Jericoacoara

To visit a remote beach town in the middle of the rainy season takes dedication. To not want to leave a remote beach town in the middle of the rainy season is to truly fall in love with it. This is how we felt about Jeri. So remote is our beloved Jeri, it can only be accessed by 4WD along the beach.

Our first visit to the beach was less than successful. We should have known by the ominous looking clouds in the sky and the complete lack of people on the beach that this was not going to work out for us. After Jez's quick mandatory dip in the ocean we decided to take a walk. This did not fare well for us either.

It was definitely a bit of a strange walk. We saw donkeys and cacti along the way and all the while ignored the signs that the heavens would burst open and leave us drenched. Exactly what were we doing here again?

The answer lay in a hostel located just a few minutes from us. Run by an Israeli gourmet chef-extraordinaire called Ben and patronised by the coolest bunch of people we had met so far, Ensalada de Frutas was THE hangout. If you weren't there, you might as well have packed your bags and taken the first 4WD out of Jeri.
Below you can see us sampling a fine selection of Ben's amazing creations.
The following day, Ben kindly organised a group excursion for Ensalada de Frutas- a day out dune buggying. Unfortunately Ben had to stay behind to ensure that hot oregano and chili popcorn was waiting for us on our return.

Hadar sat up the back with the JeTZ and Daniel in the front next to the driver. He did not know it at the time but Daniel's seat (and Daniel himself) would soon be highly coveted...

As we drove along the beach, this was the view we saw...but we soldiered on knowing full well that very soon we would once again be very cold and very wet!
 
And when it rained, it poured.

Sitting at the back of the buggy was no longer as much fun as we first thought. While we sat and waited for our turn to cross a river, our driver chivalrously hopped out to huddle under a piece of newspaper. We all clamoured into the front two seats. Jez was the last man sitting in the rain.

Although, he did finally come out of the backseat (so to speak)  to share this special moment with Daniel.

And if you were wondering just how we were going to cross a river in a buggy, this is how. The buggy was driven onto these rafts. A couple of guys would jump in the water (which by the way was warmer than standing outside in the rain) and carry us to the other side.

After leaving our buggies and crossing another river by boat, we arrived to the restaurant in paradise. The weather had miraculously cleared up - note the beautiful rainbow.


We found half submerged in the water, a row of very inviting looking hammocks.

We hung out here while fresh fish was being prepared for our lunch.
A round of caiparinhas por favor!

Thank you to Luis for bargaining an excellent price for our fish and to Alex for pretending he was most unhappy with it thereby getting an even better deal.
 
While the boys flip-flopped all over the beach, TZ was accosted and forced to demonstrate her appalling painting skills on the wall of the restaurant. 

We left the restaurant and sought out a spot to sandboard. When we arrived there, some kids were selling pieces of cardboard to slide down the dune for some extortionate price. We flagged them off and found a less expensive way of getting down...
 
On the ride back, Jez could not resist the opportunity to show off his arse to the few people left on this planet who have not yet seen it.

Not that the girls seemed to mind...

Every night was party night (and cards night)  back at Ensalada de Frutas.

And every night at about 2:00 am something strange would happen. Someone would want to go to the bakery. Now this was no ordinary bakery. For a start it opened in the wee hours of the morning and closed at 7am. And what the bakery had in store for the night owls was simply spectacular. Once an invite to the bakery had been put out there, it would gain a momentum paralleled only by the pied piper's invite to the first rat out of Hamlen. We would walk out of Ensalada de Frutas and gather every lost soul along the way until we'd arrive at the bakery en masse. 

We were so desperate to stay in Jeri that we even considered spending Passover there but we werent confident we could stay away from the bakery - so in the end we went somewhere there was no leavened bread to be found, the flooded forests of the Amazon...