Pipa Beach is located in the state of Rio Grande do Norte. It was a quiet fishing village for centuries until it was “discovered” in the 1970s by backpackers and surfers who fell in love with the towering red cliffs, beautiful beaches with crystal blue water, and powerful waves. The village has a permanent population of roughly 1,500 people but tourism has grown rapidly in recent years and the main street is now lined with restaurants, shops, pousadas, and even luxury resorts; but Pipa still hasn’t lost its charm. I definitely fell in love with it and could see why people wouldn’t want to leave. If the weather was nicer I would have stayed longer than two days.

Getting In

It was a 10.5 hour over night bus ride from Maceió leaving at 9pm heading toward Natal. I read a bit then slept for the rest. I got off at Goianinha an hour before Natal (the state capital) so I could transfer to Pipa Beach. It was surprisingly easy and straight forward. I had read online that the local buses to Pipa Beach leave from behind the church in Goaininha and within five minutes one arrived and we were on our way. The bus filled up quickly after the first few stops so I was glad that I had a seat. I arrived in Pipa Beach 45 minutes later around 8:30 in the morning.

Lodging 

I stayed two nights at Hostel do Ceu which had a pool and a laid back vibe. The hostel was run by two Argentinians and most of the guests Argentineans who were planting themselves in Pipa Beach for two to three months. Pipa Beach was basically Argentina 2.0. I felt a bit like an outsider looking in and didn’t make any close friends; although I did get offered mate one afternoon so that was a sign of acceptance. I did all activities outside the hostel solo, but I had some good short convos with a few of the Argentinians in the hostel. It was the usual conversation about being in Argentina during the World Cup victory and listing some of the places I’ve been to in their country, but then I ran out of things to say. It’s hard to make small talk in Spanish. It made me realize that speaking the language is one thing, but being able to hold a new convo with a stranger is the next level. Of course I’ve previously spent an entire day interacting with Spanish speakers; however there’s something different about touring a city together versus hostal small talk. Obviously it depends on the person that your talking to as well. Since most of the guests were Argentinian they already had this close bond with each other by default. 

Pipa Chapadão

After dropping off my bag, I got an Açaí bowl from down the street. It was a build your own bowl adventure where you got charged by the kilo. I added so many toppings – granola, chocolate chips, various fruits, crushed peanuts, milk powder, dolce de leche, and a whole bunch of other stuff. It was delicious! 

Then I headed to Pipa Chapadão, a scenic viewpoint atop the cliffs looking at the heart shaped Praia do Amor in one direction and Praia das Minas in the other. The wind was ripping and the waves in the ocean were massive; I immediately understood why this was a popular location for surfing and wind surfing. The views were stunning with the contrasting colors of blue ocean water, red rock cliffs, and lush green trees. I love this place already!

I climbed the steps down to the beach and walked along an empty section of Praia do Amor before rock hopping my way to the main beach area.

Praia do Amor

It was still early in the morning so I decided it would be worth the money to rent an umbrella spot with a lounge chair and two regular chairs. Time to order a caipirinha and settle in for the day. I rotated between sitting in the sun, protecting myself in the shade of the umbrella, and swimming in the ocean. It was a very sunny day with a quick five minute rain shower then back to sunny. There weren’t quite as many vendors as on the beach in Maceió, but I was still frequently approached by someone selling something. I ended up buying an empanada off two different Argentinians and chatted it up with them a bit. 

I was considering taking a surf lesson because the waves were huge, but after an overnight bus I decided to just chill. I’m the type of person who always feels like he has to do something, but on the beach doing nothing means you’re doing something. I’m starting to adjust to that mindset. Life slows down to a pause in Pipa Beach. I ended up chilling on the beach for over four hours before heading back to the hostel around 3pm.

I took an afternoon nap then went out for dinner at Sofi Bistrô nearby the hostel and ordered a delicious octopus ravioli dish with a pumpkin cream sauce. I wasn’t feeling very social so I called it an early night. 

Praia Baía dos Golfinhos Pipa

The next morning I woke up early to go to Praia Baía dos Golfinhos Pipa, a beach famous for spotting dolphins. You can only get there from Praia de Pipa by walking 10 minutes along the shore and you have to go early (or late) during low tide. 

The beach had only a handful of other people there at 8 in the morning. There was a guy throwing coconuts for his dog to chase; very resourceful. I walked all the way to the end of the beach getting closer to the red cliffs. 

A few dolphins were jumping off in the distance so I decided to hop in the ocean and ended up swimming within 20 meters of a pair of dolphins.

Rainy Day

The weather forecast for the day was rainy so I was glad that I went to Praia Baía dos Golfinhos Pipa early in the morning. After an hour on the beach it started drizzling on me so I walked back to the hostel and got another fully loaded build your own Açaí bowl on the way. I could get used to this type of daily breakfast. 

It proceeded to rain the rest of the day into the early evening so I just read, worked on the blog, and did some Portuguese practice. It was similar to a bus day except I was sitting outside under a roof with fresh air and the ability to walk around. After two straight sunny beach days my skin could probably use a rest anyways. Let it go from tomato red to Latin tan. The only time I left during the afternoon to brave the storm was to get a Prato Feito lunch from the restaurant two minutes away from the hostel.

Night on the Town

The rain finally stopped and that evening I went to a restaurant that had a street front view of the liveliness in Pipa on a Friday night. I ordered a beer and shrimp with garlic and oil. The restaurant was across from a bar with a band that I could hear on top of the street noise. There is only one main street that runs through town so there was a constant steam of people walking by. Where did all these people even come from? It was great people watching. 

After dinner I went to the bar across the street with the live music and had a couple beers while watching the Uruguay-Spain game. Little kids kept coming up to the tables making flowers out of sugarcane plants. I wasn’t on a date so they ignored but they were hustlers.

Right before I was planning to go home, this Brazilian guy from Pipa sat at my table and started chatting nonstop. He called himself Jack Sparrow and he was all over the place with his flow of conversation but at least he spoke good English. He was chalked full of energy and knew everyone. He would talk to anyone that came by. The next band came onstage and started playing American rock hits: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, Radiohead, The Doors, Creedence Clearwater Revival. I knew all of them. The group next to us was singing along and of course Jack Sparrow started talking to them. They invited us to sit at their table. It was a group of Chilenos on a one week holiday. We were having some nice convos (when you’ve been to people’s country you immediately have more to talk about), and the music was good, so I ordered another beer and ended up staying another hour. I was pretty buzzed by the time I walked home.

It was an unexpectedly fun evening. I went out by myself just to grab dinner with no other agenda and that is how my night turned out. Now I better understand the Pipa nightlife. Everywhere in Brazil is a party. 

If the weather forecast were better I could have easily spent more days in Pipa – the Argentina game was the following night and the hostel had an open mic jam two days later on Monday. It all seemed very appealing, but my time was limited, and I didn’t want to sit still waiting out a few more rainy days. In order to stay longer I would have had to skip Jericoacoara and that was high on my list. Plus staying longer would have made my transport to Lençóis Maranhenses National Park more complicated because skipping Jeri would mean I would have to go past Lençóis to get to São Luís then transport backwards. It’s a hard national park to get to and I had to stay the course.