Neblina

The last week here in Itacare has been a blur of dawn patrol sessions and great exploring around the area. Yesterday we hired a Stand Up Canoeist named Neblina. He took us deep into the local river which was a beautiful mix of mangrove bordered islands loaded with palm trees from dende to coconut to açai. There was an incredibly impressive amount of wildlife from fish, birds and crabs lining all the land masses. It was highly enjoyable because Neblina uses just a paddle to propel the 20 foot canoe through some pretty big currents and chop! He took us to his cousin´s restaurant about 3km up river from town. It featured several shaded seeting areas, and a dock out to the clean river for landing canoes and swimming. This area of the river is not accessable by motor boats, keeping it super pristine. She served cacau caiprinhas served inside the fruit! It was such a great combination, and we had been asking everywhere for it in town, and now to find it at a completely remote restaurant was pretty hysterical. When she showed us the caught crabs eating dende seeds, we knew we had to try them.. so good with pimenta! Then the main course arrived which was a wonderful muqueqa also with dende seeds that you chew on, and freshly cut coconut meat, and super fresh fish filets, coconut milk, lime etc, served with salad, farofa, rice and pirao. After lunch Neblina took us through some more mangroves crawling with crabs, palm trees, and vermelha to a private remote waterfall where we swam and enjoyed some amazing granite scenery. When we got back to town after a long 10km paddle, he offered to take us back to the beach where our pausada is, so we wouldn´t have to walk...so sweet! Bandwidth is a bit scarce here, so images are going to be minimal until we get back.

REP

Spending time here in Itacare has been magical.. Our new friends Sylvia and Joel have been taking us to beaches every day, and we have been enjoying some incredible meals as well. The cacau is incredible. We got to sample the roasted seeds, very similar to chocolate in flavor, only darker, with a texture like coffee beans. The pulp is super sweet, creamy tropical flavor which they make juice and sorbet. All kinds of treats like coquettes, and liquor are made with the roasted seeds. We have also been eating a lot of seafood like Muqueca, acarajé and other dendê saturated snacks with a ton of pimenta! We were blessed by the Bahiana after eating her acarajé and tasting her coffee. The SUP surfing has been better than imaginable. The exposed beaches have been super challenging, but the local beach praia da concha is perfect because it is protected by a big jetty. Anyone can go from here making it good for teaching. From there you can paddle out the rivermouth to a huge sand bar that takes swell from any direction, with close to 1km rides on the right tide! You can also paddle to other beach breaks from here. Yesterday I woke up at 5:30am for a sick dawn patrol wearing speedos (surfwear of choice here) and paddled all the way to dendê coast! surfing waist to head high sets and getting cheered by the local fishermen!
REP is the portuguese anacronym for SUP and stands for Remar em Pé

Itacare

Our last night in Olinda we caught our last Serenata! Before we enjoyed a nice meal with a cool gay American couple, Keith and Joe, we had met the previous evening. Beto's sisters insisted on taking us to the airport the next day which is not a drop off like it would be in the US, but they parked and walked us in to the ticket counter, and on to security! We had a long layover in Salvador, and did some shopping, and enjoyed coconut water and self service lunch. Arriving in Ilheus was interesting, and we immediately got a taxi ride to our Pousada in Itacare. The ride was completely lined with Atlantic rain forest on both sides. we stopped for coconut water at a view point and got an impressive view of the beach from the bluff. OMG! This coast is crazy beautiful. Exploring the town, we saw more açaí stands than we could count! heaven! The taxi driver was laughing as Beto and I kept spotting Açaí stands. Also we saw tons of little surf shops, and even a cacao shop with all kinds treats and even the actual cacao fruit which none of us had seen. At the ultra efficient beautiful Pausada we met a very cool Brazilian couple, Silvia e Joe, with a 4 door truck....bonus! now we are exploring the outlying beaches with them searching for the ultimate SUP spot. Itacarazinho is 30km of pristine beach completely undeveloped and backed by Atlantic rainforest. Unreal! The surf was too big to get outside on my SUP. Uma dia de escola! At the pousada www.pousadaabare.com there are cute little monkeys climbing around in the trees!

