Dan's Big Brazil Guide

[Dan]

I wrote this about a year ago and it's just been gathering dust inside my hardrive. It's long. About 5000 words.

DAN’S BIG BRAZIL GUIDE

1. Intro
2. Wind/kite size
3. Getting there
4. Is it Dangerous?
5. Crowds
6. Transportation
a. Cars
b. Buggies
c. 4x4s
d. Rental Companies
7. Where to go and where to stay
a. Fortaleza
b. Cumbuco
i. Icarai
ii. Cauipe
c. Pecem
d. Taiba
e. Paracuru
f. Lagoinha
g. Flexeirais
h. Prea
i. Jeri
j. Tatajubu
8. General Info
a. Costs
b. Restaurants
c. Money
d. Negotiations
e. Packing for your trip
f. Traveling alone
g. Portuguese
9. Closing



1) Intro


In the summer of 2006, my girlfriend Brianna and I made the decision to take a four month vacation to Brazil for the fall of 2007. We saved like crazy, took a summer semester to make up for whatever time we were going to miss from school, booked the trip and we were off.
Our goals for the trip? We really hadn’t done any legitimate traveling on our own and thought Brazil would be a great chance for travel and kiteboarding. We wanted to kite as many different spots as possible while experiencing as much Brazilian culture as possible and looking back, we did just that. The only regret I have is not going for longer but there is always next time.
What I’ve put together is a guide based on my own personal experience in Brazil. I hope you like it.

Please keep in mind that this is based completely off of what I encountered during my trip. Wind speeds, distances, good restaurants, kite sizes, fun towns, etc are all my subjective experience and opinion.

2) Wind / Kite Size


I’m going to start with talking about the main reason anyone (reading this article, at least) would consider going to the northeast coast of Brazil – Wind.

To sum up the wind during our stay in Brazil would be super awesome. Wind was definitely strongest at the beginning of our stay and slowly dropped in speed and consecutive days towards the end. It should also be noted that wind speed will typically become stronger as you go up (northwest) the coast.

September brought the strongest winds (by far) with almost every day bringing 25knots or more. Were talking like uncomfortable to stand on the beach with little bullets of sand exfoliating the skin on your legs type of windy. You can forget about tanning unless you’re hidden behind some kind of wind shelter. Wind for this month was also the most plentiful. There was only a day or two with light (12m for me) winds, the rest were more than strong enough for me and my 7. This month I almost exclusively flew my 7m Waroo and Brianna her 5m.

October through November brought a fairly gradual dropping of wind speed. Towards November I began using my 9m more, and more and towards the end of our trip I began flying 11 and 12ms with 7 and 9m days a couple times a week.

Gear-wise, Brianna and I brought down a quiver of three boards (one spare) and three kites. We flew a 5m, 7m, and 9m Best Waroos and average sized boards. The 7m got the most use with myself riding it for the first half of the trip almost exclusively and Brianna for the second half almost exclusively. In December I picked up an 11 and 12m kite which I sometimes used when the winds were lighter. Brianna almost never went bigger than 7m.


3) Getting to Brazil



Getting to Brazil requires most people to have a tourist visa. For us, this was a bit of a hassle as we needed to have a flight and a place to stay booked before we could apply for our visas. If you can, try to get this done ASAP incase you have any troubles with the Consulate. The consulate in Toronto states it will take only ten business day which is what it took for me. Brianna’s ended up taking about twice as long and arrived the day before we were scheduled to leave. Next time we’ll make sure to get that finished well before we leave.

The visa must be used within 90 days of its issue date and is good for five years from the first date of entry in Brazil. It is valid for 90 days per year but can be extended an extra 90 days once in Brazil by the Federal Police. This is a fairly easy process. In Fortaleza you can either do this at the Airport or at the Federal Police Building somewhere in the city. Make sure to go just before your current visa expires or else they will make you come back, don’t go at lunch time or you might end up waiting for an hour or more while the workers eat, and if going to the Federal Police Building, make sure you wear pants and shoes; they have a dress code. Lastly, if you choose not to renew your visa or want to stay over 180 days, there is an $8R charge per day you stay over your limit. Brianna and I did everything legitimately as it was easy enough (and cheaper) but we heard from many people that the process of staying over your allowed time is fairly easy.

Flying from Vancouver, BC took forever for us. We settled on flights with multiple stops to help save money. In total it took over 30 hours of travel time in both directions. Lots of stops. Lots of waiting. Flying from different cities or spending more or less money will yield different travel times. Either way, it’s all worth it when you get there. You will know exactly what I mean if you go.


