Jauá

This is the house and appartment in Jauá which is about 25 minutes drive North of Salvador airport, the area was part of a farm nicknamed the Grillo, the name for large grasshoppers or cricket, although really there would have been very little here for one to farm, the area 40 years ago was still a virgin beach with coconut trees and then mangrove and sand dunes. The photo of the appartment over the garages shows the view inland with white dunes and the area between the house and the dunes is still a slow flowing river, although here it is called a lagoá (lake) and has fish as well as large snakes living in and around it.
When I first arrived here in jauá, during 2000 I think, there was less housing and my house along with neighbours had more trees which gave cover and food for several families of small monkies, sadly I and others have found it necessary to cutdown a lot of the almond trees in order to reduce the mosquito population and get more ventilation across the gardens. This as also cut out the sight of vaga lume (glow worms) which where often present at night fall in the trees and bushes (I suppose the litoral translation of the insect is vague or spare light).
The sea here still is reasonable rich in marine life but that too is gradually deminishing as the tourist trade is starting to grow, mainly with local Brazilians and those that have family or friends in the South of Brazil. Some 50 kilometres to the North of Jauá is the eco resort, another name for anywhere that caters for the rich, of Praia da Forte, the names is the give away in that the coast here was once lined with forts to protect the coast line and there is the remains there of a very small fort. The attraction now is the Tamar project which was set up to protect the beach area for the breeding tartarugas (sea turtles). There is also there a large resort and now a small town as developed to cater for the vast number of European tourists, the German, Dutch and Belgium visitors are especially keen on Brazil for its nature and flowers and seem to send a lot of university lecturers on fact finding tours which include the interior of Bahia as well as the Amazon.