A day at the beach in Brazil
The dead of winter in the northern hemisphere is a great time to think about a day at the beach in Brazil! And I have tips for the best ways to spend a day of sun, surf, food and beverages at one of Brazil’s many stunning beaches. It may seem like an activity so obvious that you wouldn’t need specific input: drive to beach, park, put down a towel and set up an umbrella, apply SPF lotion. Why would you need help with that?
The key to a day at the beach in Brazil is the barraca. The literal translation is a tent, a shack, a shed. Barracas are much more than shacks and they are the ideal place to spend a beautiful day at the shore, especially on Brazil’s Northeast coast. The nordeste begins with the huge state of Bahia, then following up the coast northward to Sergipe, Alagoas, Pernambuco, Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte, Ceará, Piauí and Maranhão just below the mouth of the Amazon. The most popular beaches are dotted with restaurants featuring tables on the sand with umbrellas and an outdoor shower made available to customers. This is the barraca. For most barracas the price of entry is simply buying food and drink; there’s rarely an additional charge though that does occur sometimes. If you’re told there’s a fee outside of just buying food and beverages, drive on and check out other options as you’ll no doubt find places that don’t charge.
Barracas can be simple and funky, up to chic and expensive—that’s where an upcharge usually occurs. Even the simplest barraca offers a place to spend the day at the water’s edge, leisurely eating and drinking. Locals will be able to recommend the best ones in the area, though beware of people promoting a particular restaurant in return for a kickback. Look for a clean and tidy place, simple or otherwise, nearby parking, and take a look at the menu.
Cabana da Ximbica, a lovely barraca in Itacaré, Bahia.
If there doesn’t seem to be a table available, take heart. They set up the outdoor area every morning and break it down at night, and there’s usually another table and umbrella (or more than one if you are with a larger group) and they’ll set it up for you upon request. So don’t just look at the place and decide it’s full. Even if you don’t speak Portuguese you can gesticulate with a smile and make yourself understood.
A few rules of the road: don’t take your own cooler and food, buy from the restaurant. And many barracas have rules about bringing your own sound system, which is a good thing. Enjoy the provided music in peace without the cacophony of a lot of people with their own mini boom speakers. The soundtrack to the barraca is usually old school samba and bossa nova.
“Private sound prohibited in this area. Please do not insist!”
First order of business: beverages. I highly recommend água de coco, coconut water served right out of the chilled coconut. This usually involves hacking off the top of the coconut with a machete and poking a hole for a straw. Beach vendors with rolling carts on fat inflated wheels will perform this operation before your eyes, but if you are at a barraca they will prepare one for you behind the scenes. In recent years it’s become de rigeur at nicer places to serve the coconut in a fancy holder.
Água de coco
Of course the usual carbonated drinks, called refrigerantes, are always available, including Coca-Cola and orange soda called Fanta.
Beer is a perennial favorite and perfect for a day at the beach. Various traditional brands, as well as some of the up-and-coming local craft beers will be served in one liter bottles, kept cold inside an insulated sleeve. The wait staff will put it down on the table and pop it open with that satisfying “shh” sound, then pour it into your glass.
Other options are the refreshing caipirinha: muddled limes, crushed ice, sugar and the ubiquitous cachaça, cane liquor that definitely lives up to the term “firewater.” Of course don’t drink and drive, especially because the alcohol level tolerated by highway police is zero.
You will want to begin with petiscos, various varieties of nibbles. French fries, fried mandioca (manioc/yucca root), fritters of bacalhau (dried cod) or dried beef, pastel (small hand pie) of meat, seafood or cheese, battered fried squid (lula) and shrimp grilled as a kebab, boiled or steamed. Seafood is always served with lime wedges for squeezing—just beware lime’s phytophotochemical effect: if you have lime juice on your skin and expose it to sunlight, it will leave a dark area of hyperpigmentation that will last for months!
After snacking, head for the ocean to cool off, but plan ahead for your main meal so the kitchen has time to prepare it. Options include grilled or fried whole fish, which will be presented to you before preparation upon request. In the nordeste the Bahian seafood stew called moqueca will usually be on offer, made with coconut milk, shrimp, fish or both. At some barracas they will invite you to sit inside for your main meal; others are set up to provide all service outside.
Fresh fish presented before preparation. Photo permission given by our lovely server at Cabana da Ximbica, Itacaré, southern Bahia state.
Fish prepared, full meal at the water’s edge, Cabana da Ximbica.
Moqueca of fish and shrimp
There are always an endless series of itinerant vendors that stop by your table with everything from cocadas (coconut candy) to lace tablecloths to cangas (beach sarongs) to hats. Here are some photos of vendors on the beaches in the southern part of Bahia state.
Have clothes to sell, will travel!
Cocada vendor with his wares. Permission given.
Hats for sale. Permission given.
A day at a barraca on one of Brazil’s northeastern beaches is a little slice of heaven. I guarantee your cares will melt away and your happiness will increase. As the signs say: Perto do mar a gente é mais feliz. Near the ocean, we are more happy.
Beach philosophy, Brazil style.