Both dune buggys that had been reserved were at our house by 7:15 the next morning. We had all been up for about an hour preparing for the day. We figured that we would be gone until almost 5 that evening so we prepared accordingly. William and I loaded in the back of one of the two buggies, each of which was driven by men named Bruno. Ur driver spoke perfect English due to him living in the United States for almost five years. Aunt Lori, Uncle Mark and Caroline piled into the other buggy and we were on our way.
We drove through the downtown traffic in the streets of Natal, until we reached some more secluded roads. Usually these buggys would drive on the beach the entire time, but we had to be in Maracujau by 9:00 for our snorkeling adventure, so the roads were the fastest route to this northern point. When we reached roads with less traffic congestion, the buggy’s picked up speed, making sure to break for about 10 bulls that were crossing the street. Bruno gave us some information regarding some sights during our hour and a half drive which I found quite interesting.
We pulled into the small fishing village of Maracujau at about 8:45. I was surprised how small the village was, seeing as it is one of the prime snorkeling and diving spots in this region of Brazil. We loaded what we needed into a speed boat and made our way to the dive platform that floated above the reef. The water there was only about 7-12 feet deep, so as we approached the reef we had to slow down. We spent the next hour and a half snorkeling, feeding fish and talking with some America tourists from Miami.
We arrived back at the beach and were informed by the Bruno’s that we needed to leave right now to avoid the rising tide. We quickly got into our buggy’s and enjoyed the zigzagging race over the flat packed sand on the beautiful beaches. I had pumped some Brad Paisley music into my Ipod, and sharing an ear bud with young William, we sang the songs we knew as our buggy dodged rocks, coconuts and pools of water. We went off road and drove through a village that reminded me of the African village in the movie Outbreak. Then we reached the dunes.
The buggy’s roared up the piles of white sand and flew down the other side (which from the inside of the buggy looks to be close to a 90 degree angle, although t is nowhere close. We went back and forth through the grains of Sahara like sand. I could hear Caroline and Aunt Lori screaming with delight from the buggy in front of us. The drivers stopped and asked us if we would take a picture to be in the ad that they were doing for the new co-op of drivers they were forming. We agreed and posed on the top of one mountain of sand that overlooked a coconut grove and the beautiful coast of Brazil.
After our first dune experience, we tackled a larger amusement park of sand where I decided to try out the video feature on my digital camera. After a few freaky slides down some steep hills, we stopped at an area for some activities. One of them was a zip line that sent its rider flying down a huge dune into a natural fresh water pond. William, Uncle Mark and I each took a turn on zip line, which I would describe as more relaxing than anything else. After the zip line we decided we would try the water slide, which reminded me a lot of those steep slides you would see at a water park. This wasn’t really a slide, but a few pieces of smooth plastic tarp that were slick with water.
William went first and flew down the side of the dune into the lake below. After hitting the lake he skidded across the top of the water like a flat stone thrown across a glassy pond surface. I took my turn next, and after hitting a bump in the dune I appeared to be airborne for a second or two. After that point I panicked and locked my elbows to the plastic giving myself quite a burn. Because my upper appendage joints were acting as brake system for my body, I didn’t skim nearly as far across the water as my younger cousin had. Then it was Uncle Marks turn. He rocketed down the dune in his deep-water-start barefoot skiing posture and hit the surface of the deep lake. He didn’t stop. He kept skimming across the water as if his Malibu at home was towing him down the Merrimack River. When he finally came to a stop, he let out one of his famous softball “UHHH HAAAAA” and came to the shore with the biggest smile I had on his face in a long time. When we reached the top of the dune, the man who was in charge of this amusement said “Obrigado” (Thank You) to Mark for the entertainment he had given to the large crowd that had gathered atop the dune.
We got back in our buggy’s and headed to a delicious lunch of grilled lobster, shrimp and some pastry appetizers. The restaurant was slow, but delicious and about an hour later we were back on our way down the coast toward Natal. We took a few more rides on the dunes, which were looking more and more like a scene from Lawrence of Arabia. After crossing some small rivers on a “ferry”, which was nothing more than some wooden planks that were propelled along the surface of the water by men pushing large polls along the bottom of the river, we headed to a special location reserved for VIP buggy tour riders.
