The resort is about 160km from Fortaleza, and takes about two and a half hours. So, we hired a minibus to leave early on Saturday morning, and decided to stay overnight. Our hotel in Fortaleza helped us to make the travel arrangements. Note that drinking from coconuts is banned on the minibus :-) -
Canoa Quebrada (which means "Broken Canoe") has been a fishing village since the 17th century, and was "discovered" in the 1960s by French film makers from the Nouvelle Vague movement. It then became a hippy hangout in the 1970s, before changing into a low-key somewhat bohemian beach resort. It is now the second most visited location in Ceará, after Fortaleza.
It is a very nice place to spend a couple of days on the beach - popular with both Brazilian families and kite surfers.
Canoa Quebrada is a location where one can see the high-art form that visiting "a praia" (the beach) is in Brazil. The beach has several barracas (beach bars) right on the beach which offer shaded seating and sunbeds, food, drinks, have lockers for your valuables, bathroom facilities, and showers. They will also organize trips on boats, dune buggies, etc. All very comfortable. And all helped by the fact that in spite of being the open Atlantic, the sea temperature is a very nice 28 degrees!
Some of the CSC team visited the crescent moon and star carving which is the symbol of the town - and posed in a broken canoe for a photo:
Despite being a popular tourist resort, Canoa Quebrada is still a fishing village, with fishermen sailing out to sea in the traditional Jangada boats common all over North East Brazil:
Also around the town are miles and miles of sand dunes:
In the evening, we visited a bar where a great local singer and guitarist played some popular Bossa Nova and MPB songs:
Finally, after a tiring weekend on the beach, it was time to head back to Fortaleza on Sunday afternoon, arriving back in the early evening.
