“And you should go to something-something praia!”
The bus driver is the friendly and enthusiastic kind. I’m listening carefully because local tips are precious. However, I don’t make him repeat the name of the beach I didn’t catch. Brazilians name-drop beaches except the melhor praia do mundo is invariably very far and very remote. There’s absolutely no chance I can get there.
“And don’t buy fish!”
But, but… why? I love fish! In fact, I eat fish pretty much every day here. Fresh fish, pasta and veggies topped with Parmesan cheese is my to-go dinner.
“What’s wrong with the fish?”
“Well, buying fish is a waste of money. You can just fish. That’s what I do. That’s what everybody does. I’d never buy fish at the supermarket!”
And so I arrived in Maceió with:
- A stranger’s sweater (unlikely to be useful for my stay considering it’s around 30⁰C here)
- Not a clue on how to start fishing, clinging to the faint hope I could still get fish at the comida a kilo and nobody will laugh at me
- A cryptic Airbnb address, the “Time” building.
Finding the “Time” took some time but in fact, it was right in front of us, it’s just that both the taxi driver and I didn’t notice the tiny sign.
I hope he is better at fishing than at finding addresses.
Nice new building, I even had to give my fingerprints because that’s how you unlock the turnstile to the elevator—not super pandemic-friendly, so there’s a giant bottle of hand sanitizer just beside it, and of course, the sensor is coated in álcool gel so it doesn’t work very well.
I had a very good time (no pun intended) in Maceió last year so I was happy to be back. Tall coconut trees, long calm-water beaches, a very walkable seafront and plenty of outdoor eateries—good place to hide during a pandemic, right?
