brazil 20 [eng]

hello dear friends

today's post reaches you from valencia in spain, for a few days i have been back in europe and at the moment, i’m traveling with my brother. take a look and read how I drove from recife to natal and got my diving license in the deep blue sea...
have fun while reading!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1DateA2pja57LOJoFK52BEGDuXJ0hwJzh&usp=sharing

4.3. - 10.3.

The sun in the cloudy sky woke me from my sleep today and I started the new week with a small breakfast.

I then searched for the oficina de cerâmica de francisco brannand, a well-known artist here in brazil, because many of the pattern variations and colors of the tiles in the houses or in the bathrooms are his creations.
Unfortunately, due to the carnival festivities, the museum and the factory were closed and I could only watch it all over the fence.

when i drove back to downtown recife, the rain started again and i spotted from afar, build on another bridge, the gigantic statue of a rooster, which is always built up from the carnival-people here.
then I reached olinda and spent some hours in the aftermath of the street parties.

Finally, I left early in the afternoon and followed the coast with some stops. At some point I reached the mirante de tambaba, a kind peninsula in the middle of the steep coast in the south of joão passoa. quite nice view of the ocean, but unfortunately again overcrowded with tourists.

So I did not stay there for long and then drove not even in the capital of paraíba, but further back to the coast, where I arrived in the evening in full rainfall in baía da traição. here was a difficult-to-describe spectacle, as this relatively small town was filled with people blocking the streets with their bbq’s and sound cars in front of their houses. One terrible music louder than the other and somehow you could not really see the people enjoying this festivities, just as it was easily possible in the larger cities.

So I drove through the streets and finally parked under a street lamp and here, while eating, I recorded about an hour-long message to schnilsi to answer his last voicemail. Afterwards I drove up the hill a bit and found a great place to sleep on a cow pasture from where I could marvel at the ocean, the city and the stars.

After the rainy night in the hammock, the new morning greeted me with clear sunshine, as I drove down into the city and I was looking for a pousada on the beach, because with the requested internet I wanted to answer some mails and also send some requests to people on couchsurfing, to ask for accommodation for my time in natal.

Shortly afterwards bruno and I drove through small villages past beaches, until I crossed the Rio Camaratuba at Barra de Camaratuba, with a raft, a raft, which was about 50cm longer and wider than my car.

on the other side I drove on and on until around noon I reached the charming region around the praia da pipa. this is a very well-developed region for tourists and here are some really magical beaches. such as the praia do amor, to which I visited descending, a steep cliff, after I parked my car on a small street.
Here I walked along the beach towards the west and after I saw the various beach bars, I climbed over the rocky coast, until I reached a small accommodation where I had a longer lunch break.

I also took a short bath and when it was late afternoon and I had enough of the reading and roasting in the sun, I set off to visit the exchange office in the city. my new credit card would arrive in natal only in a few days and i needed some money. At a small hostel right on the beach I chatted some time with the front desk and then walked back to the center in the most beautiful sunset.

Once there, I noticed that the exchange offices, of which there were even two, had closed. it was still carnival and that means everything is just in party mood and nobody cares about working.
So I asked and asked until i got a tipp from a rather upscale hotel and the people there then directed me to a pizzeria, where I could stock up my, down to 20 reals shrunken, cash reserves.
after a nightly meal, I headed back to the praia do amor to dance to the electronic beats in the sand.
Unfortunately, the party was over there very early and so I followed my ears, up to a private party some blocs further out of town.
Here were a few extremely drunk uncool people, so I did not stay long.
Looking for a place to sleep, I drove with bruno at night in a slippery sandy path, where I then of course also got stuck. Helpful neighbors rescued me, they had already seen me turning into this bad road and rushed to help me. a short time later, we were free to go again and rolled over loamy country roads.
I finally fell asleep at a crossroads and was looking forward to getting up early in the morning, because I would start my PADI open water diver course around 10am.

the alarm clock quickly brought me up on my feet and an hour later, I stood joyfully in front of the gate of caju-divers in natal. the self-employed diving instructor, who is funnily also called paul, awaited me. schnilsi had recommended him to me, because he too completed his course with him.
after he opened the door and we had greeted each other, I got to know his family, I took a shower, had breakfast and then he started to explain to me the different parts of the diving equipment, which at first glance can be quite confusing.
then I read the first chapter in the course book, that I could borrow for the next few days and after a small lunch, we were already sitting in his vw-van, on the way to a pool in a fitness center very close.

