A zoom on Frenchmen, total car fanatics, who have chosen to leave their daily routine for a two-week trip in one of the least frequented places in Brazil in the most mythical 4X4,the buggy.
T
he concept of active tourism seems contardictory at first sight but it answers a real demand, nowadays, for Via Ferrata, snowbikes in Quebec and diving in the Maldive Islands. Pleasures for the initiated leave the door open to novices.
The raid takes place along the coast of Nordeste, between the State of Cearà and Rio Grande do Norte, two of Brazil's 27 states. The closest city known internationally, is Bahia, 930 miles to the south. The 10 to 15 day-long adventure is available all year round.
Here is the journey: 435 miles of beaches, dunes and lagoons, enhanced by the discovery of authentic villages and fazendas. In spite of the gigantic scale of this continent-size country, it is about the only region which features such a route, without geographic obstructions or tourist-crammed beaches and noisy megalopolises.
What
are these tourists?
The
participants are by definition resistant to "Club
Med" style vacationing and are not drawn to discount
travel offers (plan a $2500-3000 vacation budget). But
mind you, if the target public is one with buying power,
the adventure also draws many less wealthy people who
are ready to rob their piggybank for an original experience.
According to the organizer, there is no age limit, and for the first year of its existence "Brazil Adventure" welcomed a clientele aged from 30 to 70 (average about forty). Because it is a small-scale operation, the trip is somewhat made to measure. The guide offers various routes and, as much as possible, tries to create homogeneous groups. Since the ideal number is two per buggy, the team is often a couple. It's not only a question of driving in wild country, each person can live the excursion in his own way.
Did you say Buggy?
The buggy, a little sand Beetle, is a category of 4X4 stemming from alterations made on a standard car. "The buggy of the dunes" used here, born in 1963, came from the tinkering of an American named Bruce Meyers, using a VW Beetle 1600 cm3 engine, often when it was about to visit the junkyard! The fibreglass body makes it light and powerful enough for driving in this universe of sand and cliffs.
You can't count the number of beaches where nobody has to fight to find a peaceful place, but the magnificence and the authenticity of this region doesn't come to you, you have to go to it. That implies crossing expanses of deep shining sand like powder snow and natural swimming pools which the ebb tide leaves behind it. The destination is a luxurious sunset at the top of the dune. Only the buggy could take you to such places, on one condition: you learn to master the buggy.
The only instructor (and compass) is a guide, called a Bughero, who is sometimes accompanied by an auto mechanic.
The buggies undergo all kinds of trials at the hands of novice drivers who often begin by sinking into the "golden powdery", breaking cables and clogging carburettors through the inevitable urge to open the throttle wide.
Cooperation with your co-pilot is highly recommended. The Bughero may be a guide and instructor, but he has to go with the flow of the group, employing both caution or audacity. His patience is admirable, given he's the only one who possesses the skills to fix all problems that might arise. Nevertheless, don't rule out being blissfully stranded for a couple of hours!
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