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Published: March 5th 2007
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Day 25 - Day 29
Lencois is the prettiest of the old diamand mining towns in Chapada Diamantina, six hours inland from Salvador. It is a mountainous wooded oasis in a dusty landscape. The little town is charming with cobbled streets, brightly painted 19th C buildings in between lush green hills. The surrounding area is full of caves, waterfalls, and amazing views - a perfect place to see the opposite of surf-sand Brazil!!
Arriving in Lencois at 5am, we were picked up by a friend of a friend and driven to the pousada which was surrounded by flowers - and loads of pretty butterflies! Walking around the town was extremely hot, with no sea breeze, but really nice with lots of cafes and bars - so we cooled down with some acai, and the so far the nicest pineapple juice we´ve had!!
To ease ourselves into the trekking culture and to see some of the local landscapes, we did a one day trek with Yuri, our energetic and enthusiastic but easy going guide! We saw sand caves and mulitcoloured rocks, with waterfalls and natural pools to cool off in. We were a little tired after this little trek,
which was to be nothing in comparison to the big trek deep into the Chapadra Diamantina we would embark on the next day!
Trekking day 1.
Well rested and packed up, complete with 3 days food, sleeping bags, torches, and cachaca we set off in the early morning heat which would only get hotter, up up and far away into the national park. Our first mission was to climb "posionous hill" in 35 degrees heat - it was hot, steep and a bit of a killer, hence the name and the only water we had was even hotter!! However there were elements of fun, like when we passed the "slippery rock" and went for a slide! The trek this day seemed to be never-endingly uphill in a very dry and dusty landscape with cactus and razor blade grass to pass through. After about 5 hours, thankfully we stopped to take our breath at the top of one of many mountains, and thankfully the view was well worth the strenuous trek and our guides made some well deserved lunch!! Once refueled, the rest of the day before it went dark, was a steep downhill climb though the valley up and
over and down rock and various other obstacles, the guides were very experienced, which was lucky as to the untrained eye there didn´t seem to be an obvious trail. At dusk we arrived at a really beautiful round shaped layered dombed waterfall and natural pool, which was atiny bit of heaven at this point in the trek as we were sweaty, tired, aching and desperate to refresh ourselves. Despite being rainy season, there was not much of a fall, but more of heavy shower (see pic!!) and the pool was a deep dark reddy/orange colour, from the minerals in the rock, a little like blood actually when the sun shined on it - who knows what was lurking in the water, but it was still a nice swim! Our bed for the night was a large rock next to the river, after a few caiparinha´s and tasty pasta dish cooked on a home-made fire, we fell asleep staring at the millions of stars above us!!!
Trekking day 2.
Bright and early, after a interesting nights sleep, complete with croaking frogs, flying bats and other strange sounds in the night on a sloping bit of rock, fed and packed up
we set off into the valley again. First stop at one of many beautiful natural pools was the morning bath! Hours later, after a near miss with with a silver sword snake, we arrived at "Monkey Cave" where many a diamond miner had spent a night, where we too would sleep this night. After lunch, we left the bags in the safety of the cave and trekked along the river bed which due to the lack of rain was almost dried up so easy to walk up and over its many boulders, to the bottom of the "Fumaca" waterfall. We stood, swam and gazed up in total awe at the 420meter rock formation above us! Unfortunately the usual famous "smoke waterfall" wasn´t smoky at all because of the lack of rain but was impressive all the same! Dinner that night was another tasty pasta dish with red wine and caipainha´s and we were tucked up in our sleeping bags in the cave by the time it went dark!
Trekking day 3.
Though we adjusted quite well to the outdoor life, monkey cave´s lack of flat and bump free ground to sleep on was taking its toll and we were
pretty knackered! However thanfully this morning the sun wasn´t so bright and we welcomed the clouds! Today was threatening to be the most demanding and difficult of all three days! Monkey Hill was widely feared and our guides had warned us about the nature of this hill - named monkey hill because you literally have to climb on hands and knees like a monkey in the trees, grabbing, clinging on to and jumping between rocks!!! Although it was hard, the days prior had trained us well and once at the top the views were well worth it. Later this day and the aim of the three days trekking, we reached the top of "Fumaca" and it did not fail to amaze us. The viwew was not only spectacular but scarily high - 420 meters but felt like much more! There was an outcrop of rock that you could walk out on (if you dared) or lie on and look down into the valley. The pool at the bottom looked tiny, more like a puddle from this height, much unlike the huge deep pool we had been swimming in the day before! The dramatic lansdcape and steep cliff rock edges made
an incredible natural wonder, it was a fantastic experienc to have trekked here and sat admiring and taking in the entire environment! We felt proud of ourselves that we had succeeded, despite being totally mentally and physically knackered, it was amaizng!
The whole experience was fantastic, the trekking, the guides, the nature, the changing landscapes and environments that were so different to anything we have seen before, and an interesting change from coastal Brazil.
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Linda
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Kung fu
Wow im amazed once again..lol.. fantastic pics guys. Its like watching the tellie shows!!! Well even better to see you guys in them:) Makes us miss you...only a bit tho..he he!! I wear my lucky neklace everyday...well ive decided it brings me luck...cant be wrong wearing the christ around ones neck eh!!! Luv you lots and lots Linda and mum XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX