Jogo Bonito: On the Move

6/18/14

Time to leave Fortaleza and head to the next town, to the next game. No sleeping in and being lazy at the beach today (boo). We got up early, 5am, and piled in the car, where Nick, Fe, and I immediately fell asleep and Filipe, thankfully, took the first shift. He and Nick traded off driving and comparing iTunes playlists. (I just slept most of the time, as is my habit.) It’s no surprise that music is one of the U.S.’s most successful exports – we may live thousands of miles away but still have the same taste in music. What was surprising was that Latin music has not really taken off in Brazil – surprising because the country is surrounded by Spanish-speaking countries – although we learned that Juan Luis Guerra’s “Burbujas de Amor” translates in any language ;o) [Nick: There does not seem to be much cross-over between Brazil and Spanish-speaking Latinos in terms of music. Our friends had heard of the Mexican band Maná, but not much else. And yes, it’s common to take a song popular in one language, translate it and re-release in another market.]

Road to Natal

We stopped in Natal to grab lunch and get a view of the new stadium – not one that we’ll go to this trip, but still cool to see. South of Natal, we learned of a shortcut to get to the town of Pipa, where we would be staying the night. The shortcut entailed driving the car over the beach at low tide and then taking a ferry across an inlet before heading over the hills and down into the forest to Pipa. Hell yes, we were gonna do that (it’s only a rental car after all)!

Cat as Luiz & Nick as Oscar

Natal Stadium

[Nick: When you get to the beach there are guides there that offer to drive your car through the sand. They cost R$80 if you hire them right away or R$120 if you decide to attempt it and get stuck and they have to save you. They say they will keep an eye on you.] Filipe tried to take the sand route on his own but the car didn’t have enough momentum and we got stuck in the sand within seconds. The guides who were hanging out at the beach (charging $40 to drive us across themselves) just laughed as they sauntered over to help push us out of the sand. And now that we needed their help, of course their price went up to $60, easy money. So, with an “experienced” driver behind the wheel, we sped across the sand, going up and down the beach, and it was awesome! But the fun didn’t stop there as we arrived at the most un-seaworthy-looking ferry I’ve ever seen. It was essentially a wooden barge made of old planks, run aground in the sand that tilted dangerously toward starboard, as the guide drove our full-size rental car (considered a rather large car in Brazil – most are small and compact) onto the platform. But it remained afloat (thank goodness!) as we headed across the small inlet, laughing the entire way. The scene was beautiful – our first glimpse of Brazil’s Atlantic rain forest (after driving all day through one of the country’s driest regions) – and at sunset, no less! Once ashore, our “experienced” driver sped off the boat at top speed (to avoid getting stuck in the sand) only to get stuck on the cement bricks where the road started. So once again, the guys had to muscle the car out of a jam. Several guys at the local bar [Nick: Friendly Australians who kindly took time from futebol to help, but seemed to be enjoying themselves anyway], who had been enjoying the “show” up to this point, helped the guys tilt the car sideways to dislodge the bricks from underneath the car. Did I mention this was a rental car? Fe and I just enjoyed a beer together to watch the scene unfold. The short-cut definitely turned out to be worth the detour ;o)