A coconut's throw from the sea
Things of a personal nature were turning sour. I had just up and moved to a new city, friends were either far away or hard to come by, I was finding it pretty difficult to relate to my neighbors in the quasi-favela where I was living (most of them were from the poorest parts of the interior, where I had also never been), and in the back of my mind a nagging feeling had grown legs and was crawling around, getting me to question my life and my choices, as well as my general geographic location. The singular person who I came to call my friend, after our one month sharing the same small apartment complex, was about to say goodbye, with no plans to return. I found myself in the straits.
A Bus Ride Through the Northeast
(source)
Highways in Brazil began to be built in the 1920’s and with the arrival of Brasília, the government also incentivized big name automakers to set up shop in the country. With a road network of over one million miles, you can pretty much hop a bus in Brazil to get anywhere from anywhere.
Natal: The City of Sun
(Wikipedia)
The city of Natal in Brazil’s Northeast gets almost 300 days of sunshine and that’s why it’s known as the “City of the Sun.” Sunshine isn’t all the city has to offer, not by a long shot. The visitor can also count on its many beaches, sand dunes, parks and even the largest micareta (off-season Carnival) called Carnatal.
Maracatu @ Stern Grove (San Francisco) on Sun, Aug 9
Maracatu is a Brazilian beat from Pernambuco, a state in the Northeast region of Brazil. It is very rich and represents many cultural and historic elements. I won’t attempt to define Maracatu, but I can tell you that it is intense, colorful, and vibrant. The maracatu drums are unbelievable.
