We’ve been completely out of wifi. But now back in Taiba we’re finally connected, so here’s my update from the downwinder. And oh man, I’m sore, sunburnt, stiff and superhappy…

We, 4 kiting “spice-girls”: Nina, a flight attendant at Norwegian who has also taken a leave from work to travel the world. Monika, a Swiss girl who quit her officejob to start a downwinder-business over her. And us, Maggie and I. This was the first time also for Monika downwinding this stretch, so it was more an exploration than an organized trip. We didn’t know in advance how the conditions were for kiting or where we could spend the nights. Also this excact stretch is quite undiscovered by kiters in general, so it was all pretty exciting. Day 1: We kited the whole day, passed the fishingport Camocim, till we reached a tiny village, Marceo, where we had bonfire on the beach and stayed the night. We crashed early and shared beds with cochroaches and frogs. Day 2: I had something wrong with the bar-setup (appearantly), so I was really struggeling to make it fly.

The car couldn’t follow us on the beach, so I couldn’t change the kite either. It was a nightmare with big waves and a non-flying kite, but we finally reached a remote beach-house (Robinson Crusoe-style) where the car met us. We had a lovely fishmeal amongst cows and hens before we headed to Barra Grande.

BG is a supersweet little spot with a few pousadas and one main road lit up by lanterns, creating that cozy vibe so uncommon in Brazil (they usually prefer flouresence). Day 3: We decided to kite at Barre Grande and do a downwinder to a lagoon nearby, with two options on how to get back (the car couldn’t follow here either): Upwinding or donkey-riding. We decided on the first option, which turned out to be a decicion resulting in a battle between us and the wind and waves. But the fantastic big lagoon with no other kiters, was absolutely worth the fight… Back at the beach barraca in BG, the little old japanese hippielady had made her famously dangerous space cake, which was strangely enough sold openly from the bar. And the people there who were all fine earlier in the day, were at this time completely out of it after only a few bites. Scary stuff… Day 4: Downwinding to Parnaiba, a major stepping stone on the coastline stretch, but ugly as hell. We were straight back to flouressence and restaurants in the middle of the highway (ironically enough with the best meat any of us ever had in Brazil). Day 5: We took a boatride down the Delta of the Rio of Parnaiba, a 2700sq-km delta of channels, sanddunes and mangrove forests, teeming with wildlife.

We saw croccodiles, monkeys and iguanas, and at the far end of the delta, at the rivermouth to the sea, we pumped our kites. As our Italian driver would say: “perrrfect conditions! One of ze best in Brazil!” And it WAS the best! We were only a bit scared of the croccodiles…

Day 6: We had a kitefree day in order to get to the national park of Lencois Maranheses. This adventure included: 4WD-drive to “nowhere” through the sanddunes, then a ferry, a looong boattrip through more mangroves (and plenty of animals), a carride, another ferry, then lastly a horrible rollercoaster of a drive through the forest. The lencois (meaning bed sheets) are immense expanses of sanddunes with usually crystal-clear pools and lakes between the dunes. But at this time of the year, the pools were not so impressive. It was definately more of a “been-there-done-that” sort of place, rather than a “I-definately-have-to-come-back-here” kind of spot… But by getting to the Lencois, we reached our goal. Although we didn’t kite the whole way. The mission was completed anyhow.

Driving back in the non AC’ed sweaty car, we stopped a few places, ate another meal in the middle of the highway, kited again in Barra Grande, played games, listened to music, sang christmas songs and lastly reached Jeri where we had our little farwell-party. Thanks Monika, Nina, Maggie and Francesco for an amazing adventure! I think I’ve learnt from this #12 that the scary stuff usually is the most rewarding. It’s easy to avoid the hard option and go for the easy ride, especially when your on your own. But rememeber that girl (note to self): You can do the long route…

The following day (yesterday) we picked up Scott back at Ilha do Guaijiru and drove back to Taiba. And now, we’re about to be seated for the final dinner with mummy and Maggie. Buhuu..