mechanical bull, eat your heart out

When I last wrote, we were planning to take a long, slow road from São Luiz to Fortaleza, through Lençois Maranhense and a buttload of sand dunes.

Well, that didn't really work out so well, but we got to play rodeo for a day.

We went to Barreirinhas, a town of about 13,000 people (according to the guidebook) on the edge of Lençois. After an obligatory day of rest (required--every time Amber has a day of activity, she has to spend a day in bed... we agreed to that rule as part of the dengue recovery), we took a half-day tour into the dunes.

The dunes and lagoons were pretty stunning--exactly what you might expect. Hills of sand as far as the eye can see, punctuated by the occasional pool of shallow, warm water. Which had zillions of tiny fish. Surprisingly, they bite. Seemed to have a special penchant for my nipples. Hm.

But the hour-long trip to the dunes might be the part that I'll remember the most. We rode on some benches in the back of a large 4WD pickup. There was no road, just a couple of divots in the sand. I've ridden on some rough trucks/cars/bikes/buses over the years, but this was a winner. Brought back fond memories of the weekend I worked at the rodeo in Tucson, right next to the mechanical bull tent.

And that bull had nothing on us. Hilariously bumpy ride, everybody holding on for dear life, dodging the branches of cashew trees that tried to whack us from the side and top.

And best of all, there was no annoying country music or American flags.

So after a week of twiddling our thumbs in Barreirinhas, we're back in São Luiz. We chickened out of the slow road to Fortaleza, and will hop a bus or plane later this week. I'm off to explore some beaches outside of town, while Amber enjoys another obligitory rest day.

Happy belated turkey day, everybody.