Oh Jeri. A 5hr drive North of Fortaleza by transfer van followed by a short wait at a roadside restaurant & then a 1hr drive in a 4×4 over & across sand dunes brings you to the paradise of Jericoacoara, Brazil.  It’s nestled in a national park on the Atlantic Ocean featuring massive sand dunes. The town itself is tiny, has restrictions on vehicles & oh yeah, features sand roads, sidewalks, shop floors, etc. The entire town is sand from the dunes to the beaches to the town streets so there’s literally no reason to ever wear shoes – unless you can’t take the heat. You can take buggy rides, go hiking, laze around at the beaches, paddleboard or kitesurf as the area is blessed by lots of wind. I’ve been talking & daydreaming about kitesurfing for some time now so since I was spending a week+ in Jeri, I decided to sign up for a lesson to see how I liked it.  Just to get a taste.

My instructor was Andre from Sao Paulo, living in Jeri for awhile now. I knew it was meant to be when he gave me a life jacket which was more of a vest that you pull down overhead & it was made of a black material with this odd white plastic plating on the front. I got it on, looked down & suddenly exclaimed aloud, more to myself than anyone, “Omigod, I feel like I look like a storm-trooper right now” not expecting Andre to recognize the reference & after a momentary look of surprise / amazement passed his face, he started humming the Imperial Death March, I immediately joined in & we devolved into our first fit of laughter. We didn’t stop laughing for the entire 3hr lesson primarily bc it’s a pretty difficult adventure sport & rather than get frustrated as that’s no fun at all, I just laughed at myself. A lot. He was a wonderful teacher, had outstanding tips & was very observant in correcting form & technique, but controlling the kite is damn difficult to learn, especially when you’re doing board retrieval skills & controlling the kite with one hand while using your other arm as a rudder to direct you in the water, chest down, as you’re getting swamped by waves & trying your best not to swallow half the sea. So it’s hard. “Andre, you forgot tip #3: when you’re face down in the water getting dragged by the kite, RELEASE!”. And he collapsed with laughter (bc theoretically it should be obvious to release the kite but I hesitated a bit too long thinking I could manage the situation). So long story even longer, according to Andre, I did fairly well controlling the kite so I graduated to a bigger kite with lines twice as long (i.e. way more power) bc “while the other kite would get me up, THIS one will really let me RIP IT & fly”. Because, you know, RIPPING IT is exactly what I want to do. I just giggled & agreed & we were on our way. I took 4 lessons in all. By lesson 2, I had moved to the board & I actually managed to get up. For maybe like 2-3 seconds. But I felt very accomplished. I figured that was the hard part. I was wrong. The hard part is staying up. Because there’s a lot going on. You have to control the kite with the left hand (while the wind is howling & really trying to take it & you with it) while you put your board on with the right hand, then get in proper position with abs & legs flexed in a position that reminded me a bit of getting a pap smear (but I kept that to myself), make sure the board is out of the water & pointing the correct direction, & then start doing figure-8s with the kite & let it lift you… all the while, you’re getting slammed by waves. So that gets you up. Then, you need to continue controlling the kite, while you get your body & body weight into proper positioning as well as the board. So it’s a lot to think about until it becomes instinctual & that means there’s a lot to go wrong. And when one of those things go wrong, you crash in epic fashion, the board is left behind as you try to control the kite which is dragging you quickly across the water. Once you get your senses, have control of the kite & spit up swallowed sea water, you must then locate your board which by now is 100 ft away. This is when you have to use the board retrieval skills you learned by using the kite to tack back & forth in the water until you can reach the damn board. Which is a lot fucking harder than it sounds bc you have to time the wind & the current & the kite & you inevitably miss it bc you’re new at this so it takes fucking forever. And then you do it again & again for 3hrs. Needless to say, I was exhausted & beat down, bruised, scraped over rocks, etc. after each lesson. And yet I was still laughing my ass off & having a helluva time. So I intend to continue pursuing it as this is one sport that will take a lot of practice.

So my pursuit of kitesurfing dominated my afternoons in Jeri. My mornings were spent hiking, exploring the dunes, paddleboarding & lazing about on the beaches. Nights were spent gorging myself on meals as I expended a lot of energy followed by caipirinhas on the beach while listening to live music. I don’t have a ton of photos of Jeri despite loving it so. Each morning I’d head out the door with only my swimming suit, rash guard & shorts, leaving behind everything else including my phone. It felt real good & a bit like home.