My Guillerme and Juliana

2007-04-04T11:25:00.001-07:00

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And finally after Maceio, I head for my Juliana and Guillerme, who live in Joao Pessóa. There is interesting stuff to see in Joao Pessoa, I should admit. But this is not why I am there, it is a cute city, but nothing more compared to other amazing parts of brazil. Why I am here is a different experience of meeting and spending more time with Brazilian friends, in their natural lives, spending a small tiny bit of life with them, speaking more Brazilian portuguese than english and learning some parts of the country that you can not learn by yourself if you are travelling alone.

So welcome to my Guillerme and Juliana.

Guillerme is a 35 year old lawyer working mostly in Joao Pessoa, Juliana is a pharmacist, they married last year. Guillerme is very much interested in biking and has interesting views about the country the way things work in brazil, he definitely shows me different aspects of life in Brazil... And he is a perfect example for brazilians, nice, friendly and fun to be with...

We first go to Praia Coquerinho with them, one of the more beautiful beaches around Joao Pessoa. When the water level is high the empty space under the rocks in the coast form a natural geiser there... By the way, Brazil is the first country in which I encountered tide calendar (time of the day when it is the highest and the lowest tide), it is interesting to see a calendar like this...

Our next stop is the most eastern point of all americas. The lighthouse there is called "Farol do Cabo Branco" and is designed by an architect friend of Guillerme, it definitely looks interesting...

Yes, I know dont feed the monkeys.... But what can I do, they look so cuuuteee and they love cocada maracuja, nothing I can do... Sorry....

Then we go for a sorveteria... Sorveterias (ice cream shops) are also very common in Brazil (hard to understand why =) ), they serve all kind of different ice creams with different flavors like fruits in brazil in addition to the regular vanilla and chocolate etc. ice creams. I decide to have one with 3 balls of Jaca (a fruit local to Joao Pessóa), Cupuacu and acái (fruits from Amazonas).
After the night, we are ready for a early morning cycling... Guillerme is crazy about cycling, he has 4-5 bicycles one of them being a double bike, and he insists that we go out on biking... And I say, absolutely why not =).... Anyways, I am here to observe their life and biking is definitely an important part of their lifestyle.

We give our pose early and rested and go out for the hard work after that... The second picture is just to symbolize our determination =)

Another interesting fact about brazil... In Brazil alcool (etil alcohol produced from sugar cane), is as common as gasoline, and it is one of the technologies that has been there for more than 20 years making the country virtually independent of anything related to oil...

The second one is a picture from artwork of one of the local artists, I had absolutely no idea about how to carry it so I just decided to take a picture.. =)

Me and the robocop... Photo taken by Guillerme... I dont remember the name of the place we went to after here... It was a nice beach with an island in the middle in a meeting point of the sea and a river. It is interesting because the river and the sea waves meet in a point in the middle, so the current changes direction throughout the way... It was definitely an interesting place to see.

Then we head out for Praia Tambaba, it is one of the top 10 most beautiful beaches in brazil. It is at the same time the only official nudist beach of the north east. There are two parts of the beach,, in the first one clothing is optional, in the second one clothing is not allowed, I was in both parts, they were all really deserted. For seeing some more nudity I guess we needed to go there on a sunday I guess (Missed by one day, damn =) ).... The interesting part is that the first picture also belongs to the clothing optional part of the beach, and it is imho the best part of the beach, and also none of the people really go there. Just look at the picture, do those people not see the beauty in the first part or is it just me who is blind!!!

Of course I will always be the tourist and do my thing =)... The picture courtesy of Juliana... And the last picture is the more gorgeous part of tambaba beach...

After enjoying tambaba for a good amount of time, it is definitely tiem to try some carne do sol with some fried mandioca and white cheese.. Another good side effect of hanging out with brazilians =)

After the good food, Guillerme and Juliana take me go Jacaré beach. That beach is famous for a saxophone player who plays Bolero of Ravel during the sunset... The guy has always been playing it from a boat floating throughout the sunset, and after a major brazilian TV showed it in one of its programs it became very popular. After that a bunch of copycats have been playing in the 6 restaurants that see the sunset area... The real guy is the one on the second picture, the real sunset is the one in the first picture =)

And those are the copycats =)... But although their idea is not their original idea, I should admit that they are playing pretty good too, and it is also definitely fun to watch as you can see from my pictures...

And this is is how we say goodbye to our second daylight with Guillerme and Juliana.. The second picture is a courtesy of Guillerme.

The next day we head up towards Natal for our last night altogether, we will be staying in Pipa for one night. Praia Pipa is a famous beach close to Natal, very touristic and filled with backpackers. Of course the prices are touristic too. But as I told you before too. My trip is not Pipa, my trip is Guillerme and Juliana.

On the way we talk more about the problems that Brazil face, about the politics and corruption in Brazil and other more serious topics. It is a nice road trip that takes around 2.5 hours until we reach Praia Pipa.

Finally we are in Pipa. The rock and soil that I see in Pipa are one of my favorites, here definitely reminds me of Arraial De Ajuda.