we changed and then went into the water and paul explained to me the different exercises that you have to master to dive safely. this includes, among other things, to cleanse a fogged mask and take it off under water, to breathe through the air supply of the buddy, or also the various ways of controlled ascension from the deep, as well as various exercises to the buoyant position in the water.
with many exercises, i got water again and again under the mask and had my problems to let it out again, which happens, when you breath out, inhaled air out of the nose. my beard was also a problem and kept getting water in the mask. It's a new feeling in a new world that you have yet to get used to, but Paul did a fantastic job and was very patient with me and my difficulties.

When we are done after three hours with all the exercises and went back home by bus, I was exhausted and not 100% convinced that diving is really something for me.

then i went to hudson, he and his girlfriend dani will host me for a few nights and we spend some time cooking and chatting, before we all drive to a coffeeshop nearby and listen to first-class life music there , dani also sings and there were many of her friends there.
As we make our way back home around midnight, I am very happy, about how quickly and easily you can get to know cool people through websites like couchsurfing. In any case, I will definitely use it more in the future, when I come to a bigger city again.

Today I had to get up really early and after a small breakfast I shaved to avoid the problems I had with the mask.
I also had a great idea today, carved carrots in spoon shape and you can eat everything except the plate.

I then went with Paul together to the Lagoa de Estrada, a nearby lagoon, where I completed my first ever dive in the wild, down to 12m depth.

today we repeated many of the exercises we had done in the pool yesterday, and I also learned to dive for compass and practiced the different ways of controlled ascending in the vertical direction.
However, because I was also very excited, I caused a lot of dust to whirl up and took us pretty good view.
After a short break we went into the water again and we looked at the underwater world of the lagoon, I had some difficulties to keep my buoyant position in the water, but still Paul said I had done my thing very well.
My worries were blown away after today's diving and I could not wait to jump into the ocean tomorrow.

We got back to land and after we had packed the equipment together, we roared back to Pauls home, where I spent the afternoon to read more lessons in the course book and cuddle with the cat.

At some point the doorbell rang and a few moments later I held my new revolut debit card in my hands. a good feeling to finally get back on my own money.

I then face-timed a lot with Sören and when the wifi stopped working, I said goodbye to Paul, drove back to the apartment of Hudson and Dani. I cooked there and then I continued to study in the theory book, later i spoke with Söri again, before I went to sleep.

Today, my day started again extremely early, I went to Paul with and met the other people, who would go diving with us today, xavier from france and a couple from brazil.

All together we drove to the beach pirangi do sul, here we went with a small dingi to the dive boat, where all the equipment was awaiting us.
A ride of about 40 minutes took us 10km off the coast to the first diving spot, mestre vicente. After the briefing we prepared ourselves for the upcoming 35 minute dive to 18 m depth.
at water temperatures of 28-30 degrees, it is really fantastic to sink into the world underwater and go on a recreational trip. I completed some exercises for the course and then we started as a group of 6 people and saw all sorts of wonderful things.

the video can give you a great impression, even if i have to say that the world underwater in live looks a bit more colorful and natural than in the video.
a breathtaking experience that made me just blissfully look at the creatures of this world. we saw a murane, a languste, a very hidden oktopus, a huge ray and thousands of colorful fish, some as small as bees, others as big as cats. everything was mixed up and I had the feeling that I had encountered a city full of aliens here in a strange world, just a few meters below the surface of the atlantic.
After surfacing, we shared our experiences aboard the ship and enjoyed the time in the air with a few snacks, before we dived again at the second spot, called santuario, we spend 40 minutes to 12 m depth.

again a very impressive experience, unfortunately a little less wide view, but still 8m clear visibility. Here we were particularly fascinated by the four sharks, which we could admire in small caves of the reef, while relaxing. they were not dangerous or huge, but still the biggest thing we saw underwater that day.
here, too, the colorful flora and fauna left little room for wishes, and we saw the rare french angel fish. the picture is not mine ...

