Hotel Chalet Suisse

Tipping

by madvex

Here in the US, tipping is a customary 20% of your total bill and is not included unless you have 8 or more in your party.

In Brazil, 10% tip is always included in your bill and you're not expected to leave any more. If you do - well, you'll make great friends of all the wait staff!! But, you really don't need to. Brazilians NEVER leave money on the table after paying a bill. It's just not done. This kind of extra tipping is not expected so, just pay the bill and you're all set.

If you do want to tip, place the tip directly in the hand of the person you want to give the tip to. Leaving money on a table is a sure way for it to quickly vanish into thin air the moment you turn away.

Beach Games

by akkipaa

This is for professonals only. Take a surfing board and steerable parashute. Remember, the wind is on the average from 8 to 12 m/s, so you need a lot of power to steer the system and, of course, a lot of boarding skils.

Don't try this at home!

RIO GRANDE DO NORTE - N A T A L

by schurlif

"THE CHARM AND BEAUTY OF THE NORTHEAST"

I'm not even completely sure which year it was that I travelled with my ex wife Charlotte to the Northeast , we did Maceio , Recife , Natal and Fortaleza..... And in those times I had no digital camera and was mainly shooting videos. Had my ex-wife not brought her little picture camera , I would probably not have one single picture from the trip......But like this , I scanned a few ones so you can have some ideas of Natal ( which means Christmas ) and surroundings.

During WW II there was an Allied Military base here and the Americans loved to go out dancing with the locals which was quite some mixture. Our tour guide told us this story which is typical tour guide BS for "blue eyed" tourists.... I used to be a tour guide for busloads of American tourists myself and I know you can serve them anything , they'll swallow it.... So , he continued , the Americans called these dance come together "FOR ALL .." but the Brazilians didn't understand this and soon called these mixed Brazilian-American dances with respective music : "FORRO..." , which today still is considered a typical kind of music and dance from the Northeast , distantly reminding of American Square Dancing.....
And , btw , 20 km from Natal is "Barreira do Inferno " ( Hell's Gate") , the rocket launching site of the Brazilian Air Force.
So , here , a view of the city of Natal protected by the visible coral reef and in the background the "Dunes of Natal , Genipabu" .

"THE COLORED CLIFFS"

Just like I would see such colored cliffs again 4 years later on Ilha da Croa ( Alagoas page ) , there are plenty here before you hit the beach and many artesans fill litle bottles with differently colored sand to create a pattern or even a scene inside the bottle which is then closed tightly , so not one sandcorn can move in there. These bottles with colored sand are a main tourist souvenir there just as well as in any other part of Brazil where tourists go souvenir hunting.... I also remember that not too far from where we had this picture taken there were mud pools on the beach , supposedly good for your skin ... well , we really indulged in the mud and looked like creepy monters..... Too bad I have no pics of this.....
And , btw , Natal boasts of having the biggest cashew tree of the world...... A monstrous tree spanning many , many meters in all directions and which supposedly has kilometers of roots......

"BEACH , BEACHER , BEACHEST....."

Sometimes words can be too much.... so just look at this Rio Grande do Norte beach , just one out of many , one more beautifull than the next.....
I believe this might be Praia da Pipa but I can't really remember .
I remember though that near this beach , protected by a high coral reef , in totally calm waters I tried out jet skiing for the first and only time in my life.......

OK , OK , no more bla bla from me , just look at this beach and enjoy......