Itacare

I flew from Manaus to Salvadore, Brazil on a red-eye, arriving at 7:30 a.m.  The map on TripAdvisor indicated my destination, Itacare, is a little south of Salvadore.  Well, I should have enlarged the map. It is about 160 miles south and the route is not very direct.  I rode a city bus for one hour from the airport to the port, where I took a 50 minute ferry ride.  After a 90 minute wait, I caught an "express" bus south for the 5 1/2 hour ride to Itacare.  But I had the front seat and a great view of the country side.  So it took me ten hours to get from the airport to Itacare.  

Itacare is a very laid-back beach vacation and surfing town. There are hundreds of pousadas (B&Bs) restaurants, bars, and boutique shops. The tourists are mostly Brazilian families and young couples of all sizes and colors.  There is also a surfer bum community of locals with lots of guys with dread locks and pretty young girls.  I booked at Casa Tiki, a small pousada owned by a young couple, Kevin and Patricia.  Kevin is from Belgium and Patricia is from Sao Paulo, Brazil.  They are lovely, friendly and extremely helpful hosts.  I had to change my return flight to Sao Paulo and Patricia spent about two hours on the internet and phone assisting me with the change.

My first night I walked around town and had dinner at an excellent restaurant that had live music.  Patricia made reservations for me on a river rafting trip for the next day.  We rode for about 90 minutes in a Toyota Land Cruiser over a road that made me start humming the theme song from Indiana Jones.

The rafting trip was short (about 4 miles), but very exciting with class 4 rapids.  We were a group of three rafts plus two safety kayaks.  One raft flipped in the third rapids.  No one was hurt, but some were a little shaken. 

We walked around one rapids and the guides took the rafts through without us.  That night I went to Kevin and Patricia’s new restaurant and she gave me a piece of her excellent lime pie.  I went across the street and sang one song a cappella at a bar that had open mike night. 

I made a reservation for a private surfing lesson the next day.  I surfed a little when I was in college at Long Beach State, but that was 48 years ago so I was just a little rusty.  Then there was the problem with my big toe on my left foot that no longer bends or takes weight since the operation in October. 

  After changing to "goofy foot" position, I was able to get up on the board and had a blast.  My instructor kept yelling, "one more, David," and I would bash through the waves to get back out to the surf line.  The conditions were ideal for learning with almost

constant three foot waves spaced far enough apart that I could get through them without choking.  I lost track of how many waves I rode, but after two hours, I was exhausted. 

I was going to rent a kayak the next day and paddle up river to a waterfall, but there were breaking waves at the mouth of the river so I decided to hike to the beaches instead.  There are four beautiful beaches separated by headlands.  They reminded me of Laguna Beach in Southern California, except the water is a lot warmer. 

The next morning I rented a kayak and paddled for two hours up river to a side stream that goes about half a mile through jungle and mangroves to an eco preserve that has a series of beautiful waterfalls.  I went for a swim, ate my lunch, and met a young lady who is studying law at a university in Sao Paulo.  We talked about law practice for about a half hour, and then I had to leave to get the kayak back on time.  The paddle back was with the current, but against the wind.  Three hours of kayaking was enough for one day. 

The next morning I got up a 6:30 and started the long trip back to Sao Paulo.  I got there, but my bag did not make it.  I have only flown GOL airlines twice, and had big problems both times.  I will not fly GOL again.