Thursday, September 18, 2008

When the lights all go out in Praia do Forte...

Sunday we decided to go to Praia do Forte. Or actually I had decided some time ago and managed to coax Will to go with me. As I have a lot of baggage I decided to leave the bigger bag with my warm clothes for later in Peru, my sleeping bag and other stuff I wouldnt need here at the airport baggage storage. On the internet I had found the information that there was a bus from the airport to Praia do Forte nearly every hour. But when we arrived there we had to find out that most of the busses from the airport were cancelled some time ago and we had to wait about 3 hours. I was a bit pissed about the wrong information, especially as I had found it on the official site of Praia do Forte. But before I could get to angry about it a car stopped next to us and the driver asked if we wanted to go to Praia do Forte with him. We agreed and acutally arrived much earlier than the bus would have arrived. So somehow things always work out in Brazil ;-) Not the way you expect it, but definately in a good way!

Praia do Forte used to be a quiet little village of fisherman nort of Salvador. Now it is a very touristic and quite expensive resort with beautifull hotels, shops and restaurant. But as the beach is endless it doesnt feel touristic as soon as you walk 5-10 min from the center. We stay in the local youth hostel where the rooms have animal names. We are staying in the preguica, which translates into sloth but also laziness. Very apt. They must have done some research when I booked ;-)

The first two nights we had a full moon and took endless walks on the beach at night. This might sound awfully romantic (which I would have hated) - but it was great fun. We took my iPod and played all the romantic Merengue and Bachata songs and sang along and invented new texts.

Yesterday and the night before we had a power blackout which turned out to be a great thing! The music blarring from the bars and restaurants around us stopped, people walked around with candles... once again it was like time travel! It must have been like that when Praia do Forte was still a small fisherman village... yesterday night I stayed in, as Will has left for Salvador again, and read in the light of my torch (yes, I am well prepared ;-)). Really nice! And when the electricity came back you could hear the whole village cheering! Lets hope for more blackouts soon ;-)

No comments: