Blogs from Maranhão, Brazil, South America - page 3

The Parque Nacional Lençóis Marenhenses covers a huge area (1,600 sq Km) of sand dunes on the Atlantic coast. During the rainy season (May to August) multiple lagoons of fresh water are formed which gives spectacular views, especially when taking a sightseeing flight. In short it is a desert with millions of lagoons! We arrived in the dry season (November), however we were lucky as the previous rainy season had been exceptionally wet so not all lagoons were dried up. The main access town to the park is Barreirinhas, a 4 hour drive from São Luis. We were told that once there, a multitude of travel agencies were offering their services to visit the park or to go on a 4x4 trip. We wanted something more authentic and decided to go to Santo Amaro do Maranhão ... read more

Suite a Olinda, nous avons repris le bus pour Sao Luis, ville sur le Nord du Bresil. Pour la petite histoire, les Francais ont cree la ville en 1612 et se sont fait virer pas les Portugais, qui voulaient le Bresil pour eux seuls! Bref, ancienne ville coloniale aux portes de l Amazone, l´architecture de certains batiements du centre rappelle la periode coloniale, mais le melange avec les batiments en ruines d´a cote n´offre pas un spectacle tres ravissant. En gros, je n´ai pas trop aime cette ville.. Trop chaud et humide, rien de special a visiter si ce n´est que les classiques magasins d´artisanats et la ville est sale. Malgre tout, certaines personnes que nous avons rencontrees ont aime Sao Luis! Au depart, on voulait aller au parc national Lençóis Maranhenses mais trop contraignant par ... read more

I know it's an odd title but it's the best I could come up with. The Parque Nacional Lencois de Maranhenses is literally at the end of the road, to keep going east from here - which is what we wanted to do - needs off road 4x4's, plenty of time, a lot flexibility and tons of patience. We don't have some of these so went on a long day trip from Sao Luis, it was a good decision and well worth the travel time, the place is sensational. After a 5am !!!!! start we got to Barreirinhas where we transferred to a Toyota Bandeirante 4x4 for the last 15km to the park entrance. After a few km we came to a long, sandy uphill climb which needed the low 4 wheel drive setting, unfortunately the ... read more

Jean Marc and I got picked up by the taxi at the hostel and 4 hours later we arrived in Sao Luis, we got dropped off at a nice Hostel called Pousada Lagoon in the new part of town, recommended by Jean Marc's friend, a little misunderstanding there, JM thought he will stay with him in his house but he booked us a hostel instead, nevertheless quite good for the 30 reais per person price, and has wifi and en suite toilet. We freshened up then walked the town, the new part that is, quite busy as we walked down the waterfront, loud music blaring, lots of people drinking in makeshift bars in a parking lot, big booming speakers in the streets, seems like there is a party going on this weekend, this being Sunday its ... read more

So without the constant barrage of the senses of the historic district, the culture shock has subsided substantially. Today I was really able to just sit back and appreciate the beauty of this place and really kind of fall in love with it. A friend we made had a car and drove us around town a little and to the train station to check on ticket prices to Belem. (yeah we changed plans and will probably take a train on saturday) It was nice to just sit and ride and listen to some music while watching the scenery pass. It had a feeling of normalcy and allowed me to just soak it all in. I wasn't trying to figure anything out or find anything or get a seat on the bus or try to hold on ... read more