Trancoso, Brazil: History and Indians

Trancoso itself is an interesting town, with a large, grassy, pedestrian-only quadrangle, overlooking the ocean.  The square is dominated by an 18th century, white church, but the town is much oder.  The cemetery occupies a prime spot, with a cliff-top view.  Trancoso obviously attracts many Brazilian tourists, but there's not another foreigner in earshot--partly, I'm sure, because virtually no one except the well-heeled tourists speaks English.  This is not a problem with my sister as guide, but would make it very difficult for anyone with no Portuguese.  Another difficulty is that the ATM, so temptingly located near the main square, did not accept my debit card.  For trips like this, where credit cards are usually not accepted at pousadas either, you need to take a lot of cash. The plus side of this is that there appears to be virtually no crime here.  It even feels safe walking alone along the beach.

The journey from Espelho to Trancoso was once again on dirt and sand roads, but ones which had been upgraded fairly recently.  It's all relative.  There were still penty of ruts and bumps and pressure on the shock absorbers of our faithful little car, but the road was wider than many we've been on, and the bridges overlooking the prairie-like countryside at least had small walls to protect us.  We came through an interesting Indian reservation, where we stopped and bought incredible polished wood dishes at rock bottom prices.  The children, dressed in native headdresses and carrying slots, clearly knew the price of a photograph and we gladly parted with our $2.50.  At least here you can be sure that the money is going to the people who need it.

Three new friends from the pousada in Espelho joined us in Trancoso for the evening, and we had a very enjoyable dinner at Cacao on the square.  All are Brazilian, but one is Jewish, of Romanian descent and married to another doctor of Syrian descent.  The other member of the trio is a young woman of Japanese parentage.  Pousada people tend to be very interesting and friendly. These were no exception.