Before departing from Atins, we had a slow morning and donkeys were visiting us. So funny! Girls said it was like living in a zoo in this island
and I enjoyed this quiet hammock outside our chalet with the view to the water
Transfer to Santa Amaro was a long journey. First, a truck to the “port”, then 1 hours boat ride to Barreirinhas, then 2 hours drive to Santo Amaro. We stayed at Murici, the “nicest” place during this trip. Girls were more than excited to stay in a room without sand and mosquitos, that looked like modern and not rustic. I try to book the nicest place in the last leg of all trips to end in a high note. Although nice it’s relative during this trip. Given how rustic this place is, either high end pousadas over +600/room, or most basic ones under 50/room. We found a middle ground and I am happy with the choices.
The next day we did the Betania passeio, visiting more lagoons, bigger ones this time, with the deepest one over 3 meters at its peak.
The family is sooooo tanned or burned at this stage, no amount of sunscreen will do but they enjoy the water so much. Lizzy also enjoyed playing with sand every stop we made
we climbed up to the highest dunes, what a workout! Girls rolled down and felt dizzy but kept laughing how fun it is
the immensity of this place, photo can’t capture any of it.
and always end with a sunset view before ending our day
Last day we did two separate passeios, one in the morning to do “beach” type of relaxing time
really, it looks like Ipanema beach in Rio but with dunes in the background. Sofia and I read for a while
then we went back to our chalet for lunch and rest before departing for our last visit to the lagoons, somewhat different format. The tour is called Emenadas which means connected lagoons (over 20) where trucks cannot go in to protect the area as there are turtles. This means we needed to walk through the dunes. Note that the difficulty is not just walking on the soft sands, but also the nonstop wind and sand on our face and eyes. yet, the feeling is out of this world!
It was like walking on the moon?!
We walked through 3 dunes and crossed water 4 times to reach to the highest dunes, near the start of ocean, to watch the sunset. Then we walked back under the moon flight to our truck. It was a perfect way to end our trip, to experience the dunes fully!
Today we are heading back to Brasilia with a long drive to the airport, usually 3.5-4 hours, but our clean bed and cats will be the reward.
Will reflect and write about takeaways of this trip in few days. I am still absorbing it, WOW, what a place!
Our New Journey 