Notes from the Nordeste From sand dunes and lagoons to sleepy villages, French singer- songwriter Vincent Delerm takes a trip to Brazil’s Nordeste. A quest for new horizons that sparks a journey back to the self. Day 1. Paris–Recife–Olinda are thinking: so this’ll be our vacation, Day 4. Fernando de Noronha Recife. The plane has landed. Dark night. just walking around streets with the Blazing sun. It’s impossible to walk bare- A ghost airport, a row of 30 ATMs. The parents taking photos? We set off in the foot on the sand. The boys watch grown- taxi drives through empty concrete devel- late afternoon, realizing that night will ups playing volleyball. Rows of parasols. opments lit by the occasional streetlight. fall early. 5:45pm. We climb a cobbled A young guy slacklining. Coconut water When we reach Olinda, the driver can’t street and see the ocean far off in the with a straw. On the way back, Sacha, find the address. He lowers the window on twilight. On the other side, the tower who’s starting junior high soon, tells me the passenger side and asks the locals. Eachblocks in Recife are bathed in mauve. that he’ll let his wife decide when it’s time there are lots of big gestures and Ok; now we feel like we’re a long way the best time to have a baby. several U-turns, and then, at last, the from home. It’s an amazing feeling. I think I see a green flash that evening, pousada. Free drink on arrival. Some but I’m not sure. unidentifiable fruit juices. We take them upDay 3. Olinda–Recife–Fernando to the room and pour them away so as not de Noronha Day 5. Fernando de Noronha to be rude. It’s low season; we’re alone inA day in transit. Waiting for the car, writ-OMG, that breakfast of flambéed the hotel. A pervasive feeling of damp. “It’sing in the room, hearing the kids goofing bananas, chocolate cake, coffee and like my sheets are sweating,” says Simon. around in the pool. Simon has a theory: pineapple juice. he never feels sick in taxis abroad; I have three helpings of everything. Day 2. Olinda therefore he doesn’t want to return to Waking up. An accordionist playing in France. We head back to Recife for our Day 6. Fernando de Noronha the house next door, seated in a plastic flight to the magnificent Fernando de Simon has put on his Neymar shirt. The armchair. A soccer ball taken out into the Noronha island and its tiny airport. guy hiring the paddleboards tells him street. Multicolored walls, run-down We drop our stuff in room 5 and run to he’s often seen the Paris Saint-Germain apartments. Mostly tiled floors, a sofa, the Bar do Meio to watch the sunset. and Seleção player here on the island. In two chairs, a fridge, a TV. A ritual phase Afterward, everyone applauds. It sends the evening we google Neymar+Fernando of the journey when you sense the boys shivers down our spines. and get a picture of the soccer idol 159