Started my day, post coffee of course, with a stroll on the beach to one of my fave places Praia Do Forte, or Fort Beach.
To get there from where I am, is a 30 minute beach walk followed by a steep incline up a cobblestone winding road barely wide enough for a car and a human to pass by together and so much darting to the side of the road is needed to save life and soul!
While passing through quaint hobbit-like homes overlooking beautiful classic beach scenes a negotiate the steep drop over the mountain to the other side. The descent is so steep, I wonder if my brand new runners with be gripping the road sufficiently to brake my descent, and soldier on!
I pass by the beachside restaurant selling an abundance of local sea fish mostly oysters, shrimp, octopus and crab with its red plastic tables and parasols in abundance all the way to the sea edge.
I pass by all this to continue my walk westwards and come across my first reptilian local lurking around a small lagoon of water between the end of the beach and the beginning of the bush that heads up to the mountain top as far as the eye can see.
A caiman, I come to understand later, about 4-5 feet long maybe asleep maybe even not living but I decide to take no chances and change direction heading back to the restaurant for relief and a thirst quenching drink! I had on previous occasions seen warning signs of these beasts but it's the first almost face-to-snout encounter. Are they dangerous? I just don't know, and I'm not hanging around to find out!
I order a pineapple juice without sugar, using my finest Portuguese, from local friendly waiter Christian who already calls me by my first name, and sit facing the sea looking out at the fishing boats, a variety of sea mountainscapes scattered in front of me, and enjoy the sea breeze in my hair - "This must be paradise", I think, and count my lucky stars!
It's only 8:30am and already, much has happened.
My drink arrives with usual Brazilian flair... in a tall glass with the top one third foamed up, so it looks like a milk shake and Christianson brings me an individual bendy straw and a smile. You get the feeling he is enjoying watching me relax... after all, I am his first customer of the day.
The juice costs 10 Brazilian dollars or $2.50 Canadian and tastes pure and refreshing... I remember I want to publish this blog and head home along the beach past the old fort and back home.
I'm shaken but not stirred from my morning encounter and already looking forward to my next adventure!