When Belgian chef Hervé Witmeur first set foot in Barra Grande, Piauí, it was still an almost inhospitable beach, where few tourists, like him, ventured out to sail or practice kitesurf, a sport that spread the beach around the world.
This is because, more than ten years ago, the coast of Piauí, with its little more than 60 km in length (the smallest in Brazil), was almost unknown to travelers. It developed with the arrival of foreigners who fell in love with the paradisiacal landscape and decided to settle there, open businesses and start a new life.
Wilmer opened his La Cozinha in 2012, when the village center didn’t even have five restaurants — today, there are more than 20. “It was a risky bet to leave my father’s restaurant in Brussels to start a project here”, he says.
In the beginning, there were not a few days when customers were rare. “But, as time went by, Barra Grande conquered a network of loyal tourists, who came and went and recommended the village to friends.”
Much of this is due to the ability of the place to remain preserved while many other coastal destinations in the country have gained an almost predatory flow of tourism by becoming “fashionable places”.
In Barra Grande, many of the characteristics of the quiet coastline, but with a lot of wind and coconut groves, have remained, from nature to rustic architecture, even with the gradual growth of businesses around them — most of them run by foreigners, but increasingly by from São Paulo and Brazilians from other states.
With this in mind, Witmeur has also transformed La Cozinha into a guesthouse, with six comfortable bungalows and a pool area that have been added to the restaurant, where he merges traditional French techniques and local flavors.
With his wife Marie and two small children, he made Barra Grande his home and, over the years, began to invest more in the region. In addition to a fashion goods store, they also leased land in partnership with a friend to create an organic farm that feeds the inn and restaurants (he also runs Éllo, in Jericoacoara, three hours away).
“For us, it was first a necessity, since, due to the difficult access, it was difficult to find even simple ingredients here, such as coriander”, he recalls. In two and a half years, the La Reserva farm, focused on agroecology and permaculture, has already produced regional fruits, vegetables and greens.
There are about 900 species cultivated in 14 hectares near the Parnaíba River, from soursop to acerola (very popular in the region), among citrus and many types of vegetables. The moringa and turmeric plantations also made the couple expand their business: today they produce essential oils and natural capsules with the “superfoods”.
The investments helped to promote the region. On the farm, in the inn and in the restaurant, the Witmeur employ around 40 people, many of them local. This is the case of bartender Marcelino Chaves de Araújo, who decided to return to Barra Grande after working in the civil construction area in São Paulo.
Or the driver Juscelino da Penha Santos, who had never worked in the service sector before joining the team at La Cozinha. “In the past, jobs around here were basically in the City Hall or in some shops that existed in the village. Today, hundreds of people from the region work in Barra Grande”, he says.
The increase in tourists there also helped to leverage other regions of the Piauí coast, from Cajueiro da Praia (where Barra Grande is) to Luís Correia, in the Parnaíba River Delta, which receives walks along the streams and small “sheets” of sand, and where it is possible to see monkeys, alligators and multicolored birds of different species.
Another mandatory tour in the region is the visit to the seahorses. In a buggy through the soft sand, tourists arrive at the edge of the Camurupim River, where a canoe transports them through the mangrove to the huge shoals.
The canoeists dive and return to the surface with the animals inside small glass pots, which are transferred to small aquariums where they can be admired. At the end of the tour, the seahorses return to the water.
In recent years, in addition to investments by the local government in tourist infrastructure through the Pró Piauí program, constant flights to Parnaíba (70 km away) and to the new Jericoacoara airport (170 km away) helped make the Piauí coast a destination every increasingly sought after.
“Before, the low season was really low. Today, we have tourists almost all year round”, says Witmeur. The kitesurfing season runs from August to December, when the winds are strong and constant and practitioners of the activity fill the inns.
Rains are more common from February to May, with fewer tourists, although holidays like Easter, for example, have become more popular in recent years. “Barra Grande has also become a destination for rest and contemplation with the pandemic, as it is a very quiet area”, he explains.
The contact with nature and the recent “rediscovery” of the Northeast also helped to boost the search for Piauí. “Social networks also gave a big boost, helping to give visibility to a region that few people knew”, suggests doctor Elias Moreira, who has just opened an event space with coffee in Barra Grande.
He worked in the village as an on-call worker in 2005, and since then he had decided that one day he would return to invest in something there. “It’s the perfect time because the coast of Piauí is gaining more fans”, he bets.
The new influx of tourists —especially those coming from São Paulo—is helping to place Barra Grande on the wish list of Brazilians as well. “There is a unique combination of natural beauty, perfect climate and hospitality of the people of Piauí that makes people fall in love with here”, he concludes. “Now that I’m back, I don’t go out anymore.”
