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Bahia Dreaming: Surfing in Paradise [Page 2 of 3]
...continued from Surf Trip to Bahia, Brazil
The 25-minute downhill hike to Engenocha is lovely, the wide and sparkling Atlantic in sight the whole way down. The last bit of the trail traverses through a palm forest, wholly serene save for the errant bird call and the music of water passing along the forest floor. Coming out of the trees to the beach, the crash of waves guiding the way, the green shade gives way to soft sand and dazzling blue sky. To be woefully inadequate in description, the walk is nice. After four or five hours of surfing however, shoulders feeling more jelly than solid and the afternoon heat in full force, carrying your eight or nine-foot board back up the hill borders on treacherous. Coming back into town around 3 in the afternoon, we tend to stumble toward the local bakery, grab a few sweet carmelized banana rolls, inhale them and then pass out at our respective pousadas.
I am staying at the Pousada Ilha Verde, two blocks from the center of Itacare. The place is gorgeous and included in the price of the surf package. Each room is appointed with a private bath, refrigerator, mosquito net and hammock. There is a lovely pool that resists the unappealing milky appearance of so many pools in the tropics and also an outdoor freshwater shower. The pousada is run by a French couple who have lived in Itacare for more than twenty years. Breakfast is served daily in an open-air dining room. A sumptuous buffet of fresh tropical fruits, homemade cakes and rolls and refreshing blended sucos awaits. Sucos are made with fruit, sugar and ice and come in as many varieties as there are fruits. My favorite is the suco de cacao, which oddly is the pulp surrounding a certain type of the cocoa bean. The finished product is white, frothy and delicious and like nothing I’ve ever had.
Itacare has several lovely beaches—Praia da Concha, Praia do Rezende, Praia da Tiririca, Praia do Costa and Praia da Ribeira—in its vicinity. Praia da Concha is quite mellow and is most greatly affected by the Rio de Contas in terms of tides. The remaining four beaches are grouped further to the south. Praia do Rezende is widely viewed as the most beautiful, and is remarkable for its excellent bodysurfing conditions. Praia da Tiririca is the local surf beach, avoided by Easy Drop campers, except for watching the pros. It is always crowded outside, and the intensity level is high. Tiririca also features a pousada and two restaurants set back a bit from the beach. Praia do Costa is the smallest of the four and seems to be the most deserted. The last beach at the end of the road before the nature preserve is Praia da Ribeira. There are a few restaurants here as well. A nature trail begins behind one of the restaurants and leads through the forest, up and down a steep grade to a tiny pocket beach with no name.
For a small town, Itacare has an impressive number of comforts and amenities. The road from Ilheus was paved six years ago, allowing a certain amount of development. However Itacare does not feel touristy. There are no postcards for sale, there are no beggars and the typical daily life of the inhabitants seems fairly uninterrupted by the presence of a few wave-hungry travelers. The ubiquitous Internet café abounds, especially on the road to Tiririca, but only in limited number. I have encountered people from all over the globe in this small town. Between the five of us in the surf camp, we have eleven languages, and on the beach I meet people from Poland, Hungary, Argentina, Sweden and Israel, to name a few. Despite this diversity of foreign guests, the local culture seems to have remained vibrantly intact and dominant.
There is a wide variety of cuisine available in town ranging from typical Bahian fare, to French, sushi and Italian. Two main supermarkets supply the town; these are the best options for travelers on a tight budget. We stop there every morning on the way out of town to pick up provisions for our surf sessions. Conventional Bahian cuisine is characterized mainly by some combination of fish, oil and coconut, most commonly in the form of moqueca, a stew. This is accompanied by a veritable feast of rice, beans, salad, farfoa, and cooked manioc made into a thick, almost mashed potato-like substance. Combined with a few caipirihnas, the traditional cachaca, sugar and lime cocktails, a meal is easily made.
continued on Sharks & Bahia, Brazil Surfing ...
All pictures and content copyright Tina Butler 2004. Please contact me regarding use.
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