Bill's Excellent Adventures: Brazil ~ Lençóis +

At Brazil's unique Lençóis Maranhenses sand dunes, the highlight of this trip.

My three northern coastal destinations

(left to right on the map above) were:

São Luís
Lençóis Maranhenses (by the town of Barreirinhas)
Jericoacoara

Later I added a couple of days in Teresina, the capital of Piauí state.

São Luís, Maranhão

With over a million residents, São Luís is the capital of Maranhão state and is especially known for its colonial old town.

The grand Palácio dos Leões (Palace of Lions) was built in 1626 and is still used today as the main Maranhão government headquarters. A few beautiful rooms are open to the public and above is my guide giving me (the only English speaker that morning) a solo tour.

As a major Portuguese port, São Luís flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries, leaving a legacy of colonial architecture in its historic center, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The colorful rows strung above cobblestone streets in Brazilian towns, especially during festivals, are called “bandeirolas.” My photo here shows the pretty canopy over Ruo do Giz.

Left: Cathedral of São Luís do Maranhão (first opened in 1699!)
Right: The busy main pedestrian shopping street in the old town.

Brazilians here seemed even more friendly than usual in this friendly country. I was invited to join this high school class on their tour through the Museu de Arte Sacra.

Lençóis Maranhenses

Lençóis Maranhenses is a geological anomaly! Nothing else like it in the world — a vast expanse (600 sq miles) of sand dunes interspersed with clear freshwater lagoons made possible by seasonal rainfall and a solid rock layer under the sand.

Other sites may have sand and pools, of course, but no other place comes close to the hundreds of lagoons amid the dunes every year at Lençóis Maranhenses.

Incidentally, lençóis literally means “bed covering” or “sheets” in Portuguese, but figuratively the word suggests smooth, flowing waves of rumpled bed sheets, also white like the sand. Cool imagery. Gringos can pronounce it “len-SOYS” without the nasal nuance.

By chance I got this spectacular view of the sand dunes and lagoons of the Lençóis Maranhenses National Park from my flight from Fortaleza to Sao Luis.

From the nearby Barreirinhas airport, I took a 20-minutes flight out over the sand dunes and lagoons. June is an ideal time to see them when the lagoons are full.

The sand dunes came to an abrupt halt along a little ridge that shields the lush forest.

The Porto Preguiças Resort in the nearby town of Barreirinhas lived up to its good reputation.

Tourists here are overwhelmingly Brazilians and Barreirinhas is not easily accessible. Azul shut down the only flight here, so I had to take a long car rides to get here from São Luis as well as another long car ride onward to Jericoacoara. Nevertheless, happily for me, this dazzling geological oddity has not yet been discovered by international tourism and is not yet overly crowded.

Our 4-wheel drive Hilux dug deep into some loose sand. After several failed attempts, I wasn't sure we'd make it to the dunes that morning. But the guide and driver put lots of foliage under the wheels to to provide traction and, after half an hour, we finally escaped.

Key rule of all site visits: Go early!
We went early and (despite the sand trap) arrived before the noisy crowds and heat. I was the only tourist at Lagoa Bonita. The weather was mild with a fresh ocean breeze and clouds blocking the sun. And the unique vistas were strikingly beautiful.

Above is Lagoa Azul, the other large beautiful lagoon that is often visited.

All in all, the dramatic dunes and luminous lagoons of Lençóis Maranhenses were even more extraordinary than I had imagined they might be.

Tip: I used Rota das Trilhas for city transfers, Lençóis tours, and the flight. You'll need Google Translate (and may need to remind them you need to pay via Cielo, not Pix) but they are reliable.

Jericoacoara, Ceará

One of the most popular beach towns in Brazil is Jericoacoara (zhe-ree-kwa-KWA-ra) or just “Jeri” for short. (Its rivals include Búzios, Floripa, Porto de Galinhas.) Near the cozy town of Jeri, you'll find sand dunes with a few lagoons (although not on the scale of Lençóis), rock formations (especially one arch), and miles of beaches. Plus, its strong winds make Jeri a hub for kitesurfing and windsurfing.

My street shots were terrible so photos above are from destinosnotaveis.com.br, capitaothomaz.com.br, www.cvc.com.br.

So many beach towns are shabby once you walk out of your nice resort. Sadly, the Thai beach towns on Koh Samui and Phuket islands (where I was in May) are filled with tawdry tattoo shops, cannabis dens, "massage" parlors, cheap trinket stores, junk food stands, and odd places selling gold jewelry — but not in Jericoacoara.

Jeri was surprisingly upscale with interesting shops and cafes. (Noticed only two tattoo venues.) The whole town was somehow built on sand and that added to the special allure.

The immediate Jeri beach was not that long — maybe 250 meters (273 yards) — nothing like the four kilometer long Copacabana Beach.

This wider panorama shot shows the dunes starting on the far right. Click to see more detail.

Kite surfing does not hit its peak until August-November when powerful trade winds blow almost nonstop. Nonetheless, I got to watch one talented kite surfer zip along the coast and sometimes soar into the air and even do summersaults before smoothly returning to the waves. He told me later he got hooked on the rush 15 years ago.

The little lagoons and dunes of the national park by Jericoacoara were fine but a little anticlimactic after just visiting Lençóis Maranhenses.

Pousada Jeribá was a perfect, tranquil, little boutique hotel at the far north end of the beach, with excellent dining. Trust me: book room #8!

Teresina

The largest city and capitol of the state of Piauí is Teresina with nearly a million residents. We had driven through Piauí's little coastal strip (see map below) on my drive to Jericoacoara, but I wanted to see more of the state.

My favorite street was Avenida Frei Serafim with its tree-line pedestrian promenade in the middle.

Later on the promenade, I came across this striking, stylish scene. For her final project, fashion design student Socorro Silva was doing a photo shoot with her model.

Igreja São Benedito (Church of St. Benedict) is a beautiful church in the center of the older part of Teresina. Later I was surprised to see so many people attending mass on Monday evening.

Some Brazilian cities have large buildings that are run by municipal governments and filled with small shops. Teresina's huge "Shopping da Cidade" is packed with hundreds of tiny stalls (aka "boxes"). Of course, Teresina also has an enormous, typical modern shopping mall as well.

Teresina has the classic "plateau skyline" that you see throughout Brazil because city planners set height restricts starting about 70 years ago. Here is the sunrise view from my hotel room.

Teresina could not compete with São Luís, Lençóis Maranhenses, or Jericoacoara, but not every destination is going to be awesome. I am sure I'd have been more enthralled with Piauí if I had made the trek to explore the highly rated Serra da Capivara National Park, the Sete Cidades National Park, and/or Capadócia Nordestina. Brazil has so much to see. Maybe next time.