Olinda's Birthday

The last couple days at Porto de Galinhas were unreal.. The weather was fantastic, the surf was small, but ridable at the mid to high tide. We found pure açai at this amazing stand in the center of the port town. The feel in the town is very mellow beach with great infrastructure including a beautiful terraced walkway with great shopping, açai, dining, surf shops, dive shops, and self service sorbet places. All very clean. The tide is a big factor there because at low tide it is full of tidal pools, all different depths. The pools further out are about 12 feet deep, and totally protected by the outer reefs. The colors are outrageous. The Pausada we stayed at was in an incredible lush garden with a beautiful shaded pool, wireless access, tons of cats and dogs around, Air, and wonderful cafe da Mana! Highly recommended: http://www.pousadaportoverde.com.br/
Returning to Olinda, we got a ride with our favorite taxi driver, Tony, from Olinda. We had to stop on the way for gas, and it was interesting for me because we filled up with Natural Gas. His Fiat SUV takes regular gas, alcool, or natural gas. He converted it from a flex car for R$3000. It is amazing all the options we have here for fuel. We have been seeing a ton of bio diesel, alcool (ethanol) is super popular and a lot cheaper than gas R$1.50/L vs R$2.50 for regular gas. It pretty interesting that Brazil is not in a recession now as well! The prices are approx. the same for consumer goods as they were 2 and 3 years ago!
We had planned to be in Olinda for her Birthday party which was a mini Carnival. We had an absolute blast checking out the blocos including an all women Maracatu bloco. Que Beleza! Later we went out to eat at Ofincina do Sabor, and had another incredible pumpkin stuffed with Portuguese housemade sausage this time. The espresso after the meal is served with Italian porcelain, and also served with it is a nice size cinnamon stick to stir your sugar! In the ultra clean bathrooms, disposable toothbrushes are offered!

Porto Galinhas

After a productive week in Olinda including numerous dental appts, and a lot or fine dining, and visiting friends and family, we have escaped to the beach! This place is outrageously beautiful. Endless reefs and waves, great surf culture and tons of services! Amazing SUP spot, and good kiting as well. 86degrees 24 hours a day. ... Dreamy!

Cachorro Beethoven

It has been raining almost non-stop in Olinda for the past couple days, so we have been doing a lot of eating and catching up on sleep. When it rains here, it pours buckets, but then the sun comes out, and it feels hotter than ever because of the evaporation, plus there isn´t much wind. People are whining because it is not the rainy season. We are making the most of it of course, and enjoying, including getting plenty of sun. This picture was taken at this busy Olinda restaurant Oficina do Sabor. We ordered a stuffed pumpkin which made me think of Barbara Kingsolver´s warted pumpkin in Italy from her book AVM because of the warts. You could have it stuffed with almost anything from Octopus to chicken. We chose the local favorite of Carne do Sol and coconut. It was amazing, and a huge amount of food for R$40 - would easily feed 4 people. When it is written on the menu it will feed 2, you know it is going to a large portion! The salad was absolutely wonderful, the freshest imaginable local veggies including cherry tomatoes, grated carrots, red cabbage and olives. It was also giant. On the table were two house made wonderful marinade condiments one made of roasted garlic in olive oil, and one made of hot peppers in olive oil. We could not get enough of either because they were so yummy.

Prior to this great meal, we hung around the quadra for some beers, and ended up seeing some great Carnival parade music. Keep in mind, it was raining on and off.
For those of you following the Carnival dog story from Rio: http://carnaval.uol.com.br/2009/album/cachorro_na_sapucai_album.jhtm
He was all over the news again today! It turns out that he is a street dog from around the Sambadromo. He is well fed by the local street vendors although he was sleeping on the streets, and his name is Beethoven! It seems that everyone has a thing for him, and after this story broke, one of the news reporters decided to adopt him. Now he not only has a collar, but he lives in a posh Zona Sul apartment in Rio!


The witch in this video was everywhere. We kept running into her including at the Serenata! She would dance around to the beat of the music. Here you can see she was getting in position for the parade.