http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/davinbrazil/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from davinbrazil en-us Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:58:54 +0000 Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:58:54 +0000 I'm back from a week in the Lenis Maranhenses national pak. It was simply stunning. My first access to it was from the town of Barreirinhas where I paid for a tour. I was pretty disappointed though as they didn't let you stay in the dunes for long you were in too big a group and some of the tourists were just annoying. Most of them were from southern Brazil and two middleaged guys said aft http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Maranh%E3o/S%E3o-Luis/blog-401966.html As previously mentioned I am now in So Luis State of Maranho.The city founded by the French in the early 17th Century in honour of medieval king Saint Louis was taken over a few years later by the Portuguese. It now has a rundown colonial look which is quite pleasant when combined with the laidback atmosphere of the historical center which can be admired with a reggae background So Luis http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Maranh%E3o/S%E3o-Luis/blog-399961.html Up North up North up North That is what I have been up to lately.I left Lenis for Salvador and from there took a bus to Natal higher up on the coast. Upon arrival I took a bus to Praia da Pipa which had the reputation for being a chilled out discrete little resort almost 3 hours out of town. I was a little disappointed unfortunately. It had been overbuilt during the last decade and now s http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Maranh%E3o/S%E3o-Luis/blog-398990.html I have now moved on Time was ticking on and I felt like I wanted to know more more of Brazil before I returned to Europe. I left Lenis with regret however and will keep a wonderful memory of it and its people in my mind. I took a 7 hour bus ride to Salvador and left almost straight away for Natal much further up North on a 21 hour bus ride and from there another 3 hours to Praia da Pipa. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-Grande-do-Norte/Pipa/blog-397371.html Lucky you You'll get treated with a second blog entry todaySimply because I also wanted to put up pictures of the walk I did today. Yesterday naturally I was exhausted and did nothing as I had been checking in guests in the middle of the night. Today however I decided I would finally manage to reach the Sossego waterfall. I had already tried to reach it before but by following the riverbed http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Len-is/blog-395732.html The day before yesterday that is straight after our return from the failed attempt to reach the Michilla waterfall the same group and guides went off to explore the Lapo cave. By then I had got to know much better the other members of the group who were truly interesting and entertaining caracters Filipe from Portugal had grown up in Namibia and had also studied in Germany Ines his Sloven http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Len-is/blog-395723.html Yesterday I left on what was supposed to be a 2 to 3 day trek into the national park. It started well with a decent amount of sun and a lovely shower under the 35m high Capivar waterfall. However it rained quite a bit during the night and much more in the morning with no end of it in sight so we decided it would be better to backtrack. I enjoyed it though. The capivar was a lovely waterfa http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Len-is/blog-394968.html I'm back Unfortunately the walk only lasted 3 days as a couple in the group had to return early to So Paulo early. Pity but it was worthwhile nonetheless.It was quite testing actually. Long walking days including large parts walking on very steep slopes of mud or wet clay offering numerous opportunities for falling on your backside which I took full advantage of. We also had to cross river http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Len-is/blog-393068.html I should really feel ashamed of my current blogging performance. My latest entry was on the 31st March and was really uninformative. I will do my best to make up for it.I am still truly enjoying Lenis. Its small size allows one to meet many of its inhabitants in a short period of time and to soon call it home whilst its cosmopolitanism a large part of the population came from other parts of B http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Len-is/blog-391695.html It's been a long break since my last post. Not that I have been doing strictly nothing but prehaps nothing worthy of a fullscale article. And you wait you wait for something important to happen but only mondane events have punctuated the last few weeks. This article will not have an overarching theme but will rather be a little collection of some of the as I have said rather banal things http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Len-is/blog-386470.html Today contrasting with yesterday's rather depressing note here are pictures I took at the Orchid Centre right near Lenis. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Len-is/blog-382579.html It's the third day since a fire was set off in the forest across the Ribero River almost certainly intentionally. According to Roy Funch's excellent guidebook to the Chapada Diamantina there are many reasons why this occurs. Often they are due to cattle farmers who want to extend pastures for their animals or simply as a gratuitous act of vindication against the National Park which expelled http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Len-is/blog-381716.html Today I have mustered the energy to write just a few residual thoughts from my overall tripI have now been in Brasil for over 2 months Parabens congratulations in Brazilian to myselfAs for this blog through which I intended to convey my thoughts and impressions on top of news of my whereabouts I'm fairly happy with it. It is difficult to make very regular updates and laziness often takes http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Len-is/blog-381452.html Today you will get a treat of Lenis history along with photos of the little walk I just did up to the cachoeirinha and the cachoeira da primaveira for which I didn't need a guide as it was only about an hour away. I managed to take a few too many you may think pictures of lizards and dragonflies on the way.Lenis was founded in the mid19th Century by diamond prospectors when precious ston http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Len-is/blog-380234.html Here are photos of a few more sights around Lenis.Otherwise I thought I talk a little bit about the Portuguese language today.For whoever knows a decent amount of Spanish Portuguese is pretty easy to pick up at a basic level. In fact simply speaking Spanish with a Brazilian pronunciation will probably get you quite far. Naturally speaking properly requires quite a lot more work. I'll try to http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Len-is/blog-379630.html Now that I have got a translation gig in Lenis lovely little town in the centre of Bahia and free accomodation I can explore the surrounding Chapada Diamantina National Park. The pictures here are of a place called Pratinha about 70km from town deep in the park but I got a lift off a couple of Brazilian tourists. It has lovely but cool clear waters within which you can snorkel with the http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Len-is/blog-377904.html Yesterday I arrived at the pousada in Lenis.As I walked around the garden this is what I saw...PS my camera is really not ideal for these kinds of pictures but I did my best.PS2 The first computer I used to upload my photos was too long and then the website crashed so I feel really stupid writing this for the third time... http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Len-is/blog-377384.html Further apologies for the lack of news but last week was carnaval and that is in Brazil an excuse for absolutely anything.Salvador carnaval is different from the stereotype of the Brazilian samba folly that is generally seen from outside the country. Here there is almost no samba. Instead they have Trios Eletricos. The concept started in the 1940s' when two musicians Dod and Osmar got the i http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Len-is/blog-377071.html It's been a few days since I've written anything personal so if you've been wanting more news about me then you're in luck because I got robbed againNothing bad though. I was walking back home in my street when a couple of probably 15 to 16 year olds pegged me to a wall told me to give them money and without politely waiting for an answer went straight to my pocket. Luckily they only stol http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Salvador/blog-374588.html Today I wanted to talk about a film I saw a few weeks ago Tropa de Elite.Synopsis In a Rio de Janeiro riddled with violence the corrupt conventional police appears incapable of fighting drug cartels and gangs in the favela. This is where enters the BOPE Batalho de Operaes Policiais Especiais Batalion of Special Police Operations. Captain Nascimento of the BOPE wants to retire but in or http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Salvador/blog-372404.html