ratCATcher - Camamu and Sampinho

Camamu and Sampinho

ratCATcher

Andre and Alison Stroebel

Tue 7 Jun 2011 21:59

13:56.067S 038:59.377W

Camamu and Sampinho

We took the dingy across to Ilha Campinho just before sunset, everything seemed to be closed but one bar on the beach. We found Bruno, the owner sitting sipping a beer and watching the sun go down, we had no choice but to join him. J

We find it amazing that alcohol in Brazil is sold everywhere by anyone, there do not seem to be any liquor license restrictions, however you just don’t see people drunk or drunks. I think in all the time we have been in Brazil we have maybe seen 2

Despite many enquiries we didn’t find Onillia or Aurora or the Yachtman. The “Pousada” that catered for cruisers was also an unknown to everyone. Finally we found someone who spoke English, Marcello, he explained the pousada and the other properties had been bought by a developer. He now owns all the beach front properties next on the side of the island we were anchored. He closed down the Pousada’s and revamped them, but he is not keen to have yachties there. He wants it as a retreat for the rich and famous.

The following morning we decided to try and motor to Barra Grande, the main “tourist” village in the area. But the tide was going down and the river flowing very fast as well as strong winds whipping up the swell so we went back to Campinho village. It is a tiny little village with 2 restaurants, one being Bruno’s. There are about 5 beer bars and the rest homes. We stopped to have another beer with Bruno before we left.

Next was Barra Grande, the following morning we caught a “launche rapido” (fast water taxi) to Barra. The trip was amazing, the driver screaming along at top speed down a channel and you can see the water on each side of the boat not more than a foot deep. We tried not to think what would happen if he hit a sandbank at that speed. J Obviously they know the waters very well as the ride was uneventful.

Barra Grande is the tourist town of Camamu, however it still has no tarred roads and in the rainy season the roads in the village are not navigable, everyone walks. It has miles and miles of beautiful beach edged with clear water and reefs. All along the shores are fish traps that the owners harvest at low tide. We found a restaurant for lunch and had “Moqueca do Camarao” (a stew with prawns) delicious.

We really wanted to see the market in Camamu and organised to be picked up by the ferry at 0600 on Saturday. It was a two hour trip through the mangroves taking advantage of the high tide to cut through narrow channels.

We were dropped at the “Cais” (quay) and stopped with all the other passengers to buy coffee and a slice of sweet cake. We then climbed the hill to the church built in the 1814, the view of the river and town was beautiful.

We were expecting a real third world type market as per the referrals we had received. There are 3 main sections to the market; the meat section, the flour section and the fruit and vegetables. Despite raw meat hanging everywhere we did not see one fly! How they do it we have no idea. The area is clean neat. The only smell is the smell of the fresh raw meat!

The Brazillian people are amazing! I know I have said it before but I can understand why people get here and don’t leave. They are friendly, patient, helpful, cheerful and incredibly generous. We had great fun in the market trying to work out what some of the items were. Like fruit and veges we have never seen. We always end up laughing with the store owner as we try to understand each other and every time they would take one of the unknown items and cut into it for us to taste or see. Sometimes we were still none the wiser! The same in the flour market, they let us dip our finger in to try and taste what it was. At one stall there were piles of funny looking bean things, they were saying it was cacao (we understood as cocoa) but it didn’t look like anything we could have imagined was cocoa, then they called a lady from the back and she brought out a fudge type sweet and gave us some to taste. She tied hard to explain how she made it from the “beans” It was delicious.

We stocked up on fruit and vegetables and bought a good supply of fresh chillies. Then at 12h00 we caught the launche back to the boat.

We planned to move to the anchorage at Ilha Sampinho the next day, spend one night leaving early Monday morning for Morro de Sao Paulo. However when Marcello heard we were going to Sampinho he said there was no way we could leave without visiting his friend Negu and his wife. They run a very small restaurant and only cater on certain occasions. He said we had to try their Arroz e Poulvou. (Rice and Octopus) So instead of leaving Monday morning we explored Sampinho a tiny fishing village with 3 restaurants. We found Negu’s house and his wife cooked the Octopus for us. Well it was worth the stay. Simply delicious!! Apparently Marcello had phoned them to warn them they must plan as we were coming for Octopus.

Campinho center of town.