Today all companies were closed,  so we went to the beach. We started with a nice bus trip towards Pipa beach and enjoyed the fabulous countryside of Rio Grande do Norte. Pipa beach is one of the most famous beaches of Brazil, because of its crystal-clear white sand. When we arrived, we quickly settled under the umbrellas to avoid sun burn.  Of course some of us went into the sea and took a dive. Luckily for us, we could also take a boat tour. During this boat tour we could relax, look at this beautiful environment and after a while, we even spotted dolphins (Atlantic Spotted dolphins).  It was really fun to watch these animals in their natural habitat. Evidently, the anchor was dropped and we could jump into the water for a swim. Swimming in this ocean was quite an experience, since the water was not cold.

When we returned to the beach we had lunch at a local restaurant near the beach and went back to the hotel. Later, we had dinner at the restaurant in our hotel and evaluated the day.

We came together at 9:30 in the hotel restaurant, where breakfast was served. We could choose from several kinds of bread and cake, breakfast cereals, eggs, all kinds of fresh fruits, juices and coffee. Since this was our first day in Natal and we did not sleep much, we decided to take it easy. We left for two shopping malls, a fifteen minute walk from our hotel. There we made sure everyone had some Brazilian Real, the local currency. We strolled around for a bit and had lunch, while enjoying a spectacular view of Natal. We returned to the hotel to enjoy the swimming pool. Subsequently, we suited up for a group picture. For dinner, we returned to the food court at the shopping mall where everyone could choose for himself. Afterwards we had some spare time.  

We all gathered on Friday morning, 6:30 in the morning at Nijmegen Central Station. After saying goodbye to our loved ones, we left by taxi bus for Schiphol Airport. We arrived there at about nine, where the final two group members joined us. After checking in and having some coffee, we boarded the plane. We left the Netherlands with a small delay, which was not a problem, since we had to wait in Lissabon for a few hours for our second flight to Natal. During that time, we walked around, had lunch and played cards. Finally we boarded the plane to Natal; a flight that would take almost seven and a half hours. Most of us kept ourselves busy by sleeping and watching internal television channels. At 23:30 local time (4:30 in the Netherlands) we landed in Natal, Brazil. We were awaited by Bruno, our local contact person and professor at the university, and his wife Simone. They had arranged a taxi bus to the Monza Palace hotel, which will be our home for the next eleven days. Tired and fatigued we arrived at 1:00 at night, so after checking in everyone went to bed to catch up on sleep.