4) Is it Dangerous?

The whole time we were there, we were never directly affected by any kind of violence, crime, or dangerous situations. We did, however, hear through people we met of pousadas getting broken into, gun point robberies, having to bribe police, etc.

Before actually experiencing Brazil, Brianna and I both read a lot online and heard from other people the dangers of Brazil. Robbings, murders, police corruption, etc. were on our minds but this soon changed shortly after getting there. Every town we went to we could walk around at night without worrying about anything happening to us. Of course, we knew there were places we probably shouldn’t go at night (eg. it’s advised not to walk on the beach at night) and stayed clear of those areas.

Be smart, don’t flaunt your iPod and $1000 video camera in the wrong locations and you will be fine.

5) Crowds

Crowds varied by month and location. Simply, the farther you are from November, the smaller the crowds. Similarly, the father you are from the airport, the smaller the crowds.
Popular places such as Cumbuco, Cauipe and Taiba lagoons, and Paracuru can become very crowded. This is great encouragement to explore different spots where you and your kite buddies may be the only people for miles. Remember, this isn’t Cabarete or Kite Beach, it’s 400+ kilometers of windy beach waiting to be kited.


6) Transportation


If you’re planning to go to Brazil, and travel outside of Cumbuco (highly recommended), a vehicle of some sort is a must. Here you have three basic options: Car, 4x4 or a buggy. I’ll talk a bit about each one.




Cars –
We opted to rent a car for a few reasons. Firstly, it’s cheap. Like ¼ the price of a 4x4 cheap. Short term rentals will be around 50-80 Reais per day with insurance. Long term (one month+) we managed to get $37R per day which we were very happy with. A car will also use less gas than a 4x4 or buggy which was a plus for us as we did a lot of driving. Another reason we got a car was because they work fine in most cases on the beach. Not nearly as well as a 4x4 or good buggy but it does the trick. Air down your tires (a pressure gauge is handy) and be careful and you’ll do fine in most situations. You’d be surprised how well a small fwd car will perform in the sand if you can drive it properly.



Buggy –
Buggies are fairly expensive for what they are, typically between 70 and 80 Reais per day. They use a lot of gas, break down a lot, are not very road worthy for long distances, are not enclosed (can’t lock up kites, cameras, etc) and are very loud. However, if you get a good one, they work very well on the sand. It seems that getting a good one is hit or miss so heads up. You also can’t beat the cool or fun factor of a buggy.
I would only recommend getting a buggy if you’ll be using it over small distances. That is, unless you like horrible buzzing, slow driving, loud exhaust noise, and a crappy overall ride. Furthermore, there isn’t much room for kites or other gear and it can’t be locked up (open cabin) so it’s not something you can leave parked out of sight for long.



4x4 –
The 4x4 is the grand daddy of kiteboarder transport in Brazil. You can basically drive anywhere, comfortably accommodate you, your friends and all their gear, and roll in style. This comes at a price though, around $220R+ per day or $170R+ per day for a month or more.
For us, we could never justify the price of one of these beasts as it would have more than doubled the price of our entire vacation. If I was to go with a group of four or five people for only a few weeks, a 4x4 would be the way to go.



Rental Companies –
There are a number of rental companies in Fortaleza that will gladly drop off and pick up a vehicle for you in Cumbuco. Typically these can be arranged through someone at your pousada. From what I know, most pousadas deal with one guy, Junior, who will then contact one of a few companies he usually deals with. Junior speaks English so he can be helpful when you need to communicate with the rental company directly.
One thing I read about before going to Brazil was how rental companies would try to rip you off with fraudulent charges on your credit card after renting from them. I figured if we go through Junior we would be safe based on the amount of people he probably deals with on a daily basis. Well, this wasn’t the case. A few months after renting with the first company and about a month after renting with the second company, I received some random charges on my credit card from them. Luckily, after leaving Brazil, I canceled my card because of what I had read online and didn’t lose any money. The companies in question? Golden Car Rentals and GRID Rent-a-Car. I recommend you stay away from these companies.

7) Where to go and where to stay.



One of the best things about traveling to Brazil is the huge range of places you can visit and spots you can kite. We visited dozens towns and kited many, many spots along a 270km stretch of coast. If we spent more time traveling the coast we potentially could have kited a different spot every single day (over 100).