And of course we are a crazy turkish tourist and a brazilian couple, obviously we are going to take thousands of pictures =)...

Kitesurfing is a very popular activity in Pipa as the wind here is very strong. It was amazing to watch some kitesurfer who knows what he is doing, he was nearly as fast as a car on top of the waves, it was impressive to watch someone go on the regular waves with just a wood taking 50-60 meters in a few seconds...

The night-life of Pipa is rather limited as we went there during a weekday and it is more oriented towards a few backpackers that are over there.. Anyway nightlife is not my most important priority when I am with Guillerme and Juliana, and whats more I dont like touristified nightlife even if it is Brazilian.

Soo we spend the night having a dinner with Guillerme and Juliana and speaking more about brazilian culture, hearing local jokes and stories from their friends sometimes in Brazilian Portuguese sometimes in English. Definitely an enjoyable night.

And after that we wake up to the next morning in Praia Pipa. With Guillerme and Juliana, I am very opposite of the regular person I am, much lazier, not making any plans, totally pacifically following whatever they show me. I have been travelling for more than 4 months and have already been doing all my plans jumping around seeing new places running non stop. Now it is time for me to relax,,, now it is time for me to observe people and absolutely toa tóa (do nothing in brazilian portuguese). Soo after enjoying the view of the boats on the sea, I obediently jump in their car and wait for the next stop =)

The next stop is the main popular area of praia pipa, although not as deserted as other beaches I have seen in Brazil, definitely not another coppacabana during the weekdays at the very least.

Of course we are a turkish crazy tourist and a brazilian couple, of course we will take thousands of pictures =)...

And after all this hard work (!!) we decide to take to goodbye poses for praia pipa, and go ahead for the further more deserted but the more beautiful parts of it by our car..

No comments,,, the palms speak it all....

Yes, the wind is definitely strong here, and assume that I wrote the poem about the wind in praia pipa below rather than making me work on it =)

Yes, definitely the more deserted parts are the better parts of this country.

Here the rock formations are interesting as usual =) (I really felt like I should have studied some time with my geological engineer friend Aydin before coming to brazil =) )...

Anyways, those rocks are amazing too =)... Jokes aside, the color of water makes a perfect combination the lighter colors of blue making a strong contrast with the dark reddish brown of the soil there and forming a pure white intersection in our photos. I like the different colors of the terra mama (mother earth) especially more visible in the second picture.

Oh, and the bus stop of course =)

And the house of Robinson Crusoe and his palm garden =)

Of course times has changed... But manpower is still fully functional in South America... The cheapest gas =)

And now following my favorite brazilian couple to whereever they take me, I end up in Natal in a restaurant, which has been selected for 3 consecutive years the best restaurant in Natal and the best restaurant in Brazil for year 2004 by a car magazine =)... Guillerme remembers good old days =)... I enjoy the good new food =)... You can see some of my favorite foods from the cuisine of Pernambuco (state of Natal) there (some palmitos, rice with cheese, meat stew and muqueca camarao)... On our way to my hostel we find some guys who tell us about a possibility that it is possible to go to Fernando Noronha for 250$ round trip ticket... Fernando Noronha is definitely the best island of Brazil and is the best place for diving.. I am not so sure and can not believe it, as normally going there and coming back costs around 500$... And anyway when the guy checks with the airline, he tells us that there is no flight there. For me spending 500$ just for reaching an island is going a little bit over the budget especially when you have been travelling for more than 4 months. So I guess I will let Fernando Noronha stay as an unrealized dream.....

Anyways finally I arrive in my castle!!!! This hostel is one of the famous hostels in brazil, it is built exactly in the form of a castle, you can see the floating gate.. I stayed there twice, the first time my room was calderon, the second time it was the school of the mages =)... The doors are exactly like the entrance to the castle and small details are finely made similar to hogsworth (wasnt it the school of Harry potter)... Anyways Guillerme and Juliana have to leave, after all this beautiful times we had together I thank them, and wish them good times. They are really nice people and were fun to be with.. Of course I invite them to Turkey, it would be nice to show the same hospitality to them when they come here. I hope they also enjoyed our time as much as I did... Thank you again for all Juliana and Guillerme, and also my very special thanks to Ali Cinar, who helped me meet them.

And of course as there is no way to go to Fernando Noronha, there is no meaning for me to sleep like a chicken especially after spending 5 days single with my brazilian couple friends... Soo after 5 days, I go back to my vampire mood with my improved brazilian =))... Meet Karina and her friend, really fun people to hang out with. They are from Minais Gerais and are there for a conference on microbiology... I take her number and promise her that I will call her the day after, which unfortunately will not happen for a more important reason ( check my next destination).. Honestly it is one of the rare times when you swear to your own direction of travel... If I was travelling the other way, I would definitely have made another stop for her...

Anyways, after a crazy night, I go to my bed around 4:30-6 am... (it is obvious that I was drunk from the time range I gave, right =) ) Just only to wake up around 8 to find out a nice surprise... What is it??? just go ahead and see....

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My Joao Pessoa

My Guillerme and Juliana