Riding the Dream: Praia do Pipa

It was time to leave the mountains of Chapada Diamantina and head back to the beach...
The next surf destination on the map was to ride to Praia do Pipa in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, 80 kms south of the city of Natal.
Pipa has a cool vibe, locals are friendly, waves are perfect, water is warm and the best Acai in Brazil. ( Brazilian frozen treat )
After finding the perfect pousada to settle in, it was time to catch some waves. Praia Madeiro has a perfect right wave that works best at rising tide. We filled in our days catching some sun and surfing. We spent a total of 10 days in Pipa. It was hard to leave, but we needed to move on since over 4000 km left to ride before getting to Venezuela.

Sorry for the lack of photos... too much time in the water.

Ferry across a river.

Praia do Amour

Pimp'n style pousada at Praia do Amour.

so cute!!!

Every day at the exact same time, 4:30 pm these monkeys would pass by our balcony, if we bananas, they would just hang out.

Local guy handstand style.

The waves were small most days, but several times a good size swell would come in... unfortunately I didn't have the camera then. But here I am on a tiny fun wave... Some waves you could ride up to 100 meters! One day a swell kicked in and Praia Madeiro had the most perfect waves.

Yap... your beach photographer!!! for a small fee... she would snap your photo!

The perfect beach of Praia Madeiro.

A curious crab.

Surf school.

A lovely couple enjoying the sunset in Tibau do Sul.

The coast north of Pipa.

The chosen bike

many ask me why I chose the Suzuki DR 350 - It's light, has the speed I need, easy to fix, easy to lift in boats, handles well on rough roads, it's bullet proof. I've been extremely happy with this bike, with over 80 000 km still keeps me going. A bigger bike would sure be nice on major highways, but for me it's about taking the more remote roads as possible. And a bigger bike, also means more expensive to maintain. Once I got to Uruguay, I knew I would be riding the coast of Brasil north. With many surf spots along the way, a surfboard was mandatory. I created a rack to carry my board from Re-bar. Does the trick.

1 comment:

UnknownNovember 18, 2010 at 1:54 PM
Jealousy is a word that comes to my mind as i look upon you photos when i am in school trying to find the drive to write another paper or do another arithmetic problem, my only hope is that you have had the shits for the past year! Hahahahha kidding! wish i was there but since i am not, you keep going and getting it and let me look at it.
nice work
Wes