Totally Radical, Man!

We drove into Praia do Forte not knowing what to expect, but within a few minutes we knew we were going to love it. Gallego, a smiling, surfing, and snorkeling caretaker greeted us and welcomed us into our friend’s beach house. Before we even got our suitcases from the car we went to the beach and felt the warm water on our toes. The house was beautiful and had a pool in the backyard, but best of all we were ten steps from the ocean. We were all super excited to explore the cute beach village and the coral reef full of little critters.

Our first night in town we explored and met Alexandre the owner of the Billabong surf and skate board shop and decided we would take our surf lessons with him the next day. Alexandre, Marcio and Lideo, three amazing guys with electric personalities picked us up in the morning. We spent some time on the shore learning the basic moves and then we hit the waves.
 

We sat and waited for a perfect wave and then… this was it, my first
wave. I’m standing up. I did it. Yahooooo! The sensation was awesome.
Next Everest was riding one in.

By the end of the day we had lots of
great rides, but we couldn’t have done it without our fun, radical
teachers. We were having a super awesome time so we took five more
lessons and we were all getting better each time. We got so close to our
new friends Marcio, Lideo and Alexandre and their families. We went out
for a big pizza dinner and then they invited us to a Brazilian Barbeque
at their home in the jungle. It was an amazing night.

We did so many
things while we were in Praia Do Forte. We ran stallions on the golden
sand while taking in the beauty of the sapphire sea.
 

We snorkeled a
couple of times with Gallego and saw all kinds of beautiful fish and
underwater creatures. My favorite was a spider like sea star. We also
had a big fish dinner with a huge tuna that Gallegos friend caught.
 

It
was yummy and very fresh. Along with all these extraordinary things, I
also enjoyed just sitting on the beach and swimming in the amazing
ocean. I will remember those ten days for the rest of my life.
Goodbye Praia do Forte and Goodbye Alexandre, Marcio, and Lideo!