Jericoacoara

Jericoacoara, a photo by pqueirozribeiro on Flickr.

Jericoacoara is a small fishing village windsurf and kitesurf mecca in Ceará, Brazil, around 300 km west of Fortaleza. Jeri, as it is affectionately known, is the kind of idyllic place where many travelers end up deciding to stay for longer than they had originally planned.

Jericoacoara is a place removed from the hurried modern world of screeching sirens, maniac deadlines, traffic jams and endless lineups. A place where streets are paved with sand, where beaches stretch as far as the eye can see and where warm water marries with palm swaying breezes. Until about 20 years ago, Jericoacoara was still a secluded and simple fishing village. There were no roads, no electricity, no phones, no TV's, no newspapers, and money was rarely used.

Since 1984, the area around Jericoacoara was declared Environmental Protection Area (APA) and became a National Park in 2002. This brought many building restrictions and tourism controls what help to preserve the area. Electricity arrived in the village and today, hot showers and air conditioning are no longer luxury articles. However, illumination of the streets is forbidden by local law.