We arrived at our next location after being pulled over by the military police who used the excuse that “it is illegal to drive in flip flops in Brazil” to completely search our car. Of course, they found nothing, and the “no speak Portuguese” response to every question seemed to save us from a ticket. The funniest part is that EVERYONE in Brazil wears flip flops all the time.
We settled in the little town of Pipa. Great surfing (which we never did), great lounging, a bay where you can ride the waves with dolphins at low tide, and an awesome pousada with hammocks, pool, and a truly sweet innkeeper.
We used this as home base and ventured out to discover nearby dune backed beaches. One particular highlight involved us trying to use the Fiat as a beach buggy. Needless to say, our wallets were slightly lighter after we enlisted the help of some big muscled locals to get the poor little Fiat out of deep sand and back on the road.
Another highlight was whipping captain in our race down the sandboarding dune. Ha, ha!
All in all, it’s been a great week up here. Now we are heading back down to Olinda for a couple of days of Carnival.
Low Waving Through South America 