This night bus was one of the worst as the journey was bumpy and abnormally stuffy. The toilet was actually too hot to go in. I spent the rest of the day mostly blowing my nose (I have a cold), much to the amusement of the two guys in front of us... in Brazil you either sniff it up or shoot it onto to pavement from your nose directly. Despite my mild illness, Alex has it worse - she has a poorly tummy - something that I thought might happen to one of us sooner or later with all these buffets. We can only think that it was the hamsagne she had at the bus station buffet in Salvador.

The landscape was similar to our last bus - an arid, poorer interior and an increasing concentration of palm trees as we get towards the coast. Once again we arrived 2.5 hours late to Fortaleza and as we were getting a taxi I found a big green preying mantis on Alex´s backpack - my favourite insect! The taxi driver didn´t know exactly where to take us, but luckily we drove right passed our hostel. We were 3 hours late but they still had beds for us - a six bed dorm with 3 italian and 1 belgian. Took a cold shower (evidence that we´re near the equator) and went to the dragao do mar - a city block of cultural spaces and restaurants, which was surprisingly cool. We ate at an italian reataurant and afterwards a random man on the street asked Alex if she was carrying a bambino as she protectively held her stomach! On the way back we walked through a night market full of Brazilian ´fashion´- lots of one-piece denims and ´fany fantasy´underwear. A nice, but quiet evening - we weren´t up to much more!

Day 24 - We got up at 7am, minutes after the Italians had made it to bed, fully clothed! Breakfast wasn´t provided so I started the day with leftover spaghetti carbonara. The minibus to Jericoacoara (Jeri) arrived at 8am and got going around 8:15. From then until exactly an hour later, the portly ´guide´ talked non-stop through a microphone in Portuguese. It was so unpleasant that I put my earphones in and looked out of the window, and Alex covered her head with her cardigan. This was bearable until I could hear that he had started asking everyone to introduce themselves and where they were from, followed by a round of applause from the bus. With earphones still in and gaze maintained through the window I thought I was safe, but no, when I didn´t respond he tapped me on the shoulder and I said ´Ingleterra´and everyone clapped. Alex could hear the whole thing under her cardigan, but there was no way she was joining in!

At Jijoca we got off the minibus and transferred to jeeps to continue the journey along the sand tracks and dunes - it really felt like we were heading into nowhere, which had an excitement about it. Finally we arrived at Jeri, and with some persuasion the driver dropped us at the hostel we had reserved. Unfortunately it seemed both my reservation emails had gone astray and so we had to set about finding a place to sleep. Apparently it´s a really busy weekend and tomorrow is a public holiday, so you´d be lucky to find a bed; one hostel owner did mention a campsite however. It may sound like a last resort, but for R15 a night to sleep in a hammock, with bathroom and kitchen available - this was a better deal than most hostels! We found Natureza the campsite, and Natureza the owner sorted us with two hammocks in some under cover corral. It was here that I realised I had lost the Portuguese phrase book! Oh no! Luckily an Argentinian hippie called Giselle was on hand to translate with Natureza, who spoke not a word of english. Moments later Alex realised she´d left her towel in the Fortaleza hostel!!

I needed lunch, so enjoyed a full plate of marinated frango (chicken), rice, beans and salad... and woolfed the lot. Went for a walk along the beach, booked a buggy ride for tomorrow and arranged our ongoing bus, with the use of hand signals and very broken Portuguese. Despite this town being geared around tourists almost entirely... they mostly seem to be Brazilian tourists. With the business out of the way it was time for our daily beer. This time I had to pick up the slack since Alex is not up to it.

Back at the campsite we sat outside and I updated my diary while Alex did some sketches. The campsite has at least 8 guys about the place, but fitting in who works here and who is staying is an impossible task. They didn´t speak much english but we still managed to have a nice time and Alex showed them her sketches, which everyone loves. The campsite was a great move, with the one exception that our belongings are stored in Natureza´s little home (basically a stable door leading from the corral into a little room), and when we got back he was lying on his bed in his little white pants asleep. We coudn´t bear to wake him so I sacrificed brushing my teeth before getting into my hammock. Oh and there is a massive toad in the corner of the corral.

Day 25 - Breakfast of tea (oh my God), dulche de leche sandwiches and melon. One of the campsite guys insisted on cutting up our melon for us, and he had considered us both absolutely incapable. Our buggy driver picked us up and collected another Brazilian couple... which was lucky as the buggy driver didn´t speak english and the couple were excellent translators! First we stopped at one of Jeri´s most reknowned sights, the ´praying tree´. The buggy-driver insisted on taking our photo in front of it, much to Alex´s displeasure and my delight at watching her displeasure. The second stop was the highlight of the trip. The buggy-driver was really into fishing and decided to pull over by a restaurant and show us the biggest shrimp ever to be caught in the surrounding ocean. It had been kept in a little glass box and he proudly brought it out to show us! Then we went via the heart-shaped dunes to lagoa paraiso - a lagoon where you can lounge about in clear water and sit at plastic chairs under palm parasols. Not long after we sat down the buggy-driver came and joined us, which was weird since we spoke so little Portuguese compared to the couple.

