It is easy, the local pousada owner said. Just take the first right after approx. 2 km and then the next one left. Afterwards just follow the signs and you will be out of the jungle in no time. IT WAS A FU**** MAIZE!!!! LOL!
The first part of the road leaving Itaunas was indeed not very difficult but then the nightmare started. There were absolutely no signs or at least they were at times so small that you simply missed them.
I tried to follow my gut feeling… which at times worked and at other times simply lead me deeper and deeper into the forrest. No signs, no people, no infrastructure. I started to get slightly stressed, LOL.
When I had the feeling the road was leading to nowhere I tried to return again to the last indication of the road and followed another path in the hope it would take me this time to the right direction.
At one point I was really lucky that a car with farmers turned up and luckily they could explain me the way out of the maize. It was really frustrating and my GPS left me completely alone… useless in deserted areas! Luckily I have an excellent sense of orientation… NOT!
It took me approx. 2 hours to be back again on the highway and I continued my way to Caraivas. Along the way I saw a sign indicating Caraivas but was not sure if this was the right direction since it took me again off road. I asked the first men on the road for the direction but was not sure if I could trust them. They smelled already at 10 am of Cachaca and were pretty drunk, lol.
I decided to risk it and another off road adventure was waiting for me. This time the road was even more adventurous than this morning without being confusing, luckily. Since it was raining the last days part of the road was washed out and left deep marks in the dirt which made it really difficult to navigate safely over this challenging terrain. I had to be careful not to get into these deep washed out parts of the road otherwise for sure I would have fallen.
When I arrived I had to leave my motorbike in a parking lot behind and took a small boat to cross the river into the small village of Caraiva.
Basically you don’t need any shoes since the whole town is built on sand and consequently are the roads too. Even though the place is pretty touristy it is amazingly beautiful and I felt in love on first sight.
Immediately I understood why Neto told me to plan in a couple of days to explore this paradise! You can easily spend a week here without getting bored…
I can’t believe how lucky I am sometimes. The same day I arrived I figured out that an indigenous tribe was celebrating their most important ceremony of the year in a neighbourhood village of Caraivas.
After spending an hour at the wonderful beach of Caraivas I decided to go back to the hostel. The owner explained me earlier that a couple of people would be leaving earlier to walk to the village.
I found a group of girls and asked them to possibly join. I had no glue where to go and was hoping they’d knew the way. The girls were absolutely amazing and we had immediately a super fun time together.
The ceremony in the evening was absolutely an unique experience. The happening took place in an oval kind of hut with a huge opening in the middle. The indigenous people were sitting in a circle while the full moon (it could have been midday as well) put the main actors in its spotlight.
The chief of the tribe lightened up a special kind of herb and everyone attending the ceremony inhaled the very special fume which made one slightly high, I had the feeling at least, lol.
Later on people could also try the so called Rape which is a special kind of substance which the Chief of the tribe blew into the nose of volunteers. I kindly passed, lol.
I never experienced anything comparable before and was thankful to be able to participate in such a ritual which our modern world does not know anymore.
Late in the night we walked back again to the hostel and along the sea. It was so incredibly bright that no torch was needed and the moon was guiding our way back home.
The next day I was exploring the nearby area and did a 20 km walk along different breathtaking beaches together with a Swiss guy from the hostel. Luckily we did not know that by the time we returned the high tide was coming back again and of course it was pretty dark so that we could not see so much anymore (even thought the moon was still pretty bright).
However, when trying to cross the water to get to the other side of the village of Caraivas we realised the current was so strong that a passing was simply impossible.
What to do? We were stuck…
I pulled out my mobile phone and switched on the torch while waving it like Robinson Crusoe into the air and screaming “help”, lol. Surprisingly it did not take long until someone saw us and screamed something in Portuguese to us.
Apparently he sent a small boat over which was picking us up, lol. We were rescued 😀
What a crazy ending of a beautiful time in Caraiva 😀
