Day 69: Trinidade, Brazil

There`s something magical about being the first one awake in the morning. It`s like being in another world while the rest of humankind sleeps, just knowing that no one can disturb you as you tiptoe out of the room where they are dreaming and pleasantly snoring away.

I dressed quietly and made my way downstairs through the gate and across the sandy road onto the beach. There is nothing quite like the feeling off stepping onto the sand with your bare toes, digging them into the warming sand from the morning sun. I took a few slow lingering steps wanting to savor each moment that was all mine with no one else around to ruin it by making a sound. I walked past the palms as they cast shadows on the ground where two stray dogs where picking their breakfast from a torn open bag of trash from the night before. And there, half in the shade and half in the sweet, soft morning sun I slipped down onto the white sand.

Lin at Pre-dawn

A crab fisherman stood wading the in water, up to his waist, checking his cages for any early morning catches. Just past him was his sleepy cottage on the edge of the water, painted white and blue. An old tan, perfectly kept VW Beetle sat beside the cottage patiently waiting for someone to wake it from it`s slumber. As I sat staring out at the glittery water, an ambitious man jogged past me with a dog in his wake. I didn`t mind the disruption in my view. I knew he was enjoying the morning as much as I.

I lingered there as I watched the softness fade from the sun that only comes for a hour or two in the mornings before deciding to head back for breakfast. Still too early for my bunkmates, I was the first one to the table and enjoyed a quiet breakfast peering through the chipping white gate toward the beach as I ate. Then one, two, three others slowly began to stumble through the doorway, no doubt awoken by the smell of fresh coffee and fruit and the spell was broken. No longer could I relish the quietness of the beginning of the day and my own thoughts uninteruppted. It was all the more special for having been the only one who had had them and it could be my secret for the day.

But maybe my spell wasn`t completely broken yet. As we walked to the bus station, laden with our packs and just beginning to sweat under the increasing hot sun, I felt more than just content. It was something near ecstatic and I knew it would carry me through most of the day. We boarded a dirty, crowded bus that was hot from having too many bodies in such a small space and were heading toward Trinidade a half hour away. As soon as we arrived, I knew we had discovered the most beautiful beach in the country. The waves crashed over the smooth, wide rocks that stood tall and indifferent to the tide. The water was clear enough to be bath water, though not quite as warm. It was a turqouiose color once it deepened just a few feet off shore and made a beautiful contrast with the clean white sand we walked over. It burned our bare feet but we didn`t mind as we took in every detail of this paradise we had just found.

View down the beach

Bouldered Beach

We spent the rest of the afternoon lounging about, enjoying the strong waves crashing into the vertical wall just off the shore. Shaded by the enormous boulders that fill the north beach.

At dinner we listened to Seu Jorge sing in his smooth, deep voice on a bootleg DVD before retiring for the night from an exhaustingly perfect day.