Episode #123: The Fight for Trancoso

The village of Trancoso, Brazil is located not very far from where Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral first reached the South American continent in 1500, yet it remained mostly undisturbed for centuries. It wasn’t until the the 1970s when a group of eccentric newcomers arrived by walking there for hours along the beach from Porto Seguro. The biribandos, as they were called, were hippies, free spirits from São Paulo and beyond, who fused their bohemian lifestyle with local traditions and for decades were left alone.

Around the turn of the millennium, after roads and electricity had been established, the world started to catch on. Trancoso was splashed on the pages of glossy travel magazines, who called it the next Tulum, even though no one there wanted that. As the pandemic arrived, more people moved in and developers began snatching up property, and putting pressure on the fragile infrastructure.

Yet, those who have made a life here are fighting back. They are holding inclusive events like the Organic Festival (the next edition is September 23-27, 2026) and trying to preserve a ring of small farms and sustainable fishing that completely surrounds the village to make gastronomy a centerpiece of how the community lives and works.

This on location report speaks with and interviews those that live and work in the community, taking in the sounds of the birds and waves, and listening to the music in the air, alongside my own narration of my experiences.

For additional reported episodes like this one, listen to our episodes from Barranquilla, Colombia and Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland":