Praia do Forte TAMAR Turtle station, Laranjeiras

25 February 2002: The breakfast at Pousada Dos Artistas is the best we've had until now, all the food is under lids, the orange juice is fresh and heavenly! We decide to hit the beach but it turns out that there's just a small stretch of real beach with a lot of fishing boats anchored not far away, making a swim none too attractive! I'd been expecting miles of dream beaches and was quite disappointed. 

Praia do Forte	Church at Praia do Forte
Our Pousada at Praia do Forte	TAMAR turtle station at Praia do Forte
Beach at TAMAR	Turtle pools at TAMAR
Baby turtle	Text says: "Each year in this hatchery, 300 nests are incubated and 22'000 baby turtles are produced. Each cage corresponds to one nest, buried 50 cm deep, with approximately 120-130 eggs. After 45 to 60 days, the baby turtles emerge from the sand, usually at night, when it is cooler. Tamar biologists check nests 2 or 3 times a night and release at the beach any hatchlings they find as soon as they are born."
That's a lot of baby turtles	This is a huge specimen surfacing for air

The sand's real hot by now. I rush back to our room to get some money. I ask the lady-receptionist about beaches and she says they're about 500m to the left. Nearby there's the Turtle Research Station, they have eggs, small turtles, mid-size ones, real huge ones, two videos playing, an observation tower offering a good view of the surroundings and a souvenir shop. There are some aquariums with fish and green moray eels. It's nearing checkout-time, so we head back to our room, shower, get our bags and leave.

Imbacai is a place recommended by the receptionist for beaches and we drive down the few kilometres. There's a nice parking spot under straw roofs including a shower for just 2 R$ there. We have to wade through a reddish tannin-tainted stream to reach the beach, this is tricky and time-consuming because we're never quite sure how deep the stream really is.. We go to the nearest sun-shade table of a restaurant and order some coke and beer. The water has a strong current and the rather high waves doesn't make the plunge as enjoyable as one might imagine. There are hardly any people around, which is really nice. We wade back, shower at the parking lot and drive on.

Surprisingly colourful river on the way to Laranjeiras	The whole area was covered with these strange sand pillars having stones on them!
Town on the way to Laranjeiras	Regular structures on the wayside on the way to Laranjeiras

The road to Aracuja is good, not much traffic. Laranjeiras turns out to be a very small town with just one Pousada. It's a shabby but clean place, the room's 35 R$ the night with an a/c and no fan. The restaurant at the hotel's just closed by the time we ask so we set off on food in the hope of finding a bite to eat. A lanchonete offering sandwiches is still open. I don't quite feel like ordering a chicken sandwich due to hygienic reasons. We both come up with the idea of just having some fried eggs and bread. The cook/owner is a very friendly guy, but we discover he hadn't really understood what we wanted when we got omelette sandwiches. The beer was good; Brazilian 1/2-litre beer bottles and served with a thick plastic sleeve meant to slow down their warming. We explore Laranjeiras a bit more, find some stalls selling clothes and other stuff.

Sunset on the way to Laranjeiras	Laranjeiras at dusk

Back in our room, it's warm, so the night consists of off/on air-conditioning and a lone irritating buzzing mosquito (killed it sometime during the night). I've taken a large mix of medicines this evening and my stomach couldn't manage it all. I feel better afterwards.  

 

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