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| Brazil (Northeast) |
| Rio Grande do Norte |
| Until the late 1980s, the small state of Rio Grande do Norte and its capital, Natal, were sleepy, conservative backwaters rarely visited by tourists. It’s still true to say that there’s little of historical interest among Natal’s modern hotels and office buildings, and the interior is poor and thinly populated, the only place of any size being the town of Mossoró. But two things have transformed Rio Grande do Norte into one of the Northeast’s biggest tourist centres: beaches and buggies. The beaches were always there, but the sometimes hair-raising buggy rides for which the state is famous have taken off only in the past fifteen years. | |
| One big difference between
Rio Grande do Norte and the states to the south is in its landscape,
for this is where the Northeastern sugar belt finally peters out,
drastically changing both history and landscape. The region is not without
income; it supplies petroleum oil directly to several major factories and
is also a major exporter of fruit. However, north of Natal, the sertão
drives down practically to the coast, and the idyllic palm-fringed beaches
give way to something wilder as the coastline changes character, massive
sand dunes replacing the flat beaches and palm trees. The further north
you go, the land becomes less fertile and the sertão flatter,
given over largely to scrawny cattle, scratching a living along with the
people. The black Brazilian population shrinks with the sugar zone, and in
Rio Grande do Norte dwindles to almost nothing.
North of Natal |
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| Most of the recent
hotel-building and development has been funnelled south of Natal by the
building of the Via Costeira, which makes the northern beaches an
attractive option. The two main places to head for are Redinha and
Genipabu.
REDINHA, 16km from Natal, is a small fishing village facing the city on the northern mouth of the Rio Potengi, and marks the southern end of the enormous beach that effectively makes up the state’s northern coastline. The beaches are notable for their huge shifting sand dunes, many metres high, which cluster especially thickly to tower over Genipabu. Redinha itself (hourly buses from the local bus station in Natal) is surprisingly undeveloped for somewhere so close to the city, retaining the air of a simple fishing village, with a small chapel and beachside stalls that fry the freshly caught fish and chill the beer. There are regular buses to GENIPABU leaving from Natal’s local bus station, every two hours from Monday to Saturday and hourly on Sunday. Genipabu is still a fishing village, but these days depends more on tourism for its income. The massive dunes are spectacular and great fun to run down: the sand is so fine it often looks like it came from an egg-timer. A favourite local pastime is to roar up and down them in beach buggies. Good excursions along the dunes are to the mineral-water spring at Pitangui, and the lovely beach of Jacumã. There are plenty of pousadas in Genipabu, so accommodation is no problem. However, the beach stalls operate a cartel and are very expensive for what they offer; the restaurant, O Pedro, just to the side, compares very favourably for similar prices and serves a wide range of seafood. South of Natal |
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| Talking of things to do
and places to go around Natal boils down to talking about beaches.
The beach par excellence – and the easiest southern beach to get
to from Natal – is Ponta Negra, 10km out of town along the Via
Costeira, with regular buses from the local bus station that you can also
catch from the seafront. Further south, the beaches get less
crowded, but access can be difficult.
The beaches south of Ponta Negra are more remote and consequently less crowded. The only problem is getting to them without a car, as there are usually only one or two buses a day to most of the villages from Natal’s bus station. Check the times with the tourist office, but they usually leave early in the morning and you may not be able to get back to Natal the same day. The villages normally have a pousada or two, however, and it is easy to come to an arrangement about stringing up hammocks in bars and houses. An alternative way of reaching the beaches is to take a bus along the main BR-101 highway to Recife from the Rodoviária, and get off at Nízia Floresta, from where there are pick-ups, lorries and a local bus service along the dirt road to the coastal fishing villages and beaches of BÚZIOS and BARRA DE TABATINGA, 20km and 25km from Natal. More direct is to take the bus from the Natal Rodoviária to PIRANGI DO NORTE, 30km out of town. Apart from the beach, the village’s other famous attraction is the biggest caju tree in the world, centuries old and with branches that have spread and put down new roots. Although Brazilians know caju as a fruit, its seeds, once roasted, become the familiar cashew nut. It’s difficult to believe this enormous (over 7000 square metres) expanse of green leaves and boughs could be a single tree; it looks more like a forest. It still bears over a ton of fruit annually, so it’s not surprising that Pirangi is known for its caju-flavoured rum. To get away from people, you have to travel further south to the stunning Praia da Pipa, 80km away, and the Praia Sagi, which virtually lies on the border with Paraíba state some 120km from Natal. The latter is particularly inaccessible and can only be approached by four-wheel-drive or on foot, but the result is that it is virtually untouched. The Praia da Pipa (“Kite Beach”), on the other hand, is set in idyllic surroundings with dolphins regularly swimming near the beach, and sports a decent selection of facilities: an increasing number of pousadas are springing up all over the place and there are also well-established bars like Yahoo! where all the nightlife takes place. Once again access is only realistically possible by car or on foot, although there are some irregular local bus services. West towards Ceará |
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| The highway west to
Fortaleza, capital of Ceará state, would be one of the most dramatic in
the region if it followed the coast; sadly, though, the BR-304, a
good-quality asphalt road, takes a more direct inland route and is pretty
dull as a result. The interior of Rio Grande do Norte is flatter
than the sertão of the states to the south, plains of scrubby caatinga
and cacti only rarely broken up by hills or rocky escarpments. Even on a
moving bus you can feel the heat, and you get some idea of why this is one
of the poorest and most unforgiving areas in the Northeast. From Natal
three daily buses make the 500-kilometre run to Fortaleza, taking
around nine hours. It’s a good stretch of road to do overnight: about
the right length to get some sleep, and no spectacular scenery for you to
regret missing.
For more regional information on the Rio grande do Norte, go to: |
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