What is going on with the Brazilian currency? I can accept it is as about as stable as a house of cards in a typhoon, and that inflation is sky high, the cost of living is going up and my wages are going down, but the thing that really bugs me is the coins - they all look the same.

Of course, I am told they are being changed, but a glacial rate. For example, a random dig in my pocket reveals a handful of silver coins (obviously didn't drink as much as I thought last night), without looking closely its impossible to tell the difference between 1 cent, 10 cents, 50 cents or even 1R$. How many times do I have to fight my way to the checkout in the local supermarket only to find that the 5R$ I have are actually 5cents and I have to embarrass myself by writing a cheque for a diet coke. Or even worse - I have to ask the bemused checkout girl to write my cheque as I can't remember how to spell the numbers yet!

All this talk of Brazil going to the dogs and not having two pennies to rub together I am sure is not true - people just aren't sure of what they actually have in their pockets. And, to make matters worse, I hear that the new plastic banknotes will be introduced soon. I can hardly wait.

This month I have been hanging out at Morro Branco, a small, but beautiful beach 85 Km from Fortaleza.

It's kind of a low-key and beautiful beach which is justifiably famous for its coloured sands, or falesias, as they are known. If the light is right and if you are in a poetic mood, then its not hard to imagine the dunes, the coloured sand and the deep blue sky are something out of a movie set. If you ever get a chance to watch some Brazilian TV you, therefore, won't be surprised to see it featured on the opening credits of the Sunday TV show Fantastico, or even in the soap opera Tropicaliente which is broadcast on Globo each week.

Besides the peculiar and enchanting shapes that the wind has carved the sand into, Morro Branco also has the added attraction that the sand is beautifully coloured, from pale white, through straw yellow, to pink, and finally beige.

Apart from being aesthetically pleasing, this has also created the local tourist industry to produce little landscapes crafted from sand and sealed in bottles. Now, normally I am the first person to walk past such cheap touristy gimmicks, but at it's a little more difficult at Morro Branco for several reasons. Firstly, they are very beautiful, I can spend hours watching them being made with the craftsman using small wooden sticks to carefully add a flick of red or a dash of green. Secondly, they are very reasonably priced, and finally they make great presents for people and don't take up much space in your backpack.

There are quite a lot of friendly pousadas dotted along the coast and unless you turn up in carnavale its not really necessary to book anywhere in advance. To get there from Fortaleza is a simple drive along highway BR-116 and CE 004, which are both good solid sealed roads. Sao Benedito runs a regular bus service from the bus station (tel 256-1999) for R$3.80. They leave at 7:30am, 10:30am, 3:00pm, 7:30pm daily and 1pm and 6:30pm in the evening. The 80 km journey takes about two hours.

Questions?
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