One thing that is too bad for a lot of people who visit Ceara is that they don’t explore. We met a ton of people who travel to Cumbuco for even months at a time and never explored different spots up the coast. If you go to Brazil, please don’t spend all your time in Cumbuco. There are so many different and (IMO) much better spots. You will be missing out if you don’t.

In this section I’ll briefly go over the notable spots we stayed and kited starting from the airport and heading downwind, NW, or up the coast depending on how you want to think about it.



Fortaleza –
Fortaleza is the capital of Ceara and likely the city you will fly into. Although there is no (good) kiting in the city, you have no problems finding things to do, especially if you like to spend money. Fortaleza was not the best place for me and Brianna to go because we usually came back with no money. There are a number of giant malls and a very cool night market on the city’s main beach, Biera Mar where you can find great tourist buys such as hammocks, blankets, Cacacha, and jewelry.
If you plan on staying the night, you’re probably looking at prices from about $50R to $500+. We were able to find places right on Biera Mar for about $70. You just need to look around. Similarly, food can be either cheap or expensive. One thing I do recommend is going to one of the Churrascarias that seem to be pretty common there. They’re basically all-you-can-eat buffets where servers walk around with big skewers of meat for you to choose form.
For the most part, we felt pretty safe in this city. There are places to stay away from, especially at night and probably in the day as well but we never had any problems. Be smart and you should be ok.
Driving here is fun with swarms of cars on giant roads with no lines. At night, you will probably see a lot of people (or everyone) slowing down before a red light and just driving through when they see it’s clear. If the locals are doing this, you probably want to follow suit. If you don’t stop, you can’t get car-jacked. Most big intersections have traffic cameras to catch you for both speeding and running lights but they’re turned off at night for this very reason.
Places worth going are the Biera Mar (beach), the Biera Mar night market, a Churrascarias, and Mercado Central, a huge market with similar goods to the night market.



Cumbuco –
The place everyone goes to kiteboard. Cumbuco is about 40 minutes from Fortaleza and the airport which is probably why everyone goes there. The town has a great selection of pousadas, restaurants, and shops compared to most of the other places we went to but, because of this, it is very commercial. I did like it because there was a lot to do at night and in the day (if for some crazy reason you didn’t want to kite) but I was not impressed with the quality of the kiting there. The wind doesn’t seem to start as early or last as long because of the direction (little off-shore in the morning), the water is a chop-fest, and it can get crowded. However just outside of Cumbuco are two great lagoons – Icarai Lagoa and the famous Lagoa do Cauipe which I will talk about later.
With the exception of Fortaleza, accommodation in Cumbuco was significantly more expensive than anywhere else we stayed. Prices start around $60R or $70R for a room including breakfast in the lower season and go up in the higher season (nov and dec). We stayed at Sunset Beach Hotel and Vel Azul (same place basically) and were very happy with the food, staff, rooms, and grounds. We highly recommend them.
There were three restaurants here which we particularly enjoyed. Praiaaa something was one of the nicest restaurants there with very reasonable prices ($30R for two). unknown restaurant one was a cheap eat ($10R for two) with great homestyle cooking and unknown restaurant two which is where we often had breakfast. Click on the links to find the on the map.



Lagoa do Cauipe –
Most kiters have seen this lagoon before, either in videos, pictures or in person. It is the go-to lagoon for kiting in Brazil. On a busy day you might find over 40 kites packed into this lagoon with many more watching from the sides. Not comfortable with your riding? You probably won’t like it here. However, if you come earlier, stay later, or hit it on the right days (not Sat. or Sun.) you will be ok. This is where Brianna learned to kite and it worked out fine.
The Lagoon is about 7kms downwind from Cumbuco. You can get here driving on the beach in five minutes or on the road in 20. Lots of people downwind to the lagoon with rides arranged later in the day with their hotel, friends, or a buggy rental company.
One of the best parts about this lagoon are the huts with table and chairs and the tiny restaurants that you can get cold beer and food from. Sitting at the lagoon’s edge with your feet in the water, cold beer in hand, watching the sunset after a long day of kiting is such a good feeling I’m not even going to try to put it into words. You will just have to go.


