Cabreiras

15:30
Unsurprisingly, there have been poor sleeps all round. Vicki was cold and cramped, I was cramped and coughing, and Tam was awoken by a pre-dawn chorus of birdsong. There is an understandable grump amongst Team Fun this morning. We hold a high level strategy meeting over breakfast, and identify our preferred accommodation for the remainder of our time in Praia Do Frances. We reason that it would be a good idea to go and look at the rooms before we move our stuff over there. The new place (translated as Sand Captains, strangely…) is much nearer the beach, which is a bonus. Google Translate is our hero, as we negotiate with the receptionist. She shows us the rooms, and they’re light years ahead of the hovel in which we spent last night, which I have decided to christen Casa Del Ballbags. The new rooms are spacious and clean. They have an actual door for the bathroom. The beds are comfortable. Of such joyous, yet simple things will the next couple of days be made. We agree to move in, and ask what time we can access the rooms. Our new receptionist friends says we can move in straight away. We rejoice.

Back at Casa Del Ballbags, we pack. This takes less than moments, as we’d barely unpacked - in part because there was no storage space, and in part because it felt like our belongings would remain cleaner if they stayed in our luggage. We endure a frustrating 15 minutes in discussion with the receptionist at CDB. He is clearly not empowered to refund us for the 2 nights of accommodation that we will not use. We make the point that the rooms are not fit for purpose, have been advertised as 25m2 each, when they are in fact less than 9m2, and are not safe. He is in WhatsApp contact with his boss, who is refusing a refund, and claiming that this due to booking.com's cancellation policy. I know this to be bullshit, as I’ve had to cancel other accommodation in the past when it’s not been fit for purpose. Hilariously, the receptionist offers to have the rooms cleaned for us, as if this will sway us into staying. We’re not going to wait around ad nauseam berating a guy that clearly isn’t in a position to help us - we’ll have to take it up with booking.com, but at least will be able to do so from comfortable and clean accommodation. If it comes down to it, and we’re not able to secure a refund, it will still feel like money well spent.

Happily settled into our new digs, we spend some time at the beach. Tam is on the busy stretch of the beach, which sits behind a large natural barrier, breaking the fierce waves that are a feature of this stretch of coast. A couple of miles in either direction are some world class surf breaks, and whilst the waves here aren’t that clean, they’re big and powerful either side of the barrier. Vicki and I head to the southern end of the beach, which is beautiful. The fine, white sands stretch on as far as the eye can see. Around a mile further South of us, thick jungle borders the beach. This part of the beach is NOT behind the barrier, and the surf is impressive. There are plenty of kids boogie-boarding, and couple of folks having longboard surf lessons. It’s hot today. HOT. We’re craving shade, and find a funky little surf bar called Nareia. Ice cold beer for Vicki, ultra refreshing Caipi for me. We spent some time chatting in French to a slightly crazy lady. Basically, we’ll talk in any language that’s not Portuguese. My Portuguese vocab is coming along, but I just don’t know enough verbs to manage a conversation. Vicks and I both agree that we could put roots down in Praia do Frances for longer than the couple of days that we’re spending here.

There are beach hawkers everywhere we look, selling hats, paintings, lobsters (seriously), cold drinks. It’s not intrusive though. Our experience of hawkers in the likes of India is much more persistent. Here, a quick shake of the head does the job. We could happily settle in here for the duration, but decide to head for some lunch. We pitch up at the beach front place where we had happy hour cocktails last night. Vicki has a very tasty fillet of hake, and I order a traditional Alagoan fish dish - kinda like a Moqueca, but with some different spices. Very tasty. My shit night’s sleep is catching up with me though. We head back to our room, and I curl up for a much needed and much deserved nap.

22:30
My snooze was long and distinguished - a good couple of hours. Showered and refreshed, we head out to the supermarket for supplies, before aiming for a cool restaurant called the Red Prawn for some dinner. We share some deep fried battered prawns, and some Bacalao fritters. Very tasty - but definitely more than the little appetiser we were intending. When the girls’ salads arrive, there is an audible intake of breath. they are sizeable. Thankfully, my grilled salmon is not a monster size. There’s a calm about the restaurant this evening. When we order things, they turn up. There is little in the way of rank confusion. It’s all so, you know - normal. The sizeable dinner takes us down though. There’s not even a murmur amongst us about heading on somewhere for another drink. Bed beckons. We’re all looking forward to our sleeps…Read more