JUÇATUBA - UNKNOWN PLACE EVEN FOR PEOPLE IN SÃO LUIS

Well, as you all know I am in the State of Maranhão...For brazilian people, Maranhão is still a very virgin destination when they think about a place to go on holidays. For people overseas, Maranhão sounds to be another country where people do not really know not even where it is...

But I am a sort of a traveller that loves going to places that not even locals know about it...this is what I love doing here...but before I start writing about JUÇATUBA, allow me first to explain you where Maranhao is.

Maranhão is one of the States of our Fascinating North-East Region, but the geigraphy of Maranhão is so diverse and so up north that we can also consider that Maranhão is part of the North Region of Brazil, so it is indeed one of the entrances of my fascinating AMAZON AREA.

São Luis is the capital of the State, this is the city where I am right now. São Luis has an amazing fast growing middle class society, the city still preserves its wilderness but it is quite modern and it has a lot of facilities like fine shopping centers, increedible modern neighborhoods by the beach and amazing Coast Line and Tropical Jungles and Fantastic Mangroves.

São Luis is also very famous for its delicious see food and absolutely fantastic culture!



I have lots of friends in São Luis, this is my 7th visit to Maranhão, so I know lots of people. Marcone and I are real travellers and we research a lot about new places and suddenly talking with a firned of us, Shintia, we found out about a very faraway fishing community in the other side of the island....YES, SÃO LUIS IS AN ISLAND.

In fact...Juçatuba is so unique and so exclusive that not even people from São Luis have heard about it.

The access is quite difficult, and we had to use public transportation in a place that PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION is not that efficient, but that was the reason why the short trip to Juçatuba was sooooo amazing.

We had to take a bus to the outskirts of São Luis in a very poor area called São Cristovão, there we took another bus to Juçatuba crossing a real belt of poverty in the east side of São Luis, the way is a real view of the social situation of Maranhão. A very rich state with an up growing middle class but still with an awful grade of poverty in the outskirts of the city…but after 50 minutes we reach a very simple village with very happy and smiling people in a place with no facilities at all; and no buses to the beach and the only way was taking a dirt road (7 kilometers) to the coast.

We found the only one taxi in the community driven by the lazy Xavier…he is not punctual at all, we asked him to take to the beach and pick us up at 4:00 pm…We got there at 11:30 am and we thought that if Xavier meet us at 4:00 pm we would have enough time to explore the area. But he shown off at almost 6:00 pm.

Meanwhile we walked in the beaches of Juçatuba and Moça…lovely mangroves with a lot of marine life and bird life…very red heruns called Guará, egrets and hawks…the tide is something amazing…suddenly the beach desapppeared, the emptiness was incredible..we walked long distances in the beach with no water at all, and we found spring waters in the sand that really cooled us off, thanks with the help of a little kid who help his family collecting fish from the nets in the place.

I am a big lover of BW photos and just like so many different places in Maranhão..the mangroves of Juçatuba is a wonderful playground for my photography. Despite of the heat i could stroll around and take some images that I am very happy to share with you!!!

The tide is something soooooo interesting there and also all over Maranhão...it reminds me the tide that comes and goes in England or France, or also in New Brunswick in Canada. The sea simply vanishes!

As a result you can take beautiful photos...Juçatuba deserves a tour..one day you spend there you will elarn about the fascinating nature of Maranhão, you will be in touch with a tough reality of some brazilians and you will come across with so many different beauties and also you will learn about the local fauna.

I am glad I could also introduce a new places for the MARANHENSES and I can also provide you an unique experience in your trip to Brazil.

I am from Rio de Janeiro but more than ever I am BRAZILIAN and I am proud to show you my country!!! Maranhão is waiting for you and I will be honored to introduce you this wonderful land!

Rafael Torres Lopes

Tour Guide and Travel Planner

donrafainrio@yahoo.es