Friday, November 11, 2011
Cumbuco's white sand beaches, dotted with coconut palms, run for miles
Dear Reader,
West of Fortaleza on Brazil's northeast coast, wide white-sand beaches stretch to the horizon. You can drive for hours along these beaches. Charming fishing villages with cobbled streets and well-maintained town centers sit just off the beach.
I don't like to pick favorites. But, along this coast there's a little beach town so special it deserves to be singled out.
That's little Cumbuco.
The pace of life in Cumbuco is slow...but funky, active and energetic. The streets are lined with little fishermen's homes. Blooming flowers spill over freshly painted exteriors. For a playground, the kids have miles of beach and a soccer ball. The beach is also mum and dad's workshop, where they repair fishing nets and touch up the paint on their fishing boats.
For neighbors, the fishermen's homes have Italian restaurants, a German grill, a trendy kite surfing shop and beach bars where bronzed adventurers come to enjoy caipirinhas at sunset to the soft melodies of chill out tracks.
If you are looking for a beach, second or retirement home this is a place that should be on your shortlist. This is the type of beach town I'd expect to find way off the beaten track. Like the ones I saw in Thailand over a decade ago. A place beautiful enough to draw an eclectic mix of residents and visitors from far afield. But usually places like this are too secret, or too far off the beaten track to grab the attention of the mainstream.
But in this little beach town we are only thirty minutes from downtown Fortaleza with her shiny boardwalk. Fortaleza is a first world city of three million people. Fortaleza plays host to more domestic tourists than anywhere in Brazil....more than three million last year...and tourist numbers are growing strongly.
Standing on the white sand beach at Cumbuco (where I have seen baby turtles take their first staggering steps towards the water) if you look to your right, you can see Fortaleza's glimmering skyline. The international airport is 35 minutes away.
This would be a great place to have a beach home. I would build my beach home here.
And, it gets better. Property in Cumbuco doesn't come with sticker shock price tags. You can still find opportunities like this one.
On the western edge of the village of Cumbuco, you'll find a charming little gated beach community called Summerville. Here, you are five minutes by beach buggy (that's the easiest way to get around) from the center of the village. You are also close to a new five-star resort, where you could pay over $400 a night for a room.
Large, luxury houses are complete or under construction in this community. The landscaping is top-class. Amenities include a pool, tennis courts, soccer field and clubhouse. The community sits alongside the beach so you have direct beach access.
The infrastructure and amenities are already in. Lots here start at 72,000 reals ($41,672).
Each time I have visited Cumbuco since my first visit just over three years ago I am greeted by new parks, trendy beachfront bars, kite surfing shops and posadas. But Cumbuco is still a charming little town with a laid-back feel. Development within the village is tightly controlled: There will be no intrusive high-rises.
I expect Cumbuco will keep this feel even as development comes.
Contact Daniel and Hanna here. They are my go-to contacts on the ground in Cumbuco.
Ronan McMahon
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