New Lands

Lost Island of Paradise

This last weekend I caught a bus out to Arraial do Cabo, a small town on the cape east of Rio, where the coast turns northward and the rocky hills and beaches jut out into the open ocean. It is known as the diving capital of Brazil, but I did just about everything besides diving. The first two days were cloudy and rainy, meaning I had most of the beautiful and remote beaches to myself. Even the hostel I stayed in--which had capacity for probably 50 people--had only me, an Argentinian, and a Spaniard.

Map of Arraial do Cabo from satellite.

The first day I arrived I headed out on a trail leading to the point of land (Pontal do Atalaia) nearly touching the island on the right (Ilha do Farol). The channel between them was pretty nasty, with the storm winds blowing huge crashing waves against the sides and a swift current ripping through the channel.

This was somewhat discouraging, since I wanted to get to that island. Ever since I found this place via Google Maps and saw that beach on the island (Praia do Farol) I had wanted really to get there. When I researched the area and found out that this particular beach had the title of ''the most beautiful beach in Brazil'' it made me desperate to get there. (The famous beach is visible in the background of the photo above). And furthermore, the highest point on the island held the ruins of the original lighthouse, built in stone by the Portguese. I heard that a trail existed to navigate the jungle and get to these ruins. From looking at the satellite images the gap looked so small and tame I thought I would be able to swim it easily. But I hadn't counted on stormy, rainy weather. Or that it was a prohibited nature reserve protected by the Brazilian navy. Only chartered tourist boats were allowed entrance to the beach. And even then only for 40 minutes of restricted exploring. No leaving the immediate beach area, and when your time was up you had to head back to the boat. And besides the beach, there was absolutely no entrance allowed on the island. The Navy had a few outposts on the island with guards to ensure compliance with the laws of the nature reserve.

All of this I discovered in my first two days in Arraial. I was pretty dissapointed that my plans of reaching the island had been set back--I wasn't about to catch a tourist boat just to stroll on the beach for 40 minutes, and I didn't want to end up in a Brazilian jail for infiltrating a no-go zone. But I still had my third day open, and a bunch of plans in my head...

On my way back from checking out the channel of impossible swimmage I stopped to hang out on the sheltered beach of Prainhas do Pontal do Atalaia. I built a raft and breifly thought about attempting a subtle crossing of the inlet to arrive at the magical island, but the current would likely have carried me far from my intended destination, and furthmore my raft lost its bouyancy pretty fast once my main bamboo pontoons starting leaking.

 My raft. The space between the two layers of the pallet is stuffed with styrofoam. The bottom has another sheet of styrofoam and parts of an old tire tied on. All of the parts were conveniently available on the beach.

Making my way across the great divide. As you can see, my mighty raft is already 98% submerged...

While I was messing around with my raft I met Nacho, the Argentinian. He was the one who told me about his hostel (which was cheaper than the one I had found earlier online) so after we were done playing with the raft we headed back to the hostel and caught the last part of the Manchester vs Barcelona soccer game.

The next day I spent exploring the beaches and trails of Arraial. The story is best told by the pictures so here are some.

 Morning at Praia Grande. This beach faces the open ocean and is much more like our beaches on the coast of Washington than the other beaches I've been to here. Long, flat beach, windy, dunes.

 A view of Praia do Forno, a protected little beach that is super inviting. Couldn't resist swimming here.

 The hidden trail that the Spaniard and I found at the end of Praia do Forno. By the looks of it this used to be a legitimate road paved with stone, wide enough for a car. But now the jungle has reclaimed it and only a narrow singltrack remains winding up the side of the hill.

 The Spaniard and I split up to cover more ground, I set off running and explored all the trails I found. This trail terminated in a semi-abandoned farm area on top of one of the hills overlooking the water.

 A view of Enseado do Cherne, the cove on the other side of the rocky hill from Praia do Forno.

 The highest point of the hills near Arraial. There were some rocks cemented in a ring here. Maybe for secret animal sacrifise.. or to catch water..

 The view from the top looking back towards Prainha and the north part of Arraial. You can see Praia Grande stretching off into the west on the other side of Arraial.

 Overlooking Praia do Forno on my way back via a different trail. I found out afterwards that all these trails I had been hiking and running were prohibited, but since the Spaniard and I came in through a forgotten entrance we had escaped notice. I left by the same route we entered, but the Spaniard ran into the authorities on his way out a different exit. He got out fine, but had to show his passport, which I did not have with me. Lucky.

 Relaxing at Praia do Forno afterwards. I literally sprinted the last part of the trail down to the water, ripped my shirt and shoes off and dove in. This was not exactly due to eagerness to enjoy the wonderful water; I was being chased by angry Brazilian killer bees trying to sting me to death.

 A friend I met out on the point of Atalaia, where I had gone the day before too. I came back during the evening to catch the sunset and look longingly at the magical island, its amazing beach, and its ancient ruins. I had one more day to try and reach it.

Sunset at the ocean. The open ocean was crashing furiously against the rocks here, sending spray more than 100 feet up and over the rocky cliffs to hit me. It was pretty spectacular.

Since this blog is public I think it prudent to leave out the details of the next day's adventures, just in case the Brazilian navy is reading this.

Salvador

I arrived here in Salvador two days ago, and have been helping out around Bahia Street. Bahia Street is a school for African-Brazilian girls from the poor neighborhoods of the city. The girls arrive at noon, after their regular classes end. The cooks here prepare an excellent lunch for the almost 90 people here (including all the girls, teachers, and volunteers). Afterwards the girls head off to classes in Biology, English, Math, and other subjects.

I spent yesterday fixing all the bookcases and shelves in the library and playroom against their respective walls to keep them from keeling over on small girls, and installing new glass shelves in the chemistry laboratory. Tomorrow I'm in charge of sharing some of my mom's delicious banana and pumpkin bread recipes with the cooks here so they can make them for the girls.

I also finally tasted Jaca fruit! The stubborn creature that resisted my best efforts to split him open on pointy rocks. The secret is letting him ripen first... But it was awesomely good! I bought R$2 worth of jaca and ate it all in one sitting. I would describe its flavor as a combination of banana and pineapple, with a texture tougher than either and smooth, not gritty.

Maybe next time I encounter a jaca in the woods I will take it home to ripen up and then have myself a feast.