Because we couldn’t ride the beach the entire way home due to the rising tide, the drivers had decided to take us in this special park that was reserved mostly for the buggy drivers. This was the area that they would come and ride their buggys on their days off. The dunes were high and fast as we zigzagged across the surface of sand. We stopped for some photo opportunities along the way. After about an hour in the park, we headed onward toward Natal. After looking at some gorgeous beaches we could see the sun was setting and we needed to head home. We waited for a ferry, this one was an actually a ferry, to cross a larger river for almost 45 minutes. After leaving the boat, we drove along the shoreline until we arrived back in Ponta Negra.
Uncle Mark and Aunt Lori got dressed to go to Salomão’s anniversary party, while the kids, who were mellow from a day in the sun, hung around the house. Before working on my blog for the evening, I headed to the shower house bathroom. I opened the door to come face to face with a large cockroach. It followed me out of the bathroom as I searched for an object to kill it. William had the bright idea of crushing it with a stone, which worked. I went back into the house about an hour later to hear Caroline ask William what a certain insect was that had climbed upon the coffee table. William replied with the same reply that he gave when referring to any insect he was unfamiliar with, “it’s a locust”. This made me think that it was not in fact a locust, and a first sight of the creature proved my hunch to be correct. There was a second cockroach, I would later find out there had been a third, of the evening.
We drove through the downtown traffic in the streets of Natal, until we reached some more secluded roads. Usually these buggys would drive on the beach the entire time, but we had to be in Maracujau by 9:00 for our snorkeling adventure, so the roads were the fastest route to this northern point. When we reached roads with less traffic congestion, the buggy’s picked up speed, making sure to break for about 10 bulls that were crossing the street. Bruno gave us some information regarding some sights during our hour and a half drive which I found quite interesting.
We pulled into the small fishing village of Maracujau at about 8:45. I was surprised how small the village was, seeing as it is one of the prime snorkeling and diving spots in this region of Brazil. We loaded what we needed into a speed boat and made our way to the dive platform that floated above the reef. The water there was only about 7-12 feet deep, so as we approached the reef we had to slow down. We spent the next hour and a half snorkeling, feeding fish and talking with some America tourists from Miami.
We arrived back at the beach and were informed by the Bruno’s that we needed to leave right now to avoid the rising tide. We quickly got into our buggy’s and enjoyed the zigzagging race over the flat packed sand on the beautiful beaches. I had pumped some Brad Paisley music into my Ipod, and sharing an ear bud with young William, we sang the songs we knew as our buggy dodged rocks, coconuts and pools of water. We went off road and drove through a village that reminded me of the African village in the movie Outbreak. Then we reached the dunes.
The buggy’s roared up the piles of white sand and flew down the other side (which from the inside of the buggy looks to be close to a 90 degree angle, although t is nowhere close. We went back and forth through the grains of Sahara like sand. I could hear Caroline and Aunt Lori screaming with delight from the buggy in front of us. The drivers stopped and asked us if we would take a picture to be in the ad that they were doing for the new co-op of drivers they were forming. We agreed and posed on the top of one mountain of sand that overlooked a coconut grove and the beautiful coast of Brazil.
After our first dune experience, we tackled a larger amusement park of sand where I decided to try out the video feature on my digital camera. After a few freaky slides down some steep hills, we stopped at an area for some activities. One of them was a zip line that sent its rider flying down a huge dune into a natural fresh water pond. William, Uncle Mark and I each took a turn on zip line, which I would describe as more relaxing than anything else. After the zip line we decided we would try the water slide, which reminded me a lot of those steep slides you would see at a water park. This wasn’t really a slide, but a few pieces of smooth plastic tarp that were slick with water.
William went first and flew down the side of the dune into the lake below. After hitting the lake he skidded across the top of the water like a flat stone thrown across a glassy pond surface. I took my turn next, and after hitting a bump in the dune I appeared to be airborne for a second or two. After that point I panicked and locked my elbows to the plastic giving myself quite a burn. Because my upper appendage joints were acting as brake system for my body, I didn’t skim nearly as far across the water as my younger cousin had. Then it was Uncle Marks turn. He rocketed down the dune in his deep-water-start barefoot skiing posture and hit the surface of the deep lake. He didn’t stop. He kept skimming across the water as if his Malibu at home was towing him down the Merrimack River. When he finally came to a stop, he let out one of his famous softball “UHHH HAAAAA” and came to the shore with the biggest smile I had on his face in a long time. When we reached the top of the dune, the man who was in charge of this amusement said “Obrigado” (Thank You) to Mark for the entertainment he had given to the large crowd that had gathered atop the dune.
