Life's a beach .. Jeri and Pipa

In Sao Luis woke up at 4:30am to go to the park Lencois Maranhenses. Drove there for 2.5 hours, and then got on another hour of very uncomfortable truck which goes on the sand to the sand dunes. The dunes were nice, everything is white with blue lakes in the middle of almost every dune. We had a 3 hour trip, where we walked and swam, and since it was my first sun in a long long time, of course I got burnt right away. I've seen this kind of landscape before, in a desert in Colombia and Huacachina in Peru, so it wasn't super exciting for me. And another hour back to the town, where the agency got me a taxi to get back to Sao Luis because I was taking a night bus. I asked the driver if he got paid already, he said no, I thought to myself, crap, now I have to pay for the taxi too. We drove back, got stuck in a huge traffic only because 2 roundabouts, last minute trip again. Got to the terminal barely on time. I couldn't understand the driver at all, and he couldn't understand me, but he helped me with the bags, and to get the bus (I think he thought it was my first day in Brazil :) ), and although we didn't get a word from each other, we couldn't help but hug each other at the end :) I also gave him R$40 for the taxi, and he said that the agency already paid him! In Bolivia that would NEVER happen, they would just take the money!! I had to take the bus right away. Again I didn't eat the whole day :( The bus went to Parnaiba, and got there instead of 6am, at 4am. Everything was closed ... obviously, so I went to sleep on the bench. I felt so comfortable and safe ... generally I feel very safe in Brazil. Slept until 6:30, and got another 2 hour bus to Camocim, and from there a 2 hour 4X4 to the village Jericoacoara. It was so funny, there was the driver who spoke Portuguese, and I couldn't understand a word he was saying, so I asked another Portuguese speaking person to repeat what he said, and understood everything :) Drove in the truck with again very rude French people. It doesn't get any better!!

Jericoacoara, named for simplicity - Jeri, is a very cute village in the middle of nowhere, situated on the longest beach ever. The 2 hour truck we took to get there, just drove along the beach all the time. The streets are of sand, and besides hostels/hotels and restaurants (each with live music), there is not much else. I didn't wear shoes for the whole week that I've been there :)) Met people right away, the super friendly Brazilian girl Tanya in the dorm, took me with her and people she met to the restaurant that night. There was another Brazilian guy Neto, and one guy from Singapore. I was supposed to meet Hans at the sunset dune, but I was late because of some very talkative dude in the hostel (Eugenio), who just couldn't shut up. But while we had dinner, I saw Hans passing by, so I grabbed him, and introduced him to everybody who I was with.

