Earlier in the trip we had, at many times, thought that coming this far north was going to be too far out of the way. But thankfully our willingness for adventure came through in the end. We had heard from many people that Itacare was one of the must see destinations in Brazil, and after spending a week there I´m sure that we would now argue that same point.
The two bikes rolled into town in the dark, after riding a solid 600km day. Weaving our way down the main, recently paved cobble stone street, we luckily ran into Blair and Simon who where having dinner street side (an Arabic style restaurant which was so good that we ended up eating there on three of the nights). The boys had arrived earlier that day and had organised a place for us to stay. ´The Billabong´ Pousada (owned by an Aussie chap, Paul) was to be our home for the next few days. Happy to see another fellow Australian, Paul kindly offered to have us around to his place for a local style BBQ, which in Brazil is called a Corrasco. Seriously good feed might I add, which also included 24 long necks of the fine local brew, Skol.
On an other occasion Paul, his wife and his sister in-law took us all out for a night of dancing, at a place called ´Papaguis´. The evening was a good chance for everyone to embarrass themselves. But it was a fun night out.
Now to the main reason Itacare is so great...the beaches. There are four main beaches in close proximity to the main town center, all of which are surrounded by palm trees and have decent waves rolling in to please the many surfers, including Simon who has been carrying his board since Ferrugem in the south of Brazil. Although the close beaches are nice, we took a small trek to reach another bay about 45 minutes away. This beach was a winner for everyone..perhaps it was because there weren´t as near the numbers on the other beaches. Bloody fantastic. Clear turquoise water with clean squeaky sand and nice big waves.
One day was spent out fishing, although we didn´t even get a bite. A good chance to sink a couple of cans anyway. We went out with three other travelers we had meet in the town, Leo, Emily, and Juan (Italian, Australia, Argentinian) all good people who we ended out hanging out with on a couple different nights.
Another was spent riding 50km north up the coast with Paul´s son in-law and his girlfriend. We rode along some nice road, as well as the beach to reach a small unspoilt town called Barra Grande, which had water which was dead flat and about 25 degrees warm! Swimming was like taking a hot bath. But that whole stretch of coast north and south was truly stunning...a place we would definitely be returning to some day.
On our last night at Itacare we all decided to camp. The reason we gave up our air conditioned room for a spot under the stars was really quite simple. How often to you get to camp right on the Brazilian coast and basically have your own private beach at your door step. Definitely on of the best camping spots that we have had on the trip so far.
Next stop Brasilia...
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