Posts Tagged ‘Brazil’

My favourite holiday destination over the past three years was once again made victim of my presence as I made my way across the atlantic, leaving behind the cold of the Scandinavian winter and greeting the equatorial summer.

If you ever should find yourself in the position where you are tempted to go to Fernando do Noronha a beautiful yet somewhat dry archipelago in the atlantic outside the state of Pernambuco in North Eastern Brazil there is ONE thing you should make sure of. NEVER EVER USE the agency of PAX TURISMO located in Petropolis in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte.
Without lying I can safely say that the staff of this agency does not:

a) understand the concept of tourism
b) understand the basic needs of a tourist
c) know what the hell they are doing

If you spend good money going to an island in the middle of the ocean you would possibly like to live somewhere close to the sea – convenient for a late night swim if the spirit should come to you. You might also want sea view, convenient location in relation to restaurants and nightlife. Throw in a swimming pool and a bar service in the hotel and you’re pretty much there.

When we described these requirements to Pax Turismo they simply tried to explain why all of these amenities were useless instead of trying to find alternative accommodation. My last little piece of faith in these people left me when they called to inquire whether it was possible to see the horizon from our pousada.

Good God!

In addition to the very valid points above they are rude, formalistic and unpleasant. Do yourself a favor and find some other agency.

PS! It is important to be aware that organizing a simple holiday arrangement takes a long time and will really put your negotiation skills and patience to a test anywhere you go in Brazil. Brazilians like their shopping and gladly spend hours discussing the finer points of the journey without any other background information than a one page leaflet and whitout ever having been at the destination themselves.

The archipelago of Fernando Noronha is located some 360 km off the coast of Brazil outside the sandy shores and heavenly beaches of Rio Grande do Norte.

The island is no larger than that one could easily walk around it within a day but has a rich marine fauna and holds important habitats for such species as sea turtles and dolphins.

The nature of the islands is dominated by volcanic rock and sandy ground with open forrested areas consisting of low bushes and trees.
The people of Fernando do Noronha mainly live from tourism. They either run pousadas, restaurants, souvenir shops or they operate tour companies.

A restaurant worth visiting is Ze Maria which serves excellent food of world class – but be aware that the quality of the food comes at the cost of long preparation time. Add a little slow service on top of this and a lunch might easily take two hours.

The restaurant cum entertainment venue next to the church in Vila dos Remedios is an excellent place to kill an evening or two. The same goes for Bar do Cachorro which isn’t all what it is cracked up to be but still a pleasant place.

A self-service restaurant by the name of Flamboyant should by all means be avoided disregarding its favorable location.

Watching the sunset from Forte dos Boulderos or Praia do C… is unsurpassed in natural beauty and will serve to keep you warm in winter nights to come.

I picked up this brochure at my hotel in Rio. It told me to visit the Belmonte bar, a fine establishment that seems to be packed with people most of the week. I do not doubt their capability of producing wonderful food and serving cold beers. It is this brochure that interest me. The design is professional – or at least semi professional, the layout is not unattractive, but who did the translation.

As you read through this wonderful text you might understand the meaning of most of it. But one of the passages remain a mystery to me: “More the icecream, the most flavorful at last car head of the Belmonte Bar”. I will gladly pay R$ 1 to the anyone who can tell me what this means.

(click to enlarge)

Just like the month of december is a month of cheerfulness and anticipation before the holidays, january is the month of hang over. It is cold, it is dark, it has tons of work on store and the next holiday is yet out of reach. This if any is the month to leave Norway behind in favor of the southern hemisphere. Like january past, I headed for Brazil, for Natal and for Rio de Janeiro.