Canoa Quebrada

Canoa Quebrada — "broken canoe" in Portuguese — grew from a small fishing hamlet, the Vila do Estevão, on the coast of Aracati. The surrounding area entered colonial history early: in 1603 Pero Coelho de Souza built a fort on the Jaguaribe river during a campaign against the French in Maranhão, and Aracati, founded in 1747, prospered from charqueadas, workshops that salted and dried beef for the cattle trade. The abolitionist raft man Francisco José do Nascimento, the Dragão do Mar, was born in Aracati.

For most of the 20th century the village was remote, home to a few fishing families who sailed jangadas. In the 1970s it was discovered by hippies, who found a beautiful, isolated place of fishermen and an Indigenous community; some stayed, married local people and raised families there. A crescent moon and star carved into the cliffs became the village's symbol.

Films brought wider attention — Canoa Quebrada was used again as a film location in 1997, for Bela Donna — and the village became one of Ceará's main tourist destinations, rated by the state tourism authority second only to Fortaleza. On 20 March 1998 Aracati created the Canoa Quebrada Environmental Protection Area to control building on the beach, dunes and cliffs, which the municipality monitors for erosion and irregular construction. Wind farms now stand on the coast nearby.

Canoa's culture mixes the old fishing community with the legacy of its hippie settlers and a steady flow of visitors from Brazil and abroad. Many local families still fish from jangadas, the wooden sailing rafts of the Ceará coast, and the rafts drawn up on the sand below the cliffs are part of the village's identity.

The hippie years left an informal, barefoot style, and the moon-and-star emblem appears on the souvenirs sold along the main street. The main street itself is officially Rua Dragão do Mar, named after the Aracati-born raft man who refused to carry enslaved people in 1881, but everyone calls it Broadway. At night residents and visitors meet there to the sound of reggae and forró, and at weekends it becomes one long street party, drawing crowds from across eastern Ceará and from neighbouring Rio Grande do Norte.

Outdoor sport shapes the rest of the day: buggy rides, sandboarding, horse riding, kitesurfing, windsurfing and paragliding from the cliff tops.

Canoa Quebrada is a district village of the municipality of Aracati, whose centre lies about 12 km inland. Tourism is the main business, and many residents work in pousadas, restaurants, bars, shops and the buggy and water-sports trade, alongside the fishermen. Foreign-born residents are increasingly common, running guesthouses and businesses.

The rhythm swings between quiet weekdays and busy weekends. Weekdays outside the January holiday season are calm; on Fridays and Saturdays visitors pour in and Broadway fills late into the night. Days begin with fishermen on the beach and end with people gathering on the dunes for the sunset.

Many basic goods are scarce or dear in the village, so residents shop in Aracati. Pressures include low wages and informal work in tourism, often without proper contracts, and the protection of the eroding cliffs and dunes from irregular building, which the municipality monitors. Wind farms on the nearby coast are part of a wider change along Ceará's shore.

Food in Canoa Quebrada is the cooking of Ceará, with fish from the sea alongside the dishes of the interior. Peixada cearense, a fish stew served with pirão, a porridge of manioc flour, is a symbol of the state's cooking. Baião de dois is rice and beans cooked together, often with queijo coalho cheese added, and carne de sol, salted sun-dried beef served with pirão, is another Ceará classic.

Tapioca, a pancake of manioc starch with sweet or savoury fillings, is an everyday snack, and the cashew fruit, abundant in Ceará, goes into sweets and drinks. Many restaurants on Broadway offer set lunches, while the beach shacks serve drinks and simpler food through the day.

The village's mixed population has added international cooking, such as Argentine-style grilled meats and steaks, to the main street. Many goods are scarce or dear in Canoa itself, so residents who live and work in the village buy much of their everyday food in Aracati, the market town inland.