Day 270 – Jijoca de Jericoacoara to Tutoia, Brazil

Day 270 – Jijoca de Jericoacoara to Tutoia, Brazil      05/18/11      Mileage: 238

After another breakfast for one, I packed the bike and started towards the beach town of Jericoacoara which is supposed to be a remote tranquilo town nestled in the sand dunes right on the ocean. I was stopped in the way in to town last night and was told that I needed a guide to get there. A guide, I don’t need no stinking guide.  😉 

So off I went sans guide…and the road started out paved and well marked, then turned to cobbles, then dirt and then to deep sugar sand…which sucks the big fat one on a loaded adventure bike. It is work…hard work…and at times the sand was so deep I couldn’t ride the bike…but had to run next to it while working the clutch and throttle while balancing the 500+ lbs worth of motorcycle….in the blazing hot sun. And trust me, running in deep sand in motorcycle boots is a freakin workout…holding the bike up or not!

Also, in the sand and dunes there were many tracks leading in every direction, so I was constantly trying to find the right one.

Bit of a water crossing here….gun it and go!

Some would dead-end in a lagoon or just run out into open dunes…but I did eventually find my way to Jericoacoara.

Jericoacoara is little more than a collection of houses and a few small pousadas…but a super chill and laid back place. Plus…you can ride right onto the beach…how cool is that!

I rode for miles down the beach and at times it was surreal with the sun and clouds reflecting off of the wet sand. Here’s the video…

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At one point I stopped and was going to take a picture, but as soon as I got off the bike I realized it was sinking like quicksand…so I hopped back on and gassed it! Another 30 seconds and it would have been sitting on the skid plate buried up to the axles…not good! After my fill of beach riding I made my way out a different route across the dunes and again had to run next to the bike in the deep sugar sand. In the video below, the bridge had many missing and loose boards which you can hear slapping around….so I nailed the throttle across to the other side…

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Once back in Jijoca de Jericoacoara I got gas, found a place to wash the salt off of the bike, aired the tires back up to road pressure, lubed the chain and hit the road west along the coast.

One more great Brazilian sunset on the road north….

I ended up in the town of Tutoia where I found a room, a margarita pizza and a shitload of beer. That was definitely one of the more memorable days of the trip!