Manatees and a day at the beach

Now that I'm back in Brazil, we're trying to settle in to some sort of routine.  Of course, since we still don't have our stuff or our car (that's right, we're still living from the same 2 suitcases each we brought to Brazil 4 months ago!), we can't totally settle in.  But we can try to have regular adventures.

We try each weekend to have one day of adventure.  We've been lucky to be able to borrow a car most weekends and we generally head out to explore on Sundays.  Saturdays are usually the day to run errands and hang out at home.

Itamaracá is located north of Recife - about 40 km north of Recife - or about an hour drive.  We headed up there one Sunday, driving past Olinda and onto BR101 north.  Going through the neighborhoods we noticed that almost every street corner had vendors selling grilled chicken.  The charcoal grills were set up just about everywhere.

We drove north for a while and then headed east toward the coast.  Eventually we arrived at the island of Itamaracá.  First we started at the manatee preserve.  It was neat to see the manatees and even better to learn that they only spend 2 years at the preserve and then they are introduced back into the wild.  Manatee in Brazilian Portuguese is peixe boi - or fish cow.

After visiting the preserve, it was time for swimming and lunch.  At the end of the road past the preserve was a dirt parking lot.  

We were able to park our car and the guys there arranged for a speed boat to take us across the water.  

We arrived at a little island with beach restaurants along the sand.  The island was about 50 ft wide with lots of tables and hammocks on one side and a few tables on the other.  Water all around with speed boats and jet skis on one side and quiet swimming on the other - paradise.

We relaxed, had some caipirinhas,  caipiroskas, and suco de limao.  We order some isca - which is a type of fish.  It was cut into smaller pieces and fried - like mini fish and chips or popcorn fish and came with french fries  - just delicious!










It was a wonderful day.