Gruta do Lapão

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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 Lapão 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 Slovenian girlfriend; and Camila, their Norwegian travelling companion. They were all working in an orphanage in a small town near Rio de Janeiro, facing much tougher working conditions than I have over the last few months. Before reaching the Lapão, our guide opened up a trail with his machete to an area I had never heard of, and as far as I know, few locals have knowledge of. We followed a stream that crossed the trail and which ended up falling into a crack in the ground. We went around, climbed down into the hole and found a lovely, secluded, rather idyllic mini-canyon where the falling stream provided the place with a light waterfall. We then carried on our walk to the Gruta do Lapão, the largest limestone cave in Brazil, which you can only cross with a guide as one can easily get lost in it. The 1km long walk underground was very nice, having to clamber up and down rocks in very low light. On the way out, we went down to the Lapão waterfall for a nice swim. I was the only one with a camera that day, so the others asked me to take loads of photos of everyone, and they took quite of few of myself, which explains why there such an abundance of ME in today's gallery.

That same night, a group of about 30 tourists from Salvador arrived at about 3h30 in the morning, so I had to stay up until then to welcome them, wake up Chris and help him check in everyone. Needless to say, I was particularly tired after the whole day.

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Photos

Someone rappelling down he mouth of the cave.
The Gruta do Lapão is also, I believe, the only place in the world where you can bungee jump from the top of a cave

The little group
Myself, Camila, Filipe, and Ines

Comments

[Nathalie]

Post sponsorisé par l'oréal for men. Impressive tan by the way. And beard. Super photos en tous cas, ça a l'air tellement beau! Mais bon, c'est pas tout ça, le serpent corail c'était bien gentil mais j'attends le reportage sur la mygale mangeuse d'hommes maintenant! bisous

[Kim]

The beard!! :O