Having left the crazily hot city of Salvador we continued down the coast on an overnight bus to Trancoso, a stunning coastal village where Madonna, Naomi Campbell and other celebrities/fashion types apparently come to get away from it all. We checked into an amazing pousada (Brazilian guesthouse) where we met an English couple Louis and Lucy.
We spent the first day lazing and sleeping on the beach deciding we'd be "more productive" the following day. Later, back at the hostel we got chatting to Louis and Lucy and found out that they were actually in Brazil to look at properties with the idea of converting one of them into a hostel and relocate to Brazil. They were planning to go out and look at properties the following day and rent a motorbike to get around which gave me an idea (actually it gave me two ideas but more about that in a later blog)..! We'd read that there was an amazing beach tucked away 20-30km down the coast but was almost inaccessible (no buses, taxis etc went there) so the next day Louis and I went and found some local motorbike owners and haggled a rate with them for two bikes for the day.
It turned out that they were heading in the same direction so we set off down the coast with Elizabeth and Lucy on the back. As we turned off the main road tarmac quickly changed to sand, the track narrowed considerably and we started going through jungle. The road was constantly going steeply up and down and it took all concentration and effort to keep the bike upright and not fall off - we were effectively off-roading. I was glad I’d changed out of flip-flops... I was also glad Luis hadn’t injured himself and Lucy by this point – as we were getting the bikes he’d asked me “Riding a motorbike is just the same as driving a car right?”!
Our efforts were rewarded when we finally arrived and were greeted with an amazing cove surrounding a picturesque lagoon and beach. We chilled by the lagoon for a few hours, made friends with a couple of black dogs that seemed to live there and swam about the lagoon.
We spent the first day lazing and sleeping on the beach deciding we'd be "more productive" the following day. Later, back at the hostel we got chatting to Louis and Lucy and found out that they were actually in Brazil to look at properties with the idea of converting one of them into a hostel and relocate to Brazil. They were planning to go out and look at properties the following day and rent a motorbike to get around which gave me an idea (actually it gave me two ideas but more about that in a later blog)..! We'd read that there was an amazing beach tucked away 20-30km down the coast but was almost inaccessible (no buses, taxis etc went there) so the next day Louis and I went and found some local motorbike owners and haggled a rate with them for two bikes for the day.
It turned out that they were heading in the same direction so we set off down the coast with Elizabeth and Lucy on the back. As we turned off the main road tarmac quickly changed to sand, the track narrowed considerably and we started going through jungle. The road was constantly going steeply up and down and it took all concentration and effort to keep the bike upright and not fall off - we were effectively off-roading. I was glad I’d changed out of flip-flops... I was also glad Luis hadn’t injured himself and Lucy by this point – as we were getting the bikes he’d asked me “Riding a motorbike is just the same as driving a car right?”!
Our efforts were rewarded when we finally arrived and were greeted with an amazing cove surrounding a picturesque lagoon and beach. We chilled by the lagoon for a few hours, made friends with a couple of black dogs that seemed to live there and swam about the lagoon.
On the drive back Louis' key somehow bounced out of the ignition and fell into the sand (never to be seen again) and amazingly the engine kept running all the way back to our village!
On our final day Elizabeth and I went to one of the quieter beaches. It has to have been one of the nicest beaches I have ever seen in my life. The sea was bright blue, with small fishing boats bobbing by the shore, a wide sandy beach lined with coconut palms etc etc....you get the idea. It looked incredible. We drank our coconut milks on the beach and admired the view for the rest of the afternoon and reminiscing on all the different beaches we’ve seen so far in Brazil until we eventually had to leave for the bus station bound for our next stop in Brazil – Rio de Janeiro!
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