After our unexpectedly long journey yesterday, to get to Jericoacoara, getting in very late at night, we were sad we were only here for one day. Jeri is by far the nicest place we’ve visited on our trip.

The place where we are staying (My Blue Hotel) is amazing – an oasis in the oasis. This was our walk to the hotel restaurant (for breakfast).

We managed to get a late 3pm checkout, and as Eli and Semma hadn’t seen the town properly, headed out for a walk about town.

The streets were deserted as everyone was disappearing into bars to watch the Brazil v Chile game.

We had trouble finding a table to watch the game, but eventually found this lobster and seafood restaurant – where we watched the first 90 mins.

The game went to extra time and our ride was due to arrive, so we went back to the hotel to see the end of it, as Brazil beat Chile on penalties.

It was quite a trip, and we were firmly rooting for Brazil!

Our ride had arrived for our drive back across the dunes (this time in daylight). We headed out of town in the back of a pick-up truck.

The dunes were amazing… lots of gratuitous shots!

Half an hour later we were back in Jijoca, the nearest town to Jeri.

We picked up our car where we’d left it, and headed out of town for the relatively short drive to Paracuru.

We arrived after dark, checking in to a lovely Pousada (called Namaste) and walked into the town of Paracuru.

The town was filled with locals – it was Saturday night – and Eli joined in for a 1 Real (40 cents) ride on the bouncy castle, with some local kids, who seemed very bemused by Eli’s efforts… to speak Portuguese!

After a bite to eat in one of the local restaurants, we walked back to the Pousada.

Namaste is small and intimate enough, just us and the owners, that we were able to put Eli to bed, and sit nearby at the pool with Ana and Peter, who had kids of their own, and who we got to know and liked over (several) drinks.

It turns out that one of the advantages of staying in Pousadas (Brazilian B&B’s) is that a) you get to know the owners, who all seem to have fascinating stories, and b) they are small and intimate enough that you feel much more relaxed with a small child around.

Here’s a picture of the Pousada by night. The owners built it all themselves.

Again we found ourselves sad that we were only staying for one night, but we’re covering a lot of ground these 3 days, and tomorrow we have to be in Fortaleza where we have tickets for… the Holland v Mexico game!