The next day we agreed with Hans to go to some rock with a hole in the middle at 9am. I woke up from somebody shaking me ... hey, there is a guy waiting for you in the lobby. Shit ... the alarm clock didn't ring !! Sorry sorry sorry, I got ready right away, ate breakfast with a super fast speed, but then the hostel had a tour to paradise lake, which was cheaper than to go there with an agency, so we went there instead. There is nice, but not super paradisy :) It has a beach with hummocks in the water, a restaurant, and that's it. The good thing about it, is that I got a massage :))) It wasn't a muscle massage, but just relaxing one ... but who cares, as long as it's not a massus from Cusco, a massage is still a massage, no matter which kind :))
In the evening, we agreed with everyone to go out, and to meet at the bar zone (which are fresh fruit cocktails on the beach) at 10pm. I thought that I need to get some sleep, and slept till the morning :S GGRRRRR, I have to buy a new alarm clock! This one is broken! As it turned out to be later, the alarm clock is not broken, it's just because I didn't sleep for 2 nights, I completely didn't hear it ! That was the first time in my life when I didn't hear the alarm clock, and it was right beside my ear !!
So that's the life in Jeri ... there is nobody on the streets in the morning or afternoon, then people appear all over the sudden to go to the sunset dune, and along the people come all the vendors of popcorns and drinks, some horses make their way there too :)) If the sky is clear, and the sun goes right into the ocean, everybody starts to clap :))) Then some people walk back, or jump/run down the dune into the ocean below :)) Guess which choice did I choose :)) After that there is Capoera performance on the beach. Capoera is a "dance" invented by slaves to practice martial arts, they made it look in a dance form so that the owners won't notice it, but all the moves are based on martial arts. There is a circle around the dancers, some musicians playing and singing some life songs, which could be absolutely anything. They repeat it twice, so that on the 2nd time everybody could sing along. The musicians determine the pace of the dance. The dancers usually "perekrishautsa" before getting in, because although there is no physical contact during the dance, the kicks can come really very close. After capoera, everybody either goes for a short nap, or to restaurants, and the later, the more people come, so 10pm, is the best time to have dinner. After dinner, everybody goes to the bar area on the beach. My favorite drink was kiwi with vodka :)) oh soo good ... and only for $2!! :)) After that there is a bon fire on the beach, and when the fire finishes (which is at 2am), the first night club opens !! I went once to that nightclub, and it sucks !! First of all, the music was bad, then, nobody dances, and nobody asks nobody to dance. You come with your group, and you stay with your group ! That is very strange, it's the first time I saw it ... tourists !! Also there is a bakery which is only opened from 2-6 am ! :)) Anyway ... I'm not going to these parties ever again, it's much better to sleep :))Tanya, and Singaporean guy have left the next day, Hans left in 3 days, and I was left with Neto and Euginio, who is the annoying Brazilian guy. We got along with Neto right away. Went to the rock with a hole in the middle. I don't know why, I started to get excited from absolutely everything! This is so great !! and this and this, look at that donkey, and at that hole !! :)) I was smiling and laughing, like I was on drugs or something :)) The rock was cool, and only in July and August you could see the sunset through the hole. The walk there was beautiful, and we got there just in time to take peopleless pictures, since after 10 minutes, so many people came, there was no order, and impossible to get normal pictures.
Also went surfing. Of course, the fist minute I got in, the wave took me up and down, and I landed on a sharp rock, and cut my foot pretty bad, with 3 deep cuts :(( Anyway... that didn't stop me from enjoying surfing :)) I tried it myself, but I could never catch enough speed to get on the wave, so I was pretty much just lying around :) Then one instructor asked me if I need help, well yeah, of course I do, so he pushed me to the waves, and I got up every time !! Yeeiiii ... 3rd time is the charm :))
In the evening, saw a free outdoor Brothers Bloom movie, which I thought was very interesting.
A week has passed by :(( It's time to leave :((( Everybody discusses their plans where to go, so I said that I'm going to Pipa (another beach), and Eugenio said that he wants to go there too. I went to get a ticket with Neto, and told him not to tell Eugenio when I'm going, but back luck, he got a ticket to the same bus as I did :S GRRR !!
Took an 18 hour bus to Pipa ... couldn't sleep again :(
Wanted to go to a hostel, but while walking on the streets, a buggy stopped with an owner of a posada (which is kind of bed & breakfast) and said that they have a room for a price cheaper than a hostel. Eugenio said that if it's ok to get a double room because it will be cheaper ... fine ! The pousada was the cutest little posada I've ever been too :)) And out of all the 100s of posadas that exist in Pipa, I met 2 Argentinian girls in there with whom I've been in the same room in in Jeri. Well, the town of Jeri is better, but the beaches of Pipa are unbelievable!!!! Not only they are ones of the most beautiful beaches I've ever been to, there are dolphins in the water !! The beach is long, about 2 hours one way, sometimes with beautiful rock formations, sometimes with cleanest sand, and it ends with a 40 meter high pink cliff! At the end of the beach that cliff is not that steep, and a whole jungle grows on it! I couldn't stop walking on that beach, it is mesmerizing !!
