Every year my family and I travel to a place far removed from the hurried modern world of traffic jams, endless queues, manic deadlines and the daily rush of life.A place where the roads are paved with sand, where beaches are still untouched as far as the eye can see and you wake up to the sound of the waves every morning.
Prea is a small fishing village, windsurf and kite-surf mecca in Ceara, Brazil around 300km west of Fortaleza. It takes quite some time to arrive at Prea; after a 14-hour flight from Dubai to Rio de Janeiro, and another short-haul flight of 3 hours from Rio to Fortaleza, we still have a drive of about 3 ½ hours before we arrive in the beautiful fishing village of Prea. The road to Prea is a small, two-lane road alongside sand dunes and palm trees until you get to Jijoca. Because of Prea’s remote location, the last hour of the journey has to be by four-wheel drive vehicles along rugged dirt roads, and then along the final sandy stretch of beach. It’s a thrilling ride that adds to the experience when driving along trails with no direction signs.
Finally, after a long and exhausting journey we arrive at our destination in Prea, our most favorite posada Vila Prea. Since the first time we stayed here six years ago,
it seems that every year our holidays are getting longer and longer because once you are in Prea, you simply don’t want to leave. It is already past midnight by the time we arrive in our lovely little chalet and definitely time to go straight to bed so we can wake up with the first sunlight coming through the rooftop of our bungalow. The climate is so amazing that all chalets are built with open rooftops where the wind can blow through to keep a nice breeze, even during the hotter months of the year.
Nothing feels better than falling asleep to the sound of the waves in the background. Early the next morning we are up and ready to enjoy our amazing breakfast of fresh-cut fruits, fresh fruit juice and French toast. We then spend the morning relaxing on the beach and going for a nice walk by the sea.
Once in Prea, you will only walk on sand or drive in dune buggies. It is as though the absence of cemented streets changes the pace of life and the mood of the people. After an amazingly relaxed morning, as soon as it is 11:00 a.m. you can feel the wind changing and within a few minutes, the wind is up – get ready to set up the kite!
After such a long break from kitesurfing, I’m not sure what to set up, so start preparing my 7m2 kite. Just as I thought: within a few
minutes, the wind picked up to about 25 knots and off we go for our first amazing ride on our kite equipment
back in Brazil.
How we have been waiting for this! To ride and have the wind blowing around your ears is the most amazing feeling and it didn’t take us long to meet some other surfers who are ready to go for a downwind ride of about 10km along the beach!
Riding along the most beautiful and lengthy beaches in the world just makes me remember once again how lucky I am to be able to come all this way with my family and enjoy such a beautiful place all together!
After our first down-winder, a buggy awaits us just by the turn of the beach at Pedra Furada, an arched rock that has become a symbol of Prea and Jericoacoara to bring us back to our posada where we will have a small break of Acai, a Brazilian berry, known as a “superfood.”
We went back out on the water, riding until the sun sets behind the fishing village of Jericoacoara, filling the sky with the most amazing red-orange colours you have ever seen. Being one of the windiest places in the world due to its geographical location, Prea is an ideal place for kiting and windsurfing. However, it has much more to offer than this.
One of the most popular places to visit now is Jericocoara, another small fishing village about 15km from Prea. One of the most popular daily rituals in Jeri is to watch the sunset from the top of “Sunset Dune.” After watching the sunset, there are many capoeristas practicing their art at the base of the dune.
After another two days of kiting and enjoying the beautiful beaches just in front of our posada, we decided to take a day to visit the many freshwater lagoons surrounding the area. Lagoa Azul and Lagoa Paraiso lie next to each other and share the same white sand and tranquil blue white waters. We found a nice, quiet place at one of the beach-side restaurants and enjoyed a day of swimming and playing around the lagoons. I even had a great kiting session when the wind had picked up.
After another day enjoying the beauty of the country, we arrive back at our posada tired but with the biggest smiles on our faces, ready for a nice Caibirinha and a delicious dinner of fresh fish from the daily catch. A walk at night under a sky so filled with stars like you will never see again anywhere else, had us falling asleep happily and exhausted from another day in paradise.
Published in November 2012
