Introduction:
Every destination has a style and certainly Jeri does as well. Jeri is a shallow sandy
sailing experience and has very small
waves. The destination favors
port side freestyle so many advanced sailors are coming in between waves sets and
throwing down moves in the smooth sections. Outside past the break is rolling ocean
swell with some chop. The wind is good around 10am or so and lasts until sometime around
4 as the wind turns more off-shore. The tide is critical in your expierence. You will
see a mixture of boards but a lot of big freestyle boards. I rode a 99 liter board with
a 4.3 meter sail most of the time. This is an unusual combination for me. Be warned Jeri is
very crowded, I mean dangerously crowded, in Oct/Nov.
Staying Connected:1. Internet
There is internet service. A wireless you can get from Vela @ about $3/hour.
Tirol the same with a discount of you buy a $R ticket (about $2.50 hour) Open
24 hours. Other internet places around town. Many Pousadas have internet access.
Speend can very from slow to acceptable.
2. Telephone
There are Phone booths around town. I bought an international phone card
(the only type I could find in jeri) for the occasional
phone call to family and friends. I got 44 minutes for $R30.
You can buy this calling card at the Jerifarma farmacia or .....
The company name is
www.liguelogo.com.br.
Remember the US country code is 1
and to dial from Brazil to the US the dialing format is (00 + country code + area code + local# )
|
What to Bring
Windsurf Gear:
1 board
Essentials: 2 sails 1 boom 2 masts 2 pair harness lines 3 rashguards 2 bases 2 extensions 2 pair foot straps Harness 2 fins Parts Sail Repair Ding Stick Screw Driver Duck Tape Extra line
Passport & Visa
Clothing: Airline Tickets Cash 2 Sunglasses Pen & Notepad
5 underwear
Self-Care: 5 T-Shirts 3 board shorts Flip-Flops Broad-Brim Hat Beach Towel
Toothbrush
Miscellaneous: Toothpaste Floss Ibupropene Sunscreen Skin Lotion Contacts & Solution Eye Glasses Vitamins Soap,Shamp,Cond Nail Clippers Hair Brush New Skin Band Aides/etc...
6+ books
Portugese for Dummies A/B outlet adapter AA Batteries Battery Recharger Camera |
Transfer:
You will need a transfer from Fortaleza to
Jericoacoara and visa versa. There are two basic options:
1. Bus Service
| Redencao - Transporte & Turismo www.redencaoonline.com.br ph# (88) 3256 or (88) 3669-2000 The bus is an option but takes about 7 hours with a vehicle change for the last section to Jeri. I do not recommend this option unless you absolutely must save money. You will need to coordinate your Fortaleza arrival so you can make the bus. The bus takes off from the terminal so you will have to pay $R20 just to get to the terminal from the airport. There will be an extra $R25 per board bag. Credit Cards are not accepted and you must pay with the Brazilian Currency $R called Reals (ray-eyes). I heard the buses are quite nice with air-conditioning and movies. |
Forteleza to Jeri
Jeri to Forteleza
|
2. Direct Transfer
The second option is a direct tranfer (usually a 4wd vehicle) which will
take you from the Forteleza airport to Jeri and visa versa.
The price varies greatly (75$R to $R400) depending on the time of
year, the number of passengers, etc... Many of the Pousada's can arrange this type of transfer.
Finding a better deal upon your return will be easier because you can walk fish around for other
people leaving Jeri the same day you are.
Some Transfer Options
| Alberto/Pousada Caju: | Contact Alberto at to pick you up for $165 USD one way. |
| Adventure Off Road: | 55-88-3669-2152; www.adventureoffroad.com.br; Call and put yourself on a list. $R100 for 1-4 persons; $R75 for 5 & 6 Persons; Located across from Mosquito Blue |
Financials:
| Here are some expenses I incurred during my 70 day stay at Jeri. I went to Jeri in Oct/Nov/Dec of 2008 from Portland Oregon. The numbers are in USD and my tolerance is not super cheap but moderate. The USD to $R exchange rate was for every dollar I got 1.7 Brazilian Currency. Keep in mind: we always spend more than we plan and the expeses are always higher than we budgeted. |
Accomodations:
I heard thru the grapevine that there are over 100 Pousadas in Jeri.
A Pousada is basically a guest house and is an instituition in Jeri.
You can find the full price range.
