Kitesurfing atBrazil

Some 130 kilometres east of Fortaleza, at the end of the road through Beberibe, Parajuru stakes everything on a vast, tide-ruled lagoon. At high water it turns to glass and a river arm stays flat come what may; further out the chop gives way to small waves. The trade wind, onshore to side-onshore, always brings you back to the bank — flat water built for freestyle, and forgiving to the beginner on a low tide.

Parajuru sits at the end of the CE-040, the road running east out of Fortaleza and through Beberibe. Its whole character comes down to the lagoon: a body of water the tide reshapes hour by hour, with that river arm holding a flat strip even when everything else stirs. Out toward the sea, the chop and small waves are a reminder that this is very much the Atlantic. You come to Parajuru first and foremost for its flat water and the steadiness of its trade wind.