From Fortaleza, capital of Ceara you will need to take a bus from the Rodoviaria, and after 7 hours trip you will arrive in one small town called Jijoca, where the bus stops. There you will change to a ‘Jardineira’ a kind of happy open track, which will bring you to Jeri on a 300km trip among the amazing dunes. If you got the night bus, you will arrive at Jeri around 3 o’clock in the morning.
With the first sunlight you will confirm the unbelievable beauty of this picturesque village surrounded by enormous dunes leaving you with the impression that this will be the next place to be cover by tones of sand, this view dominates you with a state of peace. Small beautiful houses almost into the sea, as the tide is a daily phenomenon showing the ‘jangadas’ as a shipwreck on the sand, after the low tide which takes the sea about 400 meters away from them.
Lately Jericoacoara become a very in resort, therefore it offers you all the basic services without being overcrowded. Where to stay is a easy task as most of the houses rent rooms, the best is to stay in a ‘Pousada’ close to the beach as in ‘Pousada Isabel’, with small and clean rooms and a nice back garden where you enjoy a rich breakfast, all in a great deal.
It would be good to come for a few days as it is worth place to stay and there are a lot to do.
The dunes by it selves it’s an experience that one must live, going over it and watching the sunset down the beach.
The beaches are huge and a walk from early in the morning to the left will take you after 30 km to the next village Tatajuba, another 2 km further is the lake Torga where you can relax and eat as of course swim in the most green water I have ever seen in a lake. You can also enjoy this tour in a boogie that you can rent from Jeri. To the right side about 3km away is the ‘Pedra Furada’ a post card of Jeri, a beach with a beautiful rock with a hole in the middle. You can rent a horse to get there.
If you decide to rent a boogie to see round, the menu includes the second day tour to the north to one of the biggest dunes from the area, where you can serf. The infinite beauty from up there is indescribable. A little further down from there, there is a small forgotten village with one only pousada, and honestly, it is worth staying for one or two days to find the absolute peace one might need.
Back to Jeri, the swim is a free decision at any time, as long as you don’t mind walking over the 30 km beach.
Places to eat are not a difficult choice too, but for sure in ‘Mama na Egua’ you will find the best seafood and most delicious fried shrimps by the beach. Eating in the evening is also easy as wherever I went I stayed with the best impression…
The night life is modest but rich with the local color of Nordeste. The music is everywhere, besides it is their way of life.
Late in the evening everybody goes to ‘Forro’, the party goes on outside the Bar, nobody goes in as there are plenty of drinks to buy outside and the music can be well heard. A few meters from Pousada Isabel there is one bar-restaurant where you can often listen to Brazilian popular music, it is worth to sit there and enjoy a night with bossa nova, and sweet melodies under the warm summer veil of the sky…
A must to close a lovely evening is the Padaria, quite away from the center, where everybody goes for fresh bread, coffee and hot milk around 3 o’clock, when it opens. There are 3 kind of breads with cheese, with coconut or just simple with butter, the taste is amazing and the price unbelievable cheap.
Try to get into their way of life and in the end you won’t want to leave… This is the magic Jeri!