Got in the water right away, and then a heard splash!! Eugenio is with his mouth open points on something, I turn around, and right beside me there is a big white circle, there was a dolphin who jumped like 2 meters behind me !!!! I can't believe I missed it !!!!! I saw another dolphin jump, but that was much much further away. Dolphin watching is fun! It's like a game, they resurface every 5 seconds, and you no idea where. Sometimes they come in your direction, and I started to panic a bit, after all they're animals, I have no clue what they're gonna do. They hang around there to catch the fish. It would be fun, cause they would torpid to the beach, not paying attention to any people, then splashing all over the place, fish is jumping out of the water, and everything goes back to normal.
While walking on the beach, I encountered a crab, of course I couldn't just pass by :) So I tried to pick it up, and it's not running away, like they usually do, it's just chilling on the beach. It tried to get me with its claws, so I squeaked and dropped it. And then when I tried to pick it up again, it would attack me!!! It would raise it's claws up, and run towards my direction!! That crab has some *&*$!!! :)) ... I won of course :))
In Pipa there was an ice cream heaven :)) So many different flavors of ice cream, and you could scoop them up yourself! A choice of like 6 containers, about 15 toppings, and then you weigh it ... OMG !!!! :)))
Got across the problem with travelling after 3 days in Pipa. sooooo ... dolphins are nice, but I want to swim with whales now :)
Now ... I don't usually do it, but a section about Euginio is obligatory :)
Basically everybody got tired of him the 2nd day. And I've spend full 3 days with him, plus an 18 hour bus ! Thank god I had to work. For these 3 days, I've heard nothing about how hot and sexy he is. How everyone wants him. He has a condo on the beach, and every week he goes there with different girls; he sits in a restaurant, looks down, then sees some shoes, a girl is asking him if she can sit with him, he looks around and all the seats are empty in the restaurant; his mother tells him everyday how beautiful he is; sometimes he can't walk on the beach, he feels like some exotic animal; (he is 40 btw), and how many 16 year old girl friends he has, but he only chats with them, and nothing else, and tells them to call him when they're 18, otherwise they're jail for him now.
Then he was dating some girl ( the only girlfriend he had ) for 2.5 years, and apparently he broke up with her, because she got to close to him. He said that he locked his heart, and threw all the keys to the ocean, and she started finding some of these keys. Some people said that he's selfish, and he said that it's his heart, and his decision if he wants to share it or not. Anyway, they broke up, and a while later he wrote to some other girl of his whom he dated for like 2 months and she's with a normal bf right now, so he wrote her that he wants her back as his wife!! What kind of bull***** is that???
on and on and on I've heard that constantly !
Oh, and on top of that, he told everybody in the posada that I'm his wife, without my knowledge. He said the reason was that they leave me alone, cause I had to work!
He tried to get closer and closer, bought me ice creams, soups while I worked, some "1 year travelling" present. I got to the room, and he's on my bed. "What are you doing on my bed?" -"Oh, it's more comfortable here" ... anyway, I turned off the light, lied on the edge away from him, said goodnight, and fell asleep. He moved to his bed in the middle of the night :)
Next day we went to swim with the dolphins again ... of course !!! They came so close that I stayed in the water longer, I saw him on the beach walking back and forth, figured he was looking for me ... Euginio, dolphins, Eugenio, dolphins, I mean, why am I even debating :) When I got out of the water, he wasn't there anymore. I bumped into him in the town on my way back to the hotel with all his bags on. He said he was leaving. I said ok, and went on. When I got to the hotel, he left a note that he paid for it, and left his facebook contact, I threw it to the garbage!
How do these people get born??

On Aug 25th it was my 1 year travelling anniversary !! :))

What I've learned after 1 year on the road:
Be more patient and understanding
Be more tolerant to difficult situations (being hot/cold/hungry/tired)
Learning to appreciate people/friendships more
Having more trust in people, they'd go out of their way to help you if you're in trouble
Being more assertive
Doing less of what I have to do, and more of what I want to do
Get out of the matrix, and actually live life
Understanding that nothing is impossible
Not being afraid
Learn to be more open
Overcoming shyness
Plan for the future, but don't stress out about it
Knowing that everything turns out to be fine, all the time
Not being scared of the endings, new exciting beginnings are just around the corner
Living up to the phrase "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened"
Learning not to be lonely when being alone
Enjoying life's simple things
Finding beauty in anything

And so, with a better attitude, a new spark and a few more scars the journey continues ...

pix at http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/JeriAndPipa#