Natal (Brazil)
Having been a pronounced enemy of beach activities most of grown up life I didn’t quite know what to do with close to 1000 km of sandy beaches at my hands feet. However, a hundred or so drunk, and increasingly sun burnt, Scandinavians had a perfectly good idea what they wanted do, making the beach an altogether disagreeable place to spend time…
One of the less striking features of Natal is that all the taxis seem to drive around with near empty gas tanks… With an average income of some 75$ a month and a gasoline price of more than 50 cents a litre this is a small wonder, but still we spent some time pondering at it… Could also be a strategy to get more tip… Who knows.
Food, in Natal, comes in remarkably large portions, with excellent allthough not too spicy taste and at a price that is far below what would be expected as service fees by a european waiter… Allthough I have previously taken pride in never giving up a meal I had to give up on numerous occasions in Natal.
Naturewise beaches is the thing in Natal. Along the coastline where Natal is located there is a near 500 km long beach, broken only by the odd cliff. To the south of Natal you’ll find the most beautiful beaches (from a scandinavian perspective) with steep shorewalls at the back end of the beach and small pictoresque villages like Pipa. To the north you’ll find the most magnificent broad sandy beaches like Genipabu beach.
The sand and the sand dunes has made the Brazilians develop a profession; buggy driving. A beach buggy is a car built on a modified Volkswagen Beetle chassis and is a small open car which is used for the purpose of driving around in the sand like a madman.
Being a long term, heavily pronounced enemy of everything that is related to beach life I had envisaged a rather unpleasant stay. Such was not the case…