In the afternoon we continued on to lagoa azul, and on the way the driver drove at full speed, with really loud forro music playing! Unfortunately both Alex and the Brazilian girls hat fell off in the wind, so he had to turn around twice which cramped his style a bit. At the second lagoa we ate some food (more frango, rice and beans) and once again we were joined by mister buggy-man.

When we returned to the campsite I decided to go out for a wak and left Alex resting. I headed up the green, vegetated dune and saw a fantastic view of Jeri and the white sand dunes to the west, and the sea speckled with kite and wind surfers. On the other side of the hill I found a nice, quiet beach but as I got closer I could see more of the beach and there was Jeri´s other reknowned sight - a rock with a hole in it, surrounded by people. I headed down and joined them - just in time for sunsets. I´m not much bothered by sunsets (I much prefer sunrises) - they all look the same - although it was nice to at last see one from somewhere other than a bus!

Returning to the campsite Alex and I cooked dinner. Well actually, as the campsite has only one plate and one knife we waited and sampled some of the campsite-guys food (pork sausage and heaps of manioc powder), which was actually very good. Our own meal (tomato, green pepper and onion omelette, served in the panwith bread as sandwiches) was also delicious. Another chilled night at the campsite. Our particular favourite is a guy called Jefferson who sang in the shower and tousled my hair about the 5th time I said ´nao entendo´.

Day 26 - A lovely long lie in and I stayed in my hammock for half an hour more, reading. The same campsite-guy was around and helped us to make breakfast (fried egg sandwiches, melon and tea). Alex and I then went to the main beach and sat under a parasol for 3.5 hours, finally finishing my book and lounging in the shallow sea. There were less beach vendors than in Rio and Salvador, so we settled with pineapple juice and a coconut (for Alex - I hate them).

At 3pm we went to a beach-side restaurant for our daily cerveja and some food, enjoying a 3-piece band in which the guitarist had a tattoo of an old-fashioned microphone on his face. As we were finishing we saw swathes of people walking up the big white sand dune at the end of the beach. We followed and enjoyed watching everyone else enjoying watching the sunset. It was a real event! Once the sun had disappeared everyone cheered and clapped and then ran down the dune, which was actually great. On the beach there was a capoeira circle, which was pretty cool. Those people are both fit and skillfull.

Natureza jumped into the shower before me. He kept speaking in Portguese and I urged him to try and use his hands to show what he was saying. The next sentence I am pretty sure he was saying (with hand signals) that he was going to drink some beers, snort some coke and then ride a motorbike over the dunes!!!

After a shower Alex and I sat in my hammock and drank beers. We were planning to go out later as it´s a Saturday. Alex said she´d have a nap first and I would wake her up at 11pm. I tried my best to kill 1.5 hours, but there was absolutely noone around. At one point I even started reading ´PS I Love You´, which Alex picked up in Salvador, but it was such a load of drivel I couldn´t even bear reading it! Just before 11pm Natureza came back all excited as he had obviously ridden over ´muito dunes´. 11pm came and I woke Alex, but I could tell she wanted to sleep so I said that she could stay and I´d occupy myself. She broke the one rule, but as she´s ill I´ll let her off! So I wandered into town and to the beach where effectively a nightclub had been set up; a DJ in the middle of a rectangle entirely flanked by identical drinks stalls. I bought a caiprinha and sat down to people-watch. Within 15 minutes I was accosted by some friendly girl with braces and emersed into her group of 37 friends from Teresina! My Portuguese improved dramatically after a couple more caiprinhas (I really love them but they are bloody strong).

Day 27 - Up at 6:45 to get our bus back to Fortaleza... 4 hours sleep did not feel enough. Unsurprisingly Alex is very spritely this morning. The truck took us back to Jijcoca via a different route to when we came. At Jijoca we transferred directly to an air-conditioned coach that took us back to Fortaleza. I slept well on this bus. We stopped once and we enjoyed a big piece of frango torta - chicken pie with seriously thick pastry! We also tried some caju juice, which was utterly disgusting (later we saw a lady in caju trousers, which we enjoyed). We passed a lot of religious ceremonies, both on the beach and in buildings - most of which seemed to be candomble, which is a combination of Christianity and worshipping of African Gods.

Fortaleza bus station has shower facilities that I decided to make use of. For R2 the shower was better than most hostels! We checked our bags at the left luggage and caught the public bus to Dragao do Mar. Everyone was so lovely and helpful - we really love Brazilians. It´s a Sunday so everywhere is dead except a lovely organic cafe. We both ordered a dried meat and cheese tapioca (like a pancake) and some sort of heavenly hot chocolate, ice cream and whipped cream dessert-drink. We also commenced our second game of scrabble, which I already know I am going to lose. After feeding up Alex took the opportunity to return to the hostel and enquire after her towel. Remarkably they still had (and washed) it, and the two have now been happily reunited.

Taxi to the rodoviaria and as evening approaches we could see that people were emerging from their Sunday daytime reveries and the streets were getting busy again. The bus was on time and it wasn´t long before I was drooling on my pillow. It´s really funny how just successfully getting a coach can feel like such an accomplishment after the BH fiasco.