Depending on what time of the day you arrive, meaning if you arrive
late in JerI suggest you make reservations. Once you are here and
your gear is in one of the Guararias then look around, Jeri is sage
Most pousadas will include a beakfast and/or fan or air conditioning.
I suggest the breakfast and at least a fan for sure so you are
well rested for sailing. I have heard many sailors say they really need
extra sleep when they are hear and some people say they are tired a lot,
Maybe it is the hot climate, change of food, etcc.. I do not know, But
getting your sleep is important. Almost all rooms come with a small
dormatory type a fridge. Laudry seems kind of high for the area
so i bought some detergent and washed my clothes in the sink. Keep in mind,
jeri has a real late night life so be observant of a Pousada where late night partiers
might distrurb, For ezample, every so ofetn some building begind me had a loud
pary all night -- I mean load and ran well into the next day -- why fight it, I just read all night.
| Pousada Caju | - Phone # (85) 9622-9176 (88) 3669-2299 |
| Pousada Z' Patinha | - Cheap Pousads but a great value. |
| Tirol | ... |
| Ibiscus, Pousada Jaudaia.... Marisol Pousada... Pousada Sao Fransicso 669-2039-99553619 | ... |
Food/Stores:
To eat cheaply your diet will primarily consist of rice, beans, meat,
fruit, and bread. The Vitaminas (smoothie with milk) are excellent and there
are enough grocery stores with fresh fruit and vegatables.
Pasta is kind of expensive. There a many, I mean a very large number, of restaurants in this
village covering the entire price scale. I budget minded strategy would be to buy most of
your food from the stores using your credit card and then eating out once in a while to not
only get a flavor of Brasil but to make sure you are getting enough protein.
Buy a jug of water from the stores. I usually went to the store for
bananas, tangerines, apples, avacodos, cashews, and other fruits. I would occasionally
by the Marinas Biscuits to eat as a treat. Wine is expensive and in my opinion the beer is
terrible so I omitted drinking during the most of my stay with an occasional beer when
dining out with friends. On the other hand, many windsurfers are a slave to having a
beer after sailing and managed to enjoy the Skol beer much to my surprise. But hey,
if you got to have a bear ya got to have a beer.
1. Stores
| Supermercado Tem De Tudo: | General Grocery store. $R15 minimum to user your Visa Card. |
| Mercadinho Jacare: | General Grocery store. $R15 minimum to user your Visa Card. |
| Jeripan e Massa: | Open 24 hours. Cheap coffee. Bread. Basic food items. Sweet Bakery treats in the evening. Cheesy bread stuff mornings/afternoon. Cash only. Small Bills. |
| Jerifarm: | Farmacy with the usual suspects and much more we can not buy in the states. |
| farmacia Nova Vida: | Farmacy right on the main drag. |
| Deposito Vitoria Brandao: | Basically the hardware store. I needed sandpaper to file down my fin. |
2. Inexpensive Restaurants
| Familia Reunida: | $R6 dinners of rice, beans, meat, and sort of a salad. |
| Tempero Da Terra: | Egg sandwich and a banana drink for $R3. Other dinners as well. |
3. Medium Restaurants
If you need to treat yourself once in awhile then I recommend the following restarurants even
though they can break your budget if
you are not careful.
| Victor Sports Bar: | Decent burgers & Lasagna. Watch TV, play poker. |
| Sabor Da Terra: | Plates are priced for two so if you have a group then this is not all that expensive. I found the food quality and preparation very high. |
| Bistrogonoff: | Nice atmosphere and location. Servings kind of small. |
| Cafe Brasil: | Kind of expensive but a nice atmosphere to sip and expresso, drink a banana vitamina with oatmeal and honey, and read a book for about $3 USD. |
| Quero Pizza: | A very popular outdoor restaurant smack in the middle of all the action. Pizzas are acceptable with thin crust. Long wait and very uncomfortable seating. |
Gear Storage:
You will need to keep your gear in one of the gear storage places near the beach.
This allows you to live in one of the Pousadas (only a few have the capability to handle
gear storage), walk down to the beach, get your gear, sail, then return your gear.
By the way, remember to bring a day pack so you can truck down around town with you sun
screen, water bottle, flip flops, towel, book, a little cash, camera, etc...
The gear storage places allow you to rinse off the sand and salt from your
gear, which is essential because the salt and sand combined with the harsh sun
really destroys your gear.
