A day wasted in transit in Fortaleza

A day and a night in the bus.
We left last night with a comfortable night bus to arrive in Fortaleza at about 9am.

I hadn't booked this part of the transport to Jericoacoara, everything I found online was expensive private charters or departing from the airport. I had assumed that like every Latin American countries so far, there would be plenty of local buses to choose from. The kind that doesn't show up on international website. 

I saw there were 4 buses from Guanabara company during the day. We had options.

Needless to say, it didn't work that way in Brazil. First, as the bus pull over, the one for Jericoacoara leaves. We missed the first one of the day by very little, leaving Recife 1h before would have been best.

Second, as we make our way to the counter of the company, all the other buses of the days are full or cancelled... Which leaves us with the 3pm bus and arriving on Jericoacoara at 9pm. We went and asked around, checked online and basically, it's the only option that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

We decide to use these hours stuck in the train station booking tours instead. This way we have our days planned and can enjoy them without organizing anything. We manage to get our buggy tour to East Jericoacoara tomorrow planned. We won’t lose a day organizing stuff there since we arrive later than planned today.

We still need to organize either a day tour to visit the west and preferably one that could drop us off in Camocim instead of back to Jericoacoara. That would be ideal. The tour we asked doesn't do it, they can leave you on the opposite side of Camocim but won't help with the boat to cross the delta... We will look more once in Jericoacoara, I have read it can be done. There are small ferry boats to move buggies from Camocim to ilha de amor the last point of most west tours.

I get in touch with our accommodation in Barreirinhas to get this part organized too and we have almost everything booked there with some extra days free in case we find something nice once we reached the town.

Finally, we have a huge transport day and are stuck more than half a day in Parnaiba. It's famous for the boat tours on the river delta. But those are full days. After some digging, I find the perfect activity which fits just right the gap we have there: we will be going on a quad ride through the dunes and swimming in lagunas. Perfect, at least this will make the day less about only transport and long bus station waiting times.

Speaking of bus station, in Fortaleza, it's not the nicest. It is the first one without police presence, and as we have been here a few hours, we can observe the local fauna. There is a group of recurring beggars and the way they look around feels more like they are waiting for an opportunity to snatch something - they are too observant. They have circled around few times already disturbing people. I would be very careful with my belongings here.

We finally get into our last bus to Jericoacoara and the day is starting to wear on us. The bus is uneventful and the scenery is quite different from what we have seen so far in Brazil. It’s coconut trees and sands. I think if you google Brazil, you find carnival pictures and landscape of Nordeste region. 
The village of Jericoacoara can only be reached by 4x4 vehicule through the dunes. It’s a village without streets, everything is sands. We arrive late but are surprised with this little village being still full of life. Restaurants are open, bars are active and people are still shopping souvenirs. It is the most touristic spot we have seen in Brazil so far ( and we are now going into low season ).