Week 13: Natal, Pipa 
Day 85: March 27th, 2016

We woke up in our five star hotel and went downstairs for a phenomenal breakfast. After eating as much as we could we returned to our room, which absolutely reeked. Due to the humidity, sweating, constant ocean swimming, and rain the prior week, much of our clothes and shoes were soaked. We hung up our wet clothes in the bathroom but had to keep the door closed because it smelled so bad. The laundry service at our hotel was obscenely expensive so we strung a clothes line from one end of our room to the other and covered every inch of it with clothes we had to soak and wash multiple times. My boots had gotten muddy and then sandy so I left them outside on a night when it rained. I had to pack them in a bag and by this day they were still soaked, muddy, and smelling of mildew. So I tied the laces together and hung the shoes out the window. We went out for some delicious chicken parmigiana for lunch and stopped by a convenience store on the way back where we bought some ramen noodles and beverages. We returned to the room and spent the afternoon catching up on friends, grooming, and of course, our favorite Netflix shows. We made ramen noodles in an electric kettle for dinner and I watched March madness. I’m not sure if today’s title should be “dirt cheap living in a five star hotel”, or “why backpackers are now banned from 5 star hotels”. Either way I’m pretty sure it’s the first time anyone did a room full of laundry, hung their boots out the window to dry/because they smelled horrible, or made ramen for dinner in our five star hotel room. And I’m not sure whether to be proud or ashamed. Either way it was a great day of relaxation and catching up on a few things while only going out into the sun once.  
Day 86: 

We had another phenomenal breakfast in our hotel. We packed our bags and enjoyed our last bit of time in our elegant hotel. After checking out we sat in the lobby for a bit while I worked on these blog posts. One of the biggest challenges of the blog is finding wifi fast enough to upload pictures, so I didn’t pass up the opportunity. Around 1:30 we took a taxi to a random stop by the side of the road where we waited for a bus. While here we ate some skewers of meat for lunch that cost $0.50 apiece and were so delicious. We’ve been afraid to eat these in the past, but I’m not sick yet and plan to try them again in the future. Soon a bus came to take us on the two hour bus ride south to Pipa beach. We arrived by 4:00pm and found our pousada that cost less than US $25 per night and was a short walk from the center of town and beach. We quickly headed to the beach and met a few locals before sunset. We went to a Mexican restaurant that was a little expensive but had great food. We were pretty tired and went to bed soon after that. 
Day 87:

We slept in and then ate a great breakfast alone for most of the time. We returned to our room to do laundry and watch tv and relax awhile. We made sandwiches for lunch and ate them. By early afternoon we left our room and went to the beach. We continued to the left and because it was close to low tide we were able to walk to golfinhos (Dolphins) bay. We rented an umbrella and two poolside type chairs for around $5 total. We spent the afternoon relaxing and swimming here. We sadly didn’t see dolphins but had a relaxing time. We headed back toward our hotel and showered before heading to the top of a hill for sunset. Unfortunately we never found the proper road to the hill and there were too many clouds for a good sunset. We returned to our hotel for a little while but I was tired and fell asleep. Sarahi picked up some delicious margherita pizza from a local pizzeria and we ate it while watching a movie. We were both asleep by the time the movie ended. 

  

Day 88:

We woke up and had another relaxed morning. It was a rainy day but eventually we packed a lunch and headed to the beach on the south side of town. It was quiet and beautiful and we relaxed for a couple hours. We continued walking south and took an extremely steep trail up a bank of mud and had to hold onto the roots to get up. On the top we relaxed with some other tourists who were taking pictures. We found a sheltered spot on the red cliffs overlooking the ocean and sat for awhile enjoying the weather. We hiked awhile to get back and rested before dinner. We went to a barbecue/ steakhouse restaurant where you choose the meat you want from a glass display and they cook it to order. It was very good and we were pretty worn out again. 

   
   
Day 89:

We woke up a little earlier and ate a hearty breakfast before hiking north out of town. We went to a nature reserve that has been untouched for hundreds of years. We hiked around for awhile and saw some great views of the ocean. It was cool and shady inside the forest and we loved it. We ate lunch and then kept walking until we found the beach exit and rented a tent and chairs. We ate a small plate of fried fish and relaxed with a beautiful view of Madeira Beach. The bay in front was full of dolphins and we watched them swim and play for hours. As the sun set we rented a kayak and headed out on the ocean. The sunset was nice and we saw a few dolphins pretty close. The waves were fairly big and we struggled to keep control a few times. I was carrying Sarahi’s phone for pictures and had wrapped it in a only slightly waterproof grocery sack. We were doing well until we attempted to return to shore. Somehow we turned sideways and the wave completely flipped us over. I saved the phone, but we both lost our sunglasses and I got an earful… It was a great day all in all and we hiked back to the road. After only a minute a crowded bus pulled up and took us all the way back to the center of town. We went to a burger shop nearby for a solid dinner and then we wandered around the town a bit. 

   
   
Day 90:

We woke up to more rain and packed our bags after breakfast. Around noon we headed to a bus stop. We met a Brazilian and two Dutch guys there. A taxi driver offered to drive us for a pretty good deal so we took it and headed back to Natal. We were dropped off at the bus station and decided to continue directly onward. We looked around for a bit before finding a 9 hour bus to Fortaleza that left in 15 minutes. We were soon on our way and headed beach north west. We arrived by midnight and took a taxi to a nearby hotel that we liked when we were in Fortaleza in January. We went to the rooftop for a bit and ate some more snacks before bed. 
Day 91:

We left the hotel by noon and headed to the bus station. We found a bus from Fortaleza to Belem which takes 24 hours. It wasn’t too expensive and left in less than an hour. We hopped on the bus and spent the next 27 hours onboard a bus. We had seats near the back and each had a reclining double chair to ourselves and we were pretty comfortable but slightly bored. We tried to amuse ourselves by playing games on our phones and reading, but mostly we just stared out the window. We stopped for a pretty good dinner and were asleep before 8 p.m.