Étienne M.
This was probably my worst experience in nine months travelling around South America. My friends and I felt cheated and treated like we didn't matter. I understand people want to earn commission, but it just kept happening here. Even when we asked for a cheap pizzeria, the guy took us to what I think was the city's most expensive one, where a small pizza cost around 35 reals. Just 20 meters away, there was a cheap, delicious place with a regular pizza for 19,99. Why not be honest and helpful? Be careful about the prices for tours to the lencois parc. They tried to sell us things at prices I felt were up to ten times too high, and said some areas were dangerous when, in my view, you could go by yourself. For the atins to campo to atins section, they claimed you couldn't go on your own because the mangrove was far from the road, but it's just a road near the beach. Check prices with other hostels so you don't get treated like a walking wallet. Please don't go with Brendon, the "guide". He only speaks Portuguese, not espanol or ingles, and didn't make an effort to be friendly or explain anything. He seemed like a local guy accompanying the tour, and I think you could do the same with an offline GPS map and save a lot of money. We also asked Roger, the receptionist, to book a minibus for four people to Paulino neves at 3am, so we could catch the bus to jericoacoara. We paid 40 reals each, then waited until 4:30am for a crowded collectivo. Roger said it would take us to the minibus, but it never did. The collectivo took us all the way to paulino neves, and the other people in it had paid 20 reals each. I felt Roger lied and cheated us, took no responsibility, and acted unprofessionally. I also thought he cared more about his commission than helping us, and suspected he had personal problems with substances. That doesn't excuse how he treated us. Paying to stay at a hostel shouldn't mean being treated that way.
