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Published: October 27th 2008
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Morro do Pai Inacio
In case jetstar ever wants to open a route to here Lencois 3-9 Oct 08 Nestled amongst the rugged natural paradise of the Chapada Diamantinha National Park, Lencois is a place we are currently finding very hard to leave, especially after the roller coaster times in Salvador.
We caught the overnight bus inland from Salvador and were fast asleep for all 6 hours of the trip before pulling up in Lencois at 5:30am. Booking a place ahead paid off immediately when our host, Rita, met us with our own names on a piece of paper and showed us to our room. Unfortunately we soon realised that our quest for tranquillity was not over yet when construction noises started up a few hours later in the room next door. On top of this, the local election campaign that we though we’d left in Salvador was getting into full swing here too. The campaign seemed to me to have nothing to do with policies and everything to do with cars and motorbikes loaded up with huge speakers, patrolling the streets blasting out the most annoying sounds possible. These included telephones ringing, babies crying and clowns laughing, and well as repetitive music at stupidly high volumes. Indeed, anything to draw your attention to the
Ribeirao do Meio
Waterslide 45 min walk from town smiling face of one candidate or another, plastered anywhere that was even remotely conspicuous. How this assault on my eardrums can encourage anyone to vote for a person I can’t imagine. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, the locals partied for a whole week after the election was over…not least of all the neighbours of our guesthouse. On election night we watched, dumbfounded, as seemingly all of the town’s 9000 citizens paraded the local winner around town on their shoulders, singing and dancing all the time. The atmosphere was electric, like he’d just toppled an evil dictator or killed the wicked witch of the west or something. ‘No, no,’ said Roger from Sao Paulo who we met at breakfast, ‘they just take any excuse to party!’
We found the peace we were looking for by getting out of town. A 45 min walk takes you to a great swimming hole on a river, with water flowing into it over smooth sloping rock that makes a fun water slide. Searching wider afield, we hired a motorbike from a moto-taxi guy in the main market square and followed the main tourist route that all the local agencies advertise. The route took
Party time
How does the local governor-elect celebrate his win in the polls? Buy shouting the people a truckload of beer and parading around town on their shoulders, of course! us to a clear blue swimming hole called Pratinha, a cave filled with water and penetrated by afternoon sunlight called Gruta Azul, and spectacular mountain-top look-out called Morro do Pai Inacio, where we were treated to one of the best sunsets we’ve witnessed yet. Getting there was half the fun, and while moto-taxi guy shouted the bar back in Lencois, I was hitting the open road on his bike, first running the gauntlet of heavy trucks on the BR242, then across sandy desert tracks that looked more Mexican than Brazilian. Best of all, being by ourselves meant that we could enjoy the attractions in between jeep-loads of package tourists.
Getting more daring, we decided to don our packs and find ourselves a quiet waterfall of our own for a few days. Unfortunately, a few hours out of town we ran into a bush fire that had just started up and was evidently blocking our path. When charred leaved started falling on us we decided we didn’t need to get closer to see that it was not a controlled back-burn. Consulting the map, we changed plans and headed to a different waterfall, called Sossego, and spent the night a safe
distance from the fire under a rocky overhang, 2 hours short of the fall itself. The next day we continued to the fall and enjoyed a wonderful early afternoon dip before heading back to our camp. There it was became clear that the hot wind had revived the fire and it was now heading our way and threatening our route back to Lencois. We went up a gear and dashed back to town, this time checking into a fantastic pousada on the very outskirts of town called Canto No Bosque. The breakfast, gardens, pool, wireless internet and a great bar/restaurant make this place fantastic value. The hammocks, cocktails and the sweet guitar of our host Jaz have made it nearly impossible to leave.
Dreaming of an adventure like ours? Find out how we did it at
JulieAndDariansWorldTourGuide.com
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