Natal is more subtle than it seems. Sure, it’s a Brazilian package-holiday destination and you’ll bump into São Paulo beach rookies around beachfront resorts like Ocean Palace and Wish—plot twist, they usually stick to the hotel pool. Sure, the most popular activity around here is dune buggy tours, basically driving through Natal’s giant sandbox in a roofless vehicle. Sure, Ponta Negra’s main avenida isn’t exactly a scenic road with its typical mix of big-box stores, malls and restaurants catering to tourists.
But forget about the traffic, beach chairs and crêpe vendors for a second. Look around.
Ponta Negra is actually beautiful.
The sky is amazing. It’s not an abstract part of the landscape but an action movie above your head—instead of drifting past quickly, clouds change shape before your eyes.
Colours are incredible as well. This corner of Brazil is somewhat dryer so you don’t see as many giant, mysterious trees as in the south, but the ocean, sky and sand offer shades you didn’t know existed. And there are palm trees, hundreds of palm trees, probably one of the most picturesque trees when there’s just a bit of wind.
Ponta Negra’s beach is kind of unique as well. Your typical urban Brazilian beach is a long stretch of sand, a sidewalk with quiosques along it, then a busy road and very, very tall buildings overlooking the ocean. But Ponta Negra’s beach is downhill so there’s none of that. Well, there is a beachfront walk but it’s fairly short—it stops at the Morro do Careca—Ponta Negra’s landmark—and at the Parque das Dunas, an entire park of… sand dunes. Instead of condos you have one- or two-storey buildings, most of them shops selling booze, swimsuits and dune buggy tours.
As for the beach itself, there’s no sand at high tide and even at low tide, there’s no dry sand. Forget about lying on your towel, everybody just rents beach chairs. It’s common to see entire families having lunch with water up to their knees.
This is particularly true at the south end of the beach, around the Morro do Careca sand dune. As you walk north, you’ll get more sand, some of it kind of dry, and fewer people.
Five years ago, when we went to Natal with baby Mark, I complained about the beach. Too small, too many vendors, too many people playing football when there’s clearly not enough room to play football! Why do Brazilians like this beach?!
I get it now. It’s fun. If you want some entertainment, pick the busy end of the beach. If not, just go a bit further, beaches are endless, and you’ll find a quiet spot.
I spent hours on the beach. Same walk, from the sand dune to Praia de Barreira Dagua, six kilometres further north, then back. Same walk, but the sky, colours and atmosphere were different every day.
“Enjoy your freedom,” Feng told me before we parted ways. It sounded very dramatic but he meant the freedom of being able to go out, not the freedom of being alone.
So I spent five days walking on the beach alone, breathing the air.
It did feel good.
