From Tambaba/ Tabatinga we went on to São Miguel do Gostoso in Rio Grande do Norte (RN). Our pre-travel research had pointed to the South of Paraiba and the North of RN as possible places to develop Suficiente. Both places are near big urban centers and appear to not have yet suffered a tourism boom that increases the real estate and business prices and often puts at risk the local ecosystems.
Coincidentally, both places are important geographical landmarks of the country. Tambaba/ Tabatinga are close to the most Eastern point of Brazil where the sun rises and sets earliest in the country. São Miguel do Gostoso on the other hand, is at the extreme North near the km ‘0’ of highway 101. Thereafter, there is no Northern and Southern coast anymore but instead Eastern and Western ones.
In São Miguel do Gostoso everything relates to its nickname – “Gostoso” (yummy in English). It is hard to not be in a good mood in a place with this name. The wind and the beauty of the region’s beaches also attract tourists. People come from all over the world to wind and kite surf, and to end the day watching the sunset at the Tourinhos beach.
Almost all beaches in Gostoso are beautiful, but Tourinhos is special and different from the other beaches we visited in the Northeast. Petrified dunes surround its crystal waters. The dunes look like gothic cliffs and are more than 2,500 years old. Impressive!
Yet, what brought us to Gostoso were not its tourist attractions. We went to Gostoso to get to know Father Fabio and his work. Before traveling, a friend had indicated Father Fabio to us as an important actor in the defense of human rights in RN. Unfortunately, when we arrived, he was, nothing more, nothing less in Belo Horizonte, our point of departure! Luckily for us, he came back a day before we left. Besides talking and laughing a lot with him, we assisted a mass he celebrated. We were filled with enthusiasm by the critical, social and contemporary content. If every mass were like this, we would certainly go more often to church.
Almost misses aside, before getting to know him personally, Father Fabio’s name opened us many doors to the community of Gostoso. Talking with the Gostosenses we discovered the history of this town and some of the reasons that differentiate this place from the majority of the places we visited in the Northeast.
The people of Gostoso walk with their heads up, pick up trash from the streets and hold the reins of the town. We think what explains this difference is a mix of things: initiatives to recover the local culture, projects around education and awareness raising about environmental issues, but also the pride to have won the independence of the municipality in recent years (1993).
We spent a week here. We learned a lot and hope to return many times. Nonetheless, we decided that the place we are looking for is not here. Gostoso does not need our help. The municipality is on the right path and its people promise to be examples for citizenship. Gostoso also does not have forest, its vegetation is bushy and the landscape semiarid framed by sand dunes.
Having fallen in love with this town, however, we hope that those who arrive there looking for opportunities in tourism will recognize that the big advantage of this town is its people, the Gostosenses. So it continues to be what it is, Gostoso has to grow together with its citizen’s and not aside them.
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