Today we cruised into Maceio, Brazil for a “sailing tour”. It is another boat tour on a motorized schooner, typical mode of travel in Brazil. The city of Maceio is lovely, with numerous beaches that are so polluted they are closed to the public.
We took our sailing tour on the schooner “Scorpio” to a fresh water lagoon. The lagoon does have a sea opening where it mixes with saltwater during high tide. There are 9 small islands in the lagoon and it could be quite nice. We were told we could swim in the lagoon and that the water was clean. I wasn’t buying it though as it was only 10 minutes from the polluted water we just passed by and it didn’t look any cleaner to me. Another thing that strikes me as odd is there wais hardly any bird life visible. The only creatures we saw were jelly fish, and a few sea gulls. The mangroves appeared to be dying – so I am sure it is the cause and effect of the pollution. Sad, but this could be a simply gorgeous place. The beaches could be fantastic.
While on the beach portion of our boat tour I visited with a local family out enjoying a day at the beach. I really enjoyed the conversation and interaction and it was a good opportunity for the young Brazilians to practice their English. The young man told me his profession was as a fireman (sounds familiar) with 9 years on the job. He is really a Paramedic, but also does fire fighting. He was with his wife (a teacher), twin brother and sisters (seniors in high school), his mother and a couple of smaller children. It was a brief conversation with limited dialogue, but I still enjoyed the exchange. They’re just an average family, like us, enjoying life and raising a family.
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