After re-surfing, we all went back to Natal and after cleaning the equipment and a shower, we took some lunch together in a cantina.

we were all extremely happy with the wonders down there and I was still underwater with my head, as paul remarked.
we got back to Pauls house and together with Xavier, I worked through the last chapter in the book, which deals with the planning of several dives in one day. You have to be on time to avoid inflicting your body with a dangerous amount of nitrogen in the system or even succumbing to decompression sickness.
Afterwards I wrote and passed the exam and was then registered by Paul in the PADI system. I was able to pay with the new card and after we said goodbye, I drove first to hudson to collect my stuff and then to my new couchsurfing host.
his name is Edson and he has a very interesting life, he is marine biologist and works here in natal in a project, which among other things deals with the protection of the corals.
a lot of text but a great thing ...

We talked about the different places we visited and I told him quite quickly how shocked I was about the situation in Maragogi. i had snorkeled there and watched the generation instagram as they romped around without any regard for the reefs off the coast, to shoot the best possible picture and present their crazy travel lifestyle. I was appalled by these people and reported my worries to Edson, who told me about the project

#DeOlhoNosCorais. (literally translated: keep an eye on our corals)

this is an instagram profile he has created by and for his institute.
The basic idea is that every visitor can be a scientist, not just academic graduates.
so visitors from places like maragogi are asked to post the photos they take of coral with the hashtag.
that and the information posts about different corals provide three things:
Firstly, the tourists create scientific data, even if it is only a photo, it is data that can be used for the evaluation of the situation and the changes by real scientists like Edson.
secondly: a window opens up for scientific communication, people are more interested in being able to participate actively.
third, it creates more environmental responsibility among the people.
and that is how it works:
The tourists or workers (fischer and diver) take photos while underwater and post this on social networks with the hashtag above.
Edson and his colleagues then use the hashtag and seek the images of the coral. on the basis of the pictures, they can determine the coral species, the health status and the location. this data flows into a database, which is growing and growing.
so normal people create photos, biologists like edson create scientific data and in the end it all helps to define the status quo, on the one hand and to detect changes caused by humans, climate change, plastic, etc. on the other hand.
this is such a wonderful idea because it shows a solution to the problem, that indirectly is the problem. The photos of the corals exist, even before this project started, tourists, fishermen and divers took photos, but now they can actively contribute to their images and their data is being used for scientific work.
Edson does that more or less alongside his normal job and I wanted to share this with you in such detail because I think it's something that sets Brazil apart. The people here see problems and find simple problem-oriented solutions. very impressive, do not you think so?

while we talked, we munch tacos with avocado, cheese and delicious apple-chile jam. when it got late we went to sleep.

on saturday today i woke up well and after a small breakfast we set off, on the way to the street market in alecrim.
There are all sorts of fruits and vegetables that the northeast has to offer, along with cheese, honey, meat and fish, and we packed ourselves with bags of delicious food for the next few days.

Back home, I prepared some delicious potato pancakes for lunch and ate them with yesterday's dips and special cheese, that we had also bought on the market.

In the afternoon, we drove to a village nearby, Tabatinga and stopped on the way at a lookout point from where you could watch the sea turtles, surfing the waves.

our goal here, however, was the casa da tapioca. a house in the village with a large outside roof. the family here is selling traditional food, of course, really delicious tapiocas (a kind of pancake, made from the manioc root) with coconut milk. Here they are warmed up on a large stove in the middle of the room and then sold to the waiting customers.

The atmosphere is very original and the place here is also known for the signs that hang everywhere and indicate that you should behave and be a good person, but in a very amusing way, as edson translated for me.

this translates, for example: it is bad, but that's okay. somehow that describes a common attitude and the brazilian optimism perfectly.

We continued after this small snack to a lagoon in which we splashed for a while, before we drove home and spend the evening, before going to sleep, with more travel stories.

Today the breakfast, again was a delicious fruit salad, before we started our way to the beach and then continued to run east along the coast, until we reached some very remote completely empty beaches.

All these small beaches are located in the military danger zone, but you can easily climb over the fence and so we enjoyed the waves, which we then had all to ourselves.
We also collected some garbage out of the water and later I found a beautiful sand dollarskelet, these creatures belong to the sea urchins and look alive like this ... it’s even quite rare.

when we were back at the apartment after the one-hour hike through the sand, edson cooked delicious cuscus and i wrote a part of a new post.

then I talked a while with Judith and later. we marched, after a short nap, to a restaurant, which sells really tasty falafel. We ate right there, but I could not eat completely, so I took a part back home, this evening, we fell asleep quickly.

See you soon, I'm really looking forward to hug you all again!

love
pauli

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