beach that everyone was at for the entire day, up to the point I got there.
From here we decided to head to some cliffs that overlook the Atlantic Ocean; very beautiful.
Once we admired the natural beauty of the ocean, some of the others decided to run up a sand dune to try and get a better view of the sunset.
Since this wasn't a great spot to see the sunset, we decided to venture to another dune to see if the view was better. The walk was a bit of a hike, but well worth it.
Oh yeah, and about what was over the sand dune...
And the sunset.
Needless to say, this was one of the best parts of Brasil. Where else can you see such an amazing natural peaceful sight? Not a lot of places in the world afford us this.
After we watched the sunset, we headed back to the hostel to make dinner. Now, we started dinner at 6pm, with the hopes of being done with it by around 8pm (mind you we had to feed 9 people). It started with making a few dishes, and ended up being around 7 different dishes that we made, oh yeah and we didn't sit down to eat until 10pm. But it was delicious. After we cleaned up from dinner, we all decided to stay in for the night since we were so exhausted from the day. A great end to a great day.
Sunday
After waking up on Sunday, we all headed out to a different beach called Dolphin Bay (I do believe). It took us about 20 minutes to walk there from the hostel, but was well worth the trip. First off, the sand and water was beautiful. The waves were also of perfect height, so perfect that we all were able to have some fun bodysurfing.
But.
When they say dolphin bay, they mean it. Another person and myself were out in the water and all of a sudden there was a dolphin swimming about 15 feet away from us. I was shocked that they got so close to the shore, even more so that they got so close to unbeknownst humans. A very surreal and fun experience to say the least.
Once done getting crispy at the beach, we decided to head back to the hostel to shower and collect our things to head back to Joao Pessoa. We ended up leaving after lunch around 4:30pm and got back into Joao Pessoa around 7pm. It was a very fun weekend, with good people and once in a life time experiences that I am very grateful for.
If you want more pictures of the whole weekend don't hesitate to ask!
- a hero within
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