Crazy Shrimp, Head Fried On: Thinking differently in Caraiva, Brazil

Crazy shrimp, head fried on. This wonderful expression, taken from a translated menu in Caraiva, describes how I feel in this place, which Google Earth thinks is in the middle of the ocean.  In a sense it is.  You have to get to Caraiva port (think tiny beach at the end of the sand track, where the boats pull up) and take a kayak across to the village, which is built completely on a series of sand dunes.  There are no motorized vehicles on the island, so that means walking on sand uphill to the Pousada da Terra. Our bags followed on a donkey cart, and when we moved out, we got pride of place sitting above the donkey.

Caraiva is an extraordinary village, firmly kep in the past by the fact that it has no traffic and only got electricity a year and a half ago. Curiously, it has some excellent bars and restaurants and a few tourist shops. What electricity there is is of the 40 watt variety, so forget reading a book inside. The pousada rooms are for sleeping only, but at least at the second pousada, you could sleep or read in the outdoor hammock.  The beach is only two sandy blocks from the first pousada, and a more magical beach could not be found.  Unfortunately, I appear to be allergic to papadise.  My right eye has swollen to quite a size, so it's difficult to see. A local pharmacist, located in a tiny shop in his house, has given me a remedy that appears to be anti-allergic and anti-inflammatory.  Alison says I look better, but I'm not convinced.  It's miserable being sick in paradise, but lucky that a pharmacist here can prescribe medication. Doctors don't seem to exist.

Getting to Caraiva was another challege.  Alison had warned me that the road from Cariva to our next destination, Espelho, was difficult if it rained, but not to worry, we'd just come back the way we came.  What she didn't tell me was that the first road we took from the BR101 would also be a dirt/sand road that would be equally impassible in bad weather.  The good news is that most of the route (except the part where I swear we went seriously wrong) was well sign-posted.  The bad news was that if it rains, that route, too, will be impassible.  The dirt/sand road was 47 kms long, and we saw one car coming the other way.  Clearly, once you get to Caraiva, you say--or perhaps you go north to Trancoso, which is where we'll go after Espelho.