The Gear Storage places usually allow you to keep one sail
fully rigged and another sail fully rigged but without a boom.
They also allow one board as a standard agreement, but sometimes they allow
two boards depending on availablility, but of course you will pay more.
Most of the gear storage places (i think about 4 of them), are actually storage stalls,
are crammed into a small court area called Acoara Do Jerico,
or the Guarderia Da Galera (picture on the right).
There is a Bulletin board inside the couryard which may be helpful.
I found the following eMail you can try --
guarderiadagalera@hotmail.com.
Lessons and gear rental can also be found here as well,
known simply as the Guarderia when you are in Jeri.
|
)
The Guardaria |
| 1. Mario's - | This is the stall I used and they were fantastic. They are local and very, very friendly (Mario, Ivan, Michelle, and Favio). They speak very little english so you will have fun practicing your Portugease. Two Thumbs up from Royn. You can keep your backpack in a common locker. |
| 2. Loopee - | Alvaro and Loopee own the restaurant right next door and are also very friendly. Alvaro is originally from Paraguay and is very helpful with just about anything. I found Alvaro to be and interesting, sincere, and a honest man. Loopee is from Canada who throws down the tricks and is also very helpful. They rent boards (Tabou) and sails (Simmer) as well and give lessons. I really enjoyed hanging out with Alvaro so stop by and have something to eat because the location is fantastic. They also have two web sites www.brazilwindsurf.com and www.loopee.ca |
| 3. Robo - | Italian dude named Alfredo located at the very end of the Guarderia. He got his nickname for his endurance on the water. Tends to favor the plethora of Italians in town and is initially not very friendly, but will warm up to you over time, especially if you stay out of his way on the water -- and do stay out of his way. He also does board repair. |
| 4. Tico Winds - | First stall on the right as you enter the Guardaria. |
| 5. Club Vientos - | Vela has gear storage service but I hear they expensive. However, they absolutely have the best location in town. |
| 6. Waldemar's - | Waldemar's Vento do Mar the Pousada Capitao Tomas |
Besides Windsurfing:
Jeri is basically a village flavored with tourism. I believe many Brazilians visit jeri as a
destination to relax and hang out at the beach. If you are here for any length of time then
you will need to find other activities to maintain your sanity (I certainly do) unless you are
perfectly satisfied windsurfing and going out once in a while.
I personally need to be engaged and active when I go to a destination to windsurf or when I travel.
I have compiled some ideas.
- Read Books - I brought six books but read over twelve. Vela has a book shelf in their retail store with books in various languages for people to donate and borrow so bring extras and leave them for others with a thirst for reading.
- Video Game Night - For about $1.50 US/hour you can play one of many playstation games. You will find a few shops around town with local kids hanging out in them.
- Vela Video Night - Monday and Wednesday. Vela presents an outdoor feature film at sunset on every Monday and Wedneday during high season.
- Mama Africas - A very late night, actually early morning, dance club that is open on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. Doors open at 2 am.
- For All - Another late night club open on Wednesday and Friday, starting around midnight.
- Planet Jeri - Very popular club located down by the beach and open on Wednesday and Friday night. The music and entertainment varies from week to week.
- Study Coeperia - Brazilian Martial Art/Dance. Take lessons daily either in the morning or evenings at the beach. You can also hire private lessons. I paid 10/15 Reyes for 1-1.5 hour classes. I only took a few lessons but they were fun. You will be amazed at the gymastic ability many local brazilians have.
- Poker Night - Check out Victor Sports Bar for information.
- Dune Sunset - Many people treck up the big dune to watch the sunset.
- Board Games - Bring cards and maybe scribbage or board games. When the conditions are not great then you will see many locals hanging out and playing scrabble.
Tips:
- Travel Visa - As a US citizen you need the $100 Tourist Visa and you must have an agency physically walk in and process the Visa on your behalf (obviously there will be a service and mailing charge by the visa processing company). You personally can not send mail to get your Travel Visa. I used Travel Visa Pro and they were fast.
- Voltage and electronic equipment: The voltage in North-East Brazil is 220 Volts, as in most European countries, (110 V. in the USA). Both European and American style plugs (Type A Adapter) fit in the standard Brazilian sockets (A/B Adapters) but you should check your electronics for input voltage before using them.
