A fairly relaxing 5 hour bus ride from Recife brought me to Natal, in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte. I like to mix up my time between Couchsurfing and hostels - being around people and then spending some time on my own. It gives me a chance to zone out/relax/recharge/whatever you want to call it - and not have to worry about someone else's plans. It's good to have time like this to think only about yourself and do whatever you want... in moderation of course.

Anyway. Natal seems to be used more as a hub to visit other nearby beaches. With only 5 nights here, I only really had time to venture out to 1 beach. One that almost every Brazilian recommended to me - Praia da Pipa.

Before I took the bus to Pipa, I spent a whole day taking a buggy around various beaches close to Natal. I couldn't remember the name of any of the places that we went to, just that it was so refreshing to be sat on the back of that buggy driving across the sand, wind in your face and beautiful scenery all around you. It was only myself and another Brazilian guy on the tour (who speak absolutely no English), but we had a great day and took some pretty impressive photos.

The next day I traveled to Pipa, on a bus that took the best part of 2 hours. I checked in to a hostel recommended to me by a girl at the hostel in Natal, then took a walk down to the beach to take some photos and enjoy the sunset.

On Monday I woke up early to go for a run along the beach, just after sunrise. I ran across to Baia dos Golfinhos, a beach people told me it was common to see dolphins. Whilst I didn't see any dolphins, the view was beautiful. After breakfast I took another tour to some nearby beaches, this time with a bigger group on the back of an old Army style 4WD. Again, I got some more amazing photos, tried slacklining for the first time, did some sandboarding and finished off the day with another beautiful sunset.

I took another gamble with a run to the dolphin beach on my last morning in Pipa, but no luck! I'll have to wait until my tour of the Amazon in Manaus I think. In the meantime, it's off to Fortaleza. Another new city to explore, more hot weather and more beaches!