Icarai –
Icarai is the town you will pass through five minutes before getting to Cumbuco. Not many kiters stay here for reasons I don’t know but lots of surfers seem to. We ate there quite often and all day long you see people walking to and from the beach with surf and boogie boards in hand.
Icarai also has a pretty decent lagoon about half the size of Cauipe but with 1/10th the kiters (usually). There are hidden rocks (razor sharp) in two places under the water line that probably scare most of the kiters away (or the stories told about them) but if you know where they are, this is an awesome spot for some un-crowded lagoon kiting. Ask someone who knows the lagoon and they will show you where the rocks are. The lagoon is easy to find, you will see it from the road.
Accommodations here are priced similar to Cumbuco. While we were there, Icarai had the closest bank machine to Cumbuco.


Pecem –
When in Cumbuco, you will probably notice a huge shipping port about 15kms downwind. That is Porto do Pecem, the next town over. The wind is side-offshore and a little bit gusty but that is all made up for by the conditions. By far the biggest and cleanest swell we experienced our whole trip. We had heard about kiting in Pecem, seen it on videos, but unfortunately only made it here a few days before coming home. Next time we will be spending a couple weeks here for sure.



Taiba –
Taiba is great. Brianna and I liked it here more than any of the other places we went. Taiba is home to a lagoon, good wave riding and surfing, Best Kiteboarding’s test center, and a good variety of pousadas and restaurants. Compared to Cumbuco, Taiba definitely has more of a small-town feel. The restaurants and pousadas here are fairly cheap; Bri and I had our accommodation and food (eating out two or three meals a day) costs down to under $60R per day for the two of us. You need to look around for the best prices, though.
Depending on the month we were there, the lagoon was either very busy or completely empty. In Sept. we would often have the whole lagoon to ourselves in 30+ knot winds. Some days in Nov. we would have an extremely crowded lagoon in 15 knot winds. Now, don’t let this discourage you from going to Taiba in the busier months as you can always find time to ride in the lagoon or in the ocean and there are always lots of people to mingle with off water.
One mandatory stop there, and one of our favorite restaurants in Brazil, was a small place, one street back from the city square, called Cantina de Amelia. We ate here almost every night we spent in Taiba (40+). Dinner is a traditional Brazilian plate with your choice of meat or fish. Under $20R for me and Brianna for dinner with drinks. If you go, say hi to Amelia and Pedo for me.



Paracuru –
After Taiba, you can head 45 minutes up the coast to Paracuru. There is only really one spot to kite in Paracuru which is located on the beach in front of a restaurant and kite school. This is one of the nicer ocean spots we rode but can get very busy. When the tide is low, there is an area of relatively flat water protected by a rocky reef farther out. Outside of this reef you will get some decent waves which get mushier and smaller as the tide comes in. With a higher tide, the flat water will become choppy and most of why Paracuru is so great is gone. You do need to be cautious when kiting here with a low tide, however, as certain areas can get pretty shallow with a rocky bottom. There are also some poles sticking out of the ground (used by the local fishermen) a few hundred yards downwind that become invisible at high tide. You will know exactly what I mean if you go.
From the kite spot you have to drive about 5-10 minutes to the city center. By far one of the nicer towns went to with a huge church right in the center surrounded by restaurants, shops, and pousadas. There is a lot to do here and should be a mandatory stop when traveling up the coast.



Lagoinha –
I think Lagoinha is going to be the next big spot in Ceara, but don’t tell anyone. A popular spot for Brazilian tourists, Lagoinha looks out over a big hill-side onto a beautiful beach covered in rental ATVs and beach huts. The town is actually very small apart from some largeish resorts or hotels and some big houses. There is little to do here at night other than hang out in the city center with the locals. No bars, few restaurants, and practically no other gringos (which we didn’t mind at all).
Kiting here is excellent. There is a lagoon a few kms down the beach which is typically almost empty. It’s a narrow, but long (short tacks) lagoon which can get pretty shallow on the upwind side. Watch out for the little crabs that like to pinch your feet.
The ocean kiting here is also pretty good. The beach is super wide at a lower tide and is very easy to navigate with a car – perfect for downwinders.
A popular downwinder destination from Lagoinha is Flexeiras. You’ll experience flat water, waves, short break, and chop in the 15 kms it takes to get to Flexeiras. There isn’t much between the two towns and you should watch the tides to make sure you don’t get stuck somewhere in the middle. There are busses that run from Flexeiras to Lagoinha that can take you back if you don’t have someone willing to drive.