- Water - you are in a hot climate so you will need plenty of water. Drinking the water from the tap has two camps: one says no problem and the other says maybe not. Buying bottled water daily is costly so go to the local market and buy one of the refillable jugs as well as a dispenser. Keep it in your Pousada.
- Gear Storage - $4/day depending on season. you really need to keep your gear in storage. There are about 5 storage places and each place frown on more than one board. These storage place's are really services:
- Restaurant/Service Tipping - 10% and the gratuity is often on the bill. A general belief is not to over-tip because this may everntually contribute to inflation.
- Duck Tape your 2pc Mast Seam - The sand and salt are nasty. In the storage you will leave you sail rigged so duck tape around the seam of your two piece mast to keep sand from seeping into the ferrel. Otherwise the joints can be fused together. Also remember to wash out the boom because sand in the boom are is also a problem.
- Harness Rub - Wearing you harness on bare skin every day will create a rash on your skin from the rubbing, especially the popular Dakine Thermoform harnesses. Jeri sailors slide their harness thru a rashguad (Kind of a rashguard cover) to elimate rubbing. I used this technique at it works!
- Rashguard - Bring a couple of long sleeve rashguards to protect you body from the sun and research a tighter weave rashguards that blocks the sun better. Not all rashguards (fabric for that matter) are the same with regards to protection.
- TP - Remember to throw your Toilet Paper in the trash because the sewage system can not handle paper in Jeri, just squishy feces.
- Club Vientos - hang out at this perfect location.
- Vegies & Fruit - Bananas, tomatoes, cucumbers, pineapple, tangerines, among others are all worth buying at the grocery stores at a good price. The avocados (Abacate) are huge and inexpensive. I used to buy bread at the bakery and and an avacado at the store for an avacado sandwich -- what a great meal.
- Meat on a Stick - I Killer deal can be had on the main street down by the beach. Buy some chicken (Frango) on a stick for about 50 cents US.
- Board Repair - Either Favio or Robo at the Guararia can fix your board.
- Work - I really did not see any work options for visitors with the exception of a few foriegners working for Vela.
- Study Portugease - Take advantage of your time in Brazil to get acquainted with Portuguease. I unfortunately made last minute plans to jeri so I could not study before my arrival and while I was in Jeri I was giving lessons at Vela during the day (In English) and working at night so needless to say my Portuguease is almost nonexistent. I suggest you avoid my mistake and do the following: (1) click on the Portuguese Primer for a quick study on some phrases and words and get started right away. (2) Buy Portuguese for Dummies book and study before you arrive. (3) Download some software such as Before you Know It (4) Research the Web. (5) When you arrive, inquire/search/find a portuguese tutor and pay them for some hourly tutoring. I think you can find someone for around $8/hr. (6) Practice with the locals and be sure to distance yourself from your English speaking buddies (Oh, we love our packs) so you are forced to communicate with locals.
- Sunscreen - bring your own because it is expensive. Remember to use the stuff your entire stay even after you have a tan and do not burn. Bring at least two tubes: one for the beach and one in your Pousada. I recommend you rub the screen on in the morning so it has time to soak before you hit the water.
- Electronics - There is no electronics store in town so pack it with you.
- Laundry - You do not need many clothes in Jeri. Save money buy doing laundry in the sink. Shampoo seems to work pretty good. Wash a few things at a time. Towel dry the sing and use a little duck tape to seal the drain. Soak a few clothes in soapy water. Scrub the clothes, Rinse. Hange outside.
- Power Outage - The power periodically goes out in Jeri so be prepared. Keep your notebook battery charged and as a shutoff buffer. Save often and work in short sessions to minimize losing stuff. Also, a flashlight or headlamp would be a good idea because there is not much to do in Jeri at night when the power goes off.
- Hand Signals - Brazilians love the thumbs up sign and rarely use the Shaka sign common in Maui. There is also a distinct hand shake which has two parts: (1) Stick our hand out like a regular shake but just pass the fingers instead of gripping, followed by (2) Closing the hand into a fist and lightly bumping fists together. Remember to avoid the OK sign that is used in the US -- This means "??&hole in other countries.
- Dental Care - There is basic dental and health care in Jeri. Inquire @ Vela.
- Extra Gear - If you have room in your bags then bring extra gear for the locals such as harness lines, fins, booms, foot straps, etc... Give it away. The local windsurfers in Jeri can not afford modern equipment and the harsh conditions detroys the equipment they have.