Days at the beach
9 novembre 2000
Dear family and friends,
We are now in a City called Joao Pessoa. It is the third major city we have stopped at. The first city was Fortaleza the capital of Ceará. The beach that we went to in the city was very nice. We got there around noonish on the 20th of octubre. When we got there, we automatically found the beach and parked the cars. After we found a secure spot to park the cars, we thought it would be a good idea to walk around and find a place to eat. We walked around for a while. Tyler and Jeanne found a Banco Do Brasil, or the only bank that will accept their ATM cards. Finally, they get money and we head for a restaurant that looked more like a bar on the beach. Once we seat our selves under a shady tree looking out on the beach, when all the sudden we get approached by 2 sunglasses salesmen. I lost my sunglasses (sorry Jen) and I ask to try some on and find a pair that I like. There is a problem though, I have no money and all my aunt has is 50s in Reals(Reh-ahles) So one of the salesmen goes over to the bar and talks to the bartender/waiter and comes back a minuet later and tells my aunt that she can put it on the bill, simple enough. By this time every sales person saw that we just bought something and now we have people trying to sell us every thing imaginable, they got cigarettes, sun tan lotion, blow-up toys for the water, caju nuts, watches, all sorts of hand made jewelry, and people not selling anything they just want your money.
After finishing our meal Tyler and I decide to go for a swim. The instant I get down to the water I jump right in. It was the perfect temperature, the water was crystal clear, what more could you ask for? Well after swimming for about a while I get approached by two other boys and they start talking to me in Portuguese. I don't understand what they are saying, and I told them that I was from United States and I spoke English and a little Spanish. Then one of the boys motions for me to follow him, so I do. He shows me to his dad and his dad tells me to sit down - in English. I sit there speaking to him in English and the boys ask him questions about me and America and soccer. We sat and talked for a while and the boys wanted me to play soccer with them. I gave in and played for a while and wrestled in the water. After we were all played out we went and their dad treated us all to ice cream. We sat back down and talked a while longer, oh no! I just realized that my new sunglasses were in my pocket before but now there not. Well time to go face the music.
Natal was the next city we went to. We got there on 25th of Octubre. There isnít much to say about it. Aunt Jeanne got sick; we think it was the shrimp she ate at the restaurant. We were in a nice hotel though. While aunt Jeanne was sick in bed, Tyler and me explored the city. Word of caution, never go to a beach town in Brasil on the weekdays and expect lots to do. The streets were empty at nighttime and the daytime had a little more going on but not much.
After Natal, we come to another major city named Joao Pessoa the capital of Paraiba. It is a big city but very friendly except when some one stole Tyler's antenna and my roller blade scooter. Besides that we had a great time there. While at the campsite we met a real cool guy named Vitor no not Victor. So this guy Vitor spoke really good English and was driving a VW camper and was traveling around like us because he is on vacation. We all hung out for a couple of days, Vitor and me went and snorkeled out to some reefs and I cut my self, but the fish were really beautiful. After about a day or so t the beach we decided to go out and explore the city a little with our new friend Vitor. We drove around the city a little while found an Internet café and a place to eat. The third day we hung out on the beach some more. The fourth day Vitor told us that there was a natural swimming pool offshore about 3km. and wanted to know if we would want to go and swim and do a little snorkeling, we all agreed. We had to hire one of the fishing boats to take us out. The tide was higher than normal something to do with the way the moon is positioned, but for the most part the snorkeling was great and everyone had fun. Time to leave Joao Pessoa and head to Salvador, Bahia and hopefully meet up with the other group.
The one and only,
Shay Boswell