Flexeiras –
After you finish your downwinder from Lagoinha, you’ll end up in Flexeiras. This place is pretty popular with kiters and is one of the two places in Ceara where we saw windsurfers. The whole city is lined with pousadas, some cheap some extremely expensive ($1600R+), and a pretty good selection of restaurants.
Flexeiras is a bay which can be very gusty if you’re not at the far upwind or downwind side. Anywhere in the middle will have slightly off-shore wind and will be no fun to kite in. The water goes fairly flat on lower tides and choppy on higher tides. Two things you have to be careful of are all the fishing posts placed in areas just offshore of the beach and rocks. The posts are easy to avoid but the rocks can be hidden, just keep your eyes out. It’s something I never worried about unless the tide was out.
There’s a really good pizza place here with a very friendly owner on the east side of town. I don’t remember the name but there are signs everywhere for it.



Prea –
Our next stop was four hours up the coast to Prea. It seems almost everyone who goes to Prea is just stopping off on their way to Jericoacoara. As soon as you get here, you’ll be bombarded by Brazilians on scooters asking (more like telling) you if you need a guide to Jeri. This can be pretty annoying but a guide to Jeri is a good idea (see: Jericoacoara section). I didn’t see many pousadas here with the exception for a few on the beach. There is, however, a largish kite resort here but it’s relatively expensive and didn’t interest us at all.
The four times we kited here, the wind was nuking from the time we got up until we went to sleep. It seems the wind would die to about 20knot at night which was perfect for keeping our 2nd story room cool all night. The water here is very choppy with a decent shore break on lower tides. I don’t think I would ever stay here for longer than a couple days but it’s a great place to go to get your big air fix.




Jericoacoara –
Jeri is definitely one of the must-go places in Ceara. It’s located on a nature preserve (National Park) which you can only reach by driving on the beach from Prea or through the dunes from Jijoca. If you have a 4x4 you can take either route but I doubt a car could make it through the dunes on its own power. However, we do know that a broken car can be towed through the dunes by a Mitsubishi L200 (ask me how I know). I recommend picking up a guide in Jijoca or Prea if it’s your first time driving to Jeri. We spent about $20R to follow a guy on a scooter for the twenty minutes it took to get there.
Jeri is a very unique place with cultural inspiration from all over the world. It seems a lot of foreigners own pousadas and restaurants here and it’s a popular tourist stop so there are quite a few English speaking people.
Jeri had the best night life out of everyplace we went (except maybe Fortaleza). Every night people will line the streets and beach for food, drinks and later, dancing. At night, down the main strip that leads to the beach, you will find vendors who will make you almost any drink you can think of for relatively cheap. This is the Jeri hot-spot at night.
Though there is plenty to do in Jeri, one thing you can’t do is kite. Well, you can, but it’s in off-shore and extremely gusty wind. You best options are driving up the beach until the wind becomes side-shore or drive to Prea. One option you have is to downwinder the 15kms from Prea. We did this once and with the exception of being extremely tired and expecting it to be 1/3 as long as it really was; it was a lot of fun. It takes a few hours but is a beautiful downwinder and well worth it. Just be prepared to land in crazy gusty winds.



Tatajuba –
If you choose to drive up the coast to kite from Jeri, the next spot would be Tatajuba. It takes about 30-40 minutes to get there including a small ferry ride (Borsa) and about 10 minutes longer to get back (driving into 25+ knot winds). Make sure you don’t pay over $10R for a two way trip on the Borsa, they will try to charge tourists more. We only got to ride here on lower tides (didn’t want to get caught going back) but hear high tide brings the best conditions. There is an ocean lagoon which forms inside of a large sandbar that will give you flat water or nice waves on the outside. I think they’re only one or two pousadas there but am not sure.
One word of caution, if you plan on taking a car to Tatajuba, make sure your sand driving skills are honed. Some places (like immediately after the ferry) can be pretty tricky to drive in.




8) General Info


Costs-
One reason we chose to go to Brazil was because it is cheap. By the end of the trip, we had our costs down to around $85R a day including our pousada, rental car, and three meals out. But, depending on where you are and what kind of traveler you are, costs may be significantly higher (or even lower).



Restaurants -
Me and Brianna only cooked two meals out of the 100+ day we were in Brazil, the rest we ate out. I would say almost every single meal we had here was great and this is coming from a very picky eater. Prices varied quite a bit depending on what kind of restaurant you went to. Most expensive for us was $120R, cheapest was around $8R, and average was just under $20R for both of us. If you go to a restaurant for tourists, prices are considerably higher. If you go to one for locals, prices are dirt cheap, were talking like a full plate of fish, rice, beans, salad, pasta, and drinks for a few dollars.
One thing you should know is that many restaurants serve dishes for two people. This is something you want to clarify before you order or else you and your date might be getting a dinner for four.
A service charge of 10% is added to the bill by some restaurants where some (mostly the small ones) don’t require any. I think I tipped in every situation.