We got back in our buggy’s and headed to a delicious lunch of grilled lobster, shrimp and some pastry appetizers. The restaurant was slow, but delicious and about an hour later we were back on our way down the coast toward Natal. We took a few more rides on the dunes, which were looking more and more like a scene from Lawrence of Arabia. After crossing some small rivers on a “ferry”, which was nothing more than some wooden planks that were propelled along the surface of the water by men pushing large polls along the bottom of the river, we headed to a special location reserved for VIP buggy tour riders.
Because we couldn’t ride the beach the entire way home due to the rising tide, the drivers had decided to take us in this special park that was reserved mostly for the buggy drivers. This was the area that they would come and ride their buggys on their days off. The dunes were high and fast as we zigzagged across the surface of sand. We stopped for some photo opportunities along the way. After about an hour in the park, we headed onward toward Natal. After looking at some gorgeous beaches we could see the sun was setting and we needed to head home. We waited for a ferry, this one was an actually a ferry, to cross a larger river for almost 45 minutes. After leaving the boat, we drove along the shoreline until we arrived back in Ponta Negra.
Uncle Mark and Aunt Lori got dressed to go to Salomão’s anniversary party, while the kids, who were mellow from a day in the sun, hung around the house. Before working on my blog for the evening, I headed to the shower house bathroom. I opened the door to come face to face with a large cockroach. It followed me out of the bathroom as I searched for an object to kill it. William had the bright idea of crushing it with a stone, which worked. I went back into the house about an hour later to hear Caroline ask William what a certain insect was that had climbed upon the coffee table. William replied with the same reply that he gave when referring to any insect he was unfamiliar with, “it’s a locust”. This made me think that it was not in fact a locust, and a first sight of the creature proved my hunch to be correct. There was a second cockroach, I would later find out there had been a third, of the evening.
The kids got ready for bed at about 8:30. and I was ready too. Uncle Mark and Aunt Lori got home a little after 10 and it was shortly after that, that I drifted off to sleep to obtain (drum roll please) seven and a half full hours of sleep, the longest I had gotten since I had arrived. When I woke up at 6:00 this morning I had a too familiar feeling in my head as I rolled off of my two stacked mattresses and headed for the best friend I had made in Brazil. Its name was Advil…
William and I Before We Leave the House on Lobster Road
Our Buggys After Arriving in Maracujau
Aunt Lori, Uncle Mark and Caroline Heading to the Reef
William and I Head Off on Our Two Hour Tour...Our Two Hour Tour
The Dive Platform Floating Atop the Reef
The Other Buggy Leaving Maracujau
My Buggy Screaming Across the Beach
Flying Through the Sand and Surf
Aunt Lori, Uncle Mark, William and I pose with Bruno for the Ad
Group Shot Overlooking the Coconut Groves and the Coast
Driving Down the Red Dirt Road Through the Small Village
I'm Leaving on a Zip Line...Don't Know When I'll Be Back Again
Uncle Mark's Time of Departure on the Zip Line is at Hand
William Pushes Us Across the River on a "Ferry" with a Huge Pole
William and I On the "Golden Dunes"
The Five of Us on Our Buggys Overlooking a Sea of White Sand
It's Hard to Imagine that God Knows About Each and Every Grain of Sand Isn't It?
This Looks Like a Scene from Jurassic Park
Too Much Time in the Sun Leaves Me Both Stiff and Shrunken
Aunt Lori has Uncle Mark Right Where She Wants Him, In the Palm of Her Hand
A Beautiful Sunset Completes a Beautiful Day
1 comment:
Oh my... this day sounds like SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
flying across the sand and surf in a dune buggy... the pictures are gorgeous... wow... if I ever get to Brazil (ha), that is definitely on the to-do list... :)
Post a Comment