Now I understand why they wanted to know my blood group!

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The night was a bit cooler than in Salvador, thank goodness, or at least the temperature in my room was. The terrace where they serve breakfast is lovely. I am the only one here at the moment but there was a great range of food to choose from, including toast and avocado paté made from avocados hanging on a tree right next to the terrace.

Was picked up as arranged for the day trip - it turned out to be a group of 10. As predicted, a lot of people had signed up during the previous evening. They were a mixture of Brazilian, European, American and Brits. I sat next to a young multi-lingual German girl who very kindly carried my bag when we did the difficult scramble down to the waterfall and pools. I know I should have brought a small rucksack but they always make my neck hurt. It later emerged that a couple of the Brazilians thought I was her grandmother because we seemed to be together such a lot. Hmm .. had hoped that I didn't look quite that old!

A young very overweight American was wearing a tee-shirt with a picture of an angry face. I glanced at the slogan above this and thought it read: 'You should see me when I'm hungry!'. I thought this was a self-mocking reference to his weight but in fact the T-shirt said: 'You should see me when I'm angry'. He irritated me almost immediately when, discovering that my friend was German, he remarked that his father had lived in Zurich for two years. When she gently pointed out that Zurich was in fact in Switzerland he retorted: ' Well, he spoke German whilst he was there', as if that settled the matter!' He also thought that the UK was a member of the Eurozone. One of the Brits equalled this by remarking that he hadn't realised that North America includes Canada. Well, said our American friend, Canadians don't really count - or words to that effect! They then got into a discussion about our health care system during which it became obvious that the two young Brits, who had clearly never been ill in their life, and who in any case were in receipt of private medical care, had not got the faintest idea as to how the NHS functioned. I explained, whilst resisting a strong urge to rubbish the US one in turn.

The walk down to the river and along it to a deep pool, where we were going to swim, was hair-raising. It was a scramble, rather than a walk, over slippery, jagged rocks. The guide said to avoid the pink and white ones which were particularly slippery but sometimes I couldn't find any others to step on. We had to leap between gaps over rocks and walk along branches to cross water. The guide was solicitous and did give me and others a helping hand where needed. Never the less the fact remains that if I had known it was going to be that difficult I wouldn't have done it - or at least shouldn't have.

The overweight American was the first to land on his bum - yippee! Unfortunately I followed not long after but with less of a thump. Luckily I didn't do any harm to my back, which was what I was really worried about. When we got to the pool I discovered I was the only one who hadn't put my swimwear on underneath my clothes. By this time I was a hot and sticky mess, so getting undressed and dressed was a bit of a nightmare. Resolved to do things differently next time. Bringing a slow drying bikini turns out to have been a major packing error.

Next stop was the limestone caves which had all sorts of interesting stalagmite and stalactite formations. Of course we have these at home so the main difference seemed to be that the caves were not floodlit - everybody was given their own flashlight to carry - so bang went any prospect of decent photos since the camera on my mobile doesn't have flash - as far as I know. The other difference was that the stone floor was slippery and covered with sand which made it even more so. However after my experiences scrambling along besides, and over, the river bed, walking on this without slipping was a doddle.

Next on the list was the 'gruito azul' - the blue grotto. According to the guide the water in this looks blue for a number of reasons - firstly water is blue anyway (?), secondly some mineral in the water was turning it blue and thirdly the stone-bed of the cave was blue. Unfortunately there was relatively little water and although something looked blue there wasn't a lot of it and it didn't really look like water.

After that we went to a grotto which you could enter swimming and there was also a zip wire and all sorts other things you could pay, for including having your photo taken whilst submerged in the grotto. The guide was not impressed by this rampant commercialism and discouraged us from indulging but there was a wide stretch of the river that we could swim in without paying extra.

Last on the list was Morro do Pai Inácio. I'm not actually sure whether most of the attractions included in this excursion were technically in the Parque Nacional da Chapada Diamantina or not. ('Chapada' is a plateau and 'diamantina' is a reference to the diamond mining boom here in the 19th century.) The distinctive feature of the countryside in this park is the rock formations: jagged pillars with their tops cut off - very reminiscent of Arizona. Lençóis is a fair distance from the heart of the park but if you climb the Morro do Pai Inácio. which also has this shape (morro = hill) you can see these formations laid out in front of you. Or rather you can see them if there is no mist and it is not raining. By the time we got two thirds of the way up in the minibus it was pouring it down and visibility was about as good as when I went up Cristo Redentor. (What is it with me and views in Brazil?) The guide was willing to give it a go but nobody took him up on this offer so the best view I have had is a distant one on the horizon. Whilst we waited optimistically for the mist to lift, he told us the legend which was supposed to explain the hill's name, something about a farmer's daughter falling in love with a slave who ran off with her up this hill. I forget the rest but it was obviously apocryphal. I think if you really want to see the park you need to stay do a multi-day hike.

I liked the guide until he irritated me by insisting on dropping us all back at the agency instead of at our accommodation. Some of the group had not yet paid and he wanted everybody to fill in a feedback form. Perhaps it was also about selling us another tour for the following day. I was really tired and have to admit that I wasn't too upset at missing an extra hour's walk up and down to the top of the Morro. So when I filled in the feedback form took the opportunity to complain about not being dropped off where we had been picked up! On the walk back to my pousada I called into a few agencies to see what was on offer the following day - having taken a long bus-trip to get here am not going to twiddle my thumbs in a hammock!. There was a trip involving about 4 hours in a minibus to see the blue pool which feature on all the pictures of Chapada: 'poço azul'. However LP had warned against undertaking this excursion if it had been raining because this turned the pool a murky brown. Certainly not going to go all the way to be disappointed in the 'view' again and was subsequently proved right as it threw it down all night. Decided instead to opt for a 'canoing' trip and walk in the wetlands and bought one of those emergency rain capes in case it continued to pour whist we were in the canoe.

Had another Italian for dinner tonight at an upmarket restaurant with nice ambience First course , cold beetroot soup was really good, not so impressed with ravioli, no better pasta than at much cheaper one and no caipirinha included either!

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Photos

Steps up from Poço do Diabo
Climbing these steps was the easy bit!

Gruta da Pratinha
The one you could swim into!