Money –
The Brazilian currency is the real (plural = reais). When we went, the exchange rate was usually $1.7-1.9R to $1USD. The best rates are from an actual bank where as an ATM machine will give you a slightly lower rate.
Getting money was usually not an issue but there were times when the bank machines wouldn’t work. Always try to make sure you have sufficient money, especially when going up the coast where banks who accept international transactions are not as readily available. You should also keep in mind that on busy days or when the bank machine runs low, the maximum amount of money you can take out goes down and you can’t keep making multiple withdrawals.
When first arriving at the airport, it’s a good idea to go to the bank machines upstairs to get some cash. When we were there, Cumbuco didn’t have any bank machines (they were under construction) and getting money at the airport would have saved us a lot of trouble.

Negotiating –
Prices almost everywhere and for almost anything can be negotiated. Pousada rates, car rentals, souvenirs, taxis, etc can be negotiated but don’t always expect to get a price much lower than the one they started with. It’s not like buying goods in Mexico or the Dominican Republic where you can cut the prices in half.

Packing for you Trip –
luckly we learned from going to the Dominican Republic the year before, packing light is the way to go. We both brought 60ish litre backpacks (mostly full of kite stuff) and our one kite/golf bag for all our clothing and gear. Anymore would have been a big hassle. We even sent a pile of clothing home with my Dad when he came to visit.
I made it through the trip with about five pairs of board shorts and five t-shirts. I almost exclusively wore board shorts without a shirt or sandals all day, every day. Most all restaurants are fine with this. Brianna also packed very light wearing ‘beach dresses’ (or whatever you want to call them) most of the time.
Also, if you ever fell you need more clothing, it is dirt cheap here and you can find the essentials in almost every town you go to. Don’t over-pack. You will regret it.



Traveling Alone –
Though we can’t give insight based on experience, we feel that on can do fine traveling solo here. For one, if you stay in more popular kiting spots such as Cumbuco, it will be easy to find others to kite with or possibly even travel with up the coast with. At Sunset Beach Hotel, the first place we stayed, there were always many kiters checked in and everyone got to know everyone. In a place like this, meeting people is easy, especially when all anyone ever talks about is kiting. If given the chance, I would not hesitate to go here alone (with Brianna would still be best though).

Portuguese –
No, you don’t speak Spanish here, you speak Portuguese. Take some time to learn basic phrases and words before going to Brazil. Youtube is a great source for getting you pronunciation down as a lot of the time, how you read the word is very different from how it sounds.

9) Closing



So, that is the condensed version of my guide. I love Brazil and could have so much more to say but I felt like I was rambling. If you have any specific questions, I’ll be glad to answer them by email. Thanks for reading,

Daniel Druet

[Marko]

Very cool man, have yet to experience the travel and kite some where different but this looks like a sweet place! You got me stoked.

Mark

[coop]

awesome

[Brian]

Cant wait for Brazil 09 pics Dan - great read.

[cglazier]

Looks great Dan. Thanks for a most informative post.


CG

[spind]

Yeah Dan - that's a great review and looks like an amazing trip!
Mark

[Bailey]

Get a life you punk.

[Al Kiter]

Wow! nice job you guys.

[Bozo]

good read. Gives me the traveling itch.

[eatsglue]

Nice job! Thanks

[Don_C]

Wow, great job Dan and Brianna. One day I hope to go to Brazil. I'll be carrying your words and pictures around when it happens.

[Fraser]

Hey Dan,
Absolutely fantastic post! The best I have seen on any kite forum! I don't know about the rest of you but I am now totally ready to head to Brazil,
Fraser

PS there is a very nice brazilian restaurant between Thurlow and Bute on street south of Georgia on the south side just east of the liquor store. The come around with endless amounts of meat.

[VrT]

DO NOT EVER EAT AT THAT RESTUARANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We went there for dinner and my wife bit into broken GLASS. Cut up her mouth. The reaction we got was that we were trying to scam them. They told us there is no way glass was in the food. We wrote 2 letters after that with no response.

[Gary]

Ouch which one resturant ?

[kiteboardingbaja]

Nice job bady ..it look so nice there some day i go with you okey tacke care