Coroa Vermelha

To start Coroa Vermelha has the best beach on the north coast of the discovery coast, this coast of Bahia, which begins at its southern end in Caraíva , divides in two from Buranhem River < in Porto Seguro, and continues north ending in the town of Belmonte . That is to say that of the beaches located north of the Buranhem River , between Porto Seguro and Belmonte , there is none that has the beauty and cultural appeal that Coroa Vermelha has.

Playa cercana a la cruz de Coroa Vermelha

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I met Coroa almost by chance on a trip during 2001, I was impressed by the beauty of its beaches and the limited tourism exploitation in the area, the reason that prevented Coroa from escaping the gold rush of real estate speculation that lurked the neighboring beaches south of Porto Seguro(in particular Arraial d'Ajuda and Trancoso ) was simple: no white, and when I say white I use the term used in the zone to refer to all those who do not belong to the original Pataxó tribe, could own land in the entire area surrounding the beaches, which basically meant that the whole area potentially more attractive for tourism, could not be exploited, since it was under the restrictions established as an area reserved for the original inhabitants of the region.

playa principal de Coroa Vermelha

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These natives of the Pataxó tribe were the descendants of those who inhabited the south of the bay when the Portuguese "discovered" Brazil; the present Indians lived in the zone according to their traditions and little they knew of tourist operation by the way.

playa principal de Coroa Vermelha lado sur

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It was common to see in those times posters in the bars that alerted the "white" bar owners on the route that links Porto Seguro with Cabrália , that the sale of alcoholic beverages to the Indians would be punished with severe penalties. It was clear that for the then authorities the Indians were there occupying a territory that, although it belonged to them historically, they did not have enough power to keep safe from the greed that surrounded them on all sides; and that those who were losing their fortunes would not cease to bury them in vice and expel them to the infernal heat of the arid interior of Bahia.

Niños en bicicleta cerca de la aldea indígena

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That was in the year 2001 and what one saw walking across the indigenous village towards the beaches of Coroa Vermelha was something that hardly any traveler could imagine just 15 kilometers from one of the most popular destinations in Brazil as it was and is Porto Seguro .

India y bebe en campo de fútbol

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I remember walking to the beach crossing the village and I felt that I had suddenly entered another country, the area was foreign or everything I knew about Brazil and its beaches; blocks and blocks by the sea in an area of ​​remarkable natural beauty, occupied instead of hotels and luxury inns, by a simple village and by people living in almost primitive conditions integrated into nature.

fútbol en la aldea indígena al atardecer

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That remained so for a while, but little by little, people who could not believe or accept that this place was not exploited tourism as it should, began to see small traps to bite portions of paradise Pataxó .

Soon one began to see how beach restaurants appeared with Italian owners, who had previously married Indian women to stop being "white" and have rights over the land; and the zones between the main route and the sea, once in the hands of the Indians, were populated without pause of inns whose owners of Indians had nothing.

The law and the border of the indigenous land changed constantly, and perverted by the money of the whites, the Indians retreated into the increasingly small strip of land on the seashore, which by law they could not sell to anyone who was not a resident. original.

So to this day, when reality contrasts significantly with respect to 2001. Today Coroa beach is uniformly saturated with beach bars, the main village outside the indigenous land, has restaurants and inns of all levels like any other beach of the region, and evangelist churches proliferate like mushrooms in the humidity.

The Indians now drink as much as the whites, and the inconceivable abundance of churches, allows to deduce an inexplicable emotional state, in people who live in a place whose nature would be the panacea of ​​any stressed inhabitant of a great city.

Despite these contrasts with the past, and above all in comparison with other famous destinations in the surroundings, Coroa Vermelha remains a much less privatized place and contaminated by the evils that often accompany mass tourism.

It is still possible to see the indigenous children running behind a ball in a humble soccer field a few meters from the sea, on a land that foreigners are still looking at with a calculating hand.

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