Brazil Traveling full day to end up in a ghost town
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Johan Kruseman
Updated on 22 October 2024
Updated on 22 October 2024
Traveling can be tough sometimes. I was trying to make my way to Jericoacoara on a Sunday and that appeared to be not the best idea. In the first step-over town I had to kill 3 hours; ended up chatting with the owner of a pet shop and to kill some more time went to a barbershop to get my beard removed.
Finally a bus arrived and brought me to the next town. Completely deserted and a town where you didn’t want to be found dead (or alive). Since that town didn’t have any busses out of town on Sundays I had to find another way to get out of here as fast as i could (boy, did I regret that wish 10 minutes later!)
I found a taxi driver who knew there was a bus passing by in the next town, 40kms away in 20 minutes time. Doing a quick calculation I realised he had to drive 120km/h on a road full of potholes and in a car designed for max 60. (Un)fortunately the driver had done the same math so we were going on a speed even Max Verstappen would be impressed about. It then also started to pour rain like it only does in a rainforest but the driver wasn’t going to change his slicks for full wets. I tried to find a seat belt but it wasn’t there. With more luck than wisdom we did arrive alive and with a bus having the same delay as we, it made a perfect connection in the end, only to find out in the next town there weren’t any busses after 14:00.
So….. there i was. Alone in a town, not even worth to be mentioned in my Lonely Planet. I decided to explore the city to proof Lonely Planet accidentally had missed out on this hidden gem. But i failed miserably. Nobody outside, closed metal roller shutters for all windows, and a wind blowing some empty cans through the streets. I felt I was walking through a film set where the last shooting of the day was just finished. That night however, I found out where all the people were. With the entire hostel we went to a reggae/samba bar in the back garden of a house, packed with people and live music. This problematic day couldn’t have ended any better.
And the next day I reached my planned destination and well, photos say enough about that place and after a full day of carparinha’s in hammocks above the water, I ended up in an Israeli party with humus and unlimited carparinha’s. After all, all this is how I feel I am alive and while I love traveling so much!
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Traveled route: SĂŁo Paolo, Manaus, Amazonas, Presidente Figueiredo, Belem, SĂŁo LuĂs, Atins, Parque Nacional dos Lençóis Maranhenses, Jericoacoara, Fortaleza, Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, Ilha Grande, Paraty, Ubatubu, Ilhabela, Praia do Bonete
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