another side of Brazil: the surf towns
It was 6 am and the sun shone so bright, it felt like noon. I had just gotten off the plane a couple of hours before but this wake-up (although premature) instantly invigorated me. I walked around our Posada, in the already 30-degree sun, getting accustomed to what would be my home for the next three weeks. As I walked through the lush, fragrant garden towards our breakfast terrace, I was accompanied by a hummingbird and an incognito donkey that I later found out was not allowed to be there. This was my first encounter with Paracuru, a small fisherman village in the Northeast region of Brazil.
We had come a long way to experience what we had heard to be ‘the best spot in the world’ to kitesurf in. Naturally, as all “top” kitesurfing places in the world, where it’s always hot, windy, and deserted, we were expecting a place in which there was nothing else to do but that. We’d wake up, eat a divine breakfast made up of mangoes, papayas and pineapples, freshly picked from our garden, with a side of tapioca pudding (a traditional Brazilian dessert), and head off in our jeep across the dunes to our kite oasis in the middle of nowhere.
Boxing & Ballet
One afternoon, the wind dropped early and we decided to take a walk to the center of Paracuru – a “center” the size of a football field – to explore the little village that was hosting us. As we strolled through the streets, beaten down by the hot December sun, I couldn’t help but notice many gracious, sylphlike young girls every couple of meters. They contrasted the rest of the village so much that they immediately stirred up my curiosity. I later discovered that in this little old, raw fisherman village, there was a classical ballet academy. I found it magical. Further down the road, to our left we discovered another kind of academy, this time a Martial Arts School. In an open room of about 20 square meters, no windows or doors or anything, there were 15 boys and young men boxing and practicing Ju-Jitsu. This little village had all of a sudden become very colorful.
We continued our walk to the center where we stopped for a coconut water and indulged in (too many) açaï bowls by the main square in the center. The young woman that served us was a green-eyed, dark-skinned beauty with a tremendously sassy attitude, that had served us cocktails every evening at the Papagayo bar - she was very charming.
Surf Town
On the other side of the square there was a pack of young boys – I’d say 5-6 year olds, holding surf boards on their heads, walking toward the beach down below. We spotted the closest surf rental shop, rented two boards (a longboard for me since I was a beginner) and off we went, following the little boys to the ocean. After a couple of hours, while ‘taking a break’ on top of my board in the ocean, I noticed a group of people out on the shore, approaching the water. I think it was about 4 p.m and each and every one of them was holding a surfboard on their head. As they approached us, I realized they all had familiar faces. The ballerinas, the martial arts guys, the woman that served us at the bar – they were all coming to surf – the whole town stopped whatever they were doing at 4 p.m and headed out on the water, in the hope of catching a wave.
I was thrilled – I found it so beautiful that such a small, poor, isolated community could come together and engage in this exhilarating, natural sport, becoming one with the ocean. I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to catch a wave with them - each of us trying to surf our own wave, together.