JERICOACOARA
If you’ve been pot-holing in the Yucatán for the last ten years and haven’t come across one of the many articles about Jericoacoara in print and on the web, here’s the deal. Picture a small, isolated fishing village on the north-east (Ceará) coast of Brazil. A fishing village that, until the latter years of the 20th century, had no contact with civilisation. There were no roads, no electricity, phones, televisions or newspapers and money was never a problem. There wasn’t any. All transactions being fish traded for goods.
In the 1980s it was ‘discovered’ by adventurous backpackers, and a little later by exploratory windsurfers. The rest, as they say, is history. Since then, although the number of visitors has grown the village remains small (it’s surrounded by a National Park, so building and expansion are restricted). Indeed, the main growth over the years isn’t measured in size, but in charm. Instead of big hotels you’ll see small, cosy pousadas (from economy to 5-star). Instead of McDonald’s or Pizza Hut, you get catch-of-the-day fish and proper pizza and pasta made by Italians. Instead of tarmac, sand paves the streets. Instead of pedestrian crossings, vehicles are banished to a parking lot outside town.
And did I mention the National Park? As with any place in the world declared as such, there is no shortage of beautiful landscape. Massive sand dunes (ever tried sandboarding?), deserted beaches, crystal-clear lagoons and fascinating igneous extrusions (rock formations to you and me) abound. In fact, most of Jeri’s tourism caters for those strange souls who have no interest whatsoever in the ever-present wind. For among its many claims to fame, Jeri is considered one of Brazil’s most beautiful beaches and was once voted as one of the world’s ten most-beautiful by the Washington Post Magazine.