Blogs from Lençóis, Bahia, Brazil, South America - page 2

so we arrived at our hostel in the early hours of the morning and promptly fell to sleep, really sound of the owner rodrigo as techincally we had not paid for the beds. after a couple of hours of kip, rosie decided to head out on an over night trek into the wild. obviously i was not up for this, especially when over breakfast one the guides began to talk about the snakes he would go out to find, it seems this is some local past time but it freaks me right out! rosie headed out and me and tasha decided to have a wonder around the village and then just see what to do. after sucessfully managing the ATM seriously in brazil its like doing the kypton factor to get money out of the things. ... read more

I had a fantastic time relaxing in salvador, the city had everything i love beaches, football, music, dancing and of course beautiful people! The hostel we stayed in was like a home and the guy that ran it was russell a manchester bloke so he became our source of information throught out the stay, the language barrier is still pretty hard at times, i find myself having a mental block when ever i attempt any sort of portuguese. However i must try and crack a few phrases by the end of this month. The hostel was great for meeting people, it was pleasant to meet such an assortmont of people, we were the only brits bar the boss and it was interesting to debate at dinner over our free caphrinas! We were really lucky that during ... read more

Hello all, It's Tal again. We left Porto Seguro (after a few days in Trancoso), and arrived at Salvador de Bahia at 0630 only to find out that we have a bus to Lencois in less than 20 min. Great Connection! A "short" drive of 6 hours (after 12 hrs night drive..) and we are at Lencois. Lençóis is a small city in the state of Bahia in Brazil, with only 9000 inhabitants. The town has a well-preserved colonial atmosphere, laid back people and a charming location amidst hills and tropical forest. Lencois is the starting point for treks into Chapada Diamantina, the most famous National Park of Brazil. “Chapada” is a Brazilian word that means a region of steep cliffs, usually at the edge of a plateau. “Diamantina” refers to the diamonds found there in ... read more

Lencois is een dorpje dat ontstaan is dankzij de ontdekking van de diamant in deze streek. De eerste diamanten werden hier gevonden in 1822. Mijnwerkers verbleven in zelfgemaakte tenten die vanop de heuvels leken op lakens drogend in de wind, daaruit ontstond de naam Lencois wat “lakens” betekent. Veel van de diamanten die werden gevonden in de Chapada Diamantina kwamen bij de Fransen terecht en werden gebruikt voor de uitgraving van het Panama-kanaal, de Gothard tunnel en het metronetwerk van Londen. Lencois heeft via agentschappen vele tochten te bieden naar grotten, watervallen, speciale rotsformaties,... Het nadeel van deze tochten is dat er een prijskaartje aan vasthangt. De wandelpaden worden niet aangeduid (het zijn de helft van de tijd ook geen paden), er bestaan geen kaarten en bijgevolg heb je dus een gids nodig om niet te ... read more

Ok, so I know its been ages since I last wrote, but life here has been crazy. I went on a trek called Grutas, where I went to a waterfall, a pitch black cave full of stalactites and stalagmites (I´m sure I´ve spelt those wrong) of varying shapes and sizes, went snorkling in the bluest water you´ve ever seen and then climbed the poster child Morro do Pai Inacio, the heart of the Chapada. It was an awesome day, despite getting eaten alive by mosquitos. Work is difficult as ever, I´ve been really tired and stressed with it lately, but a group from the US came last Monday to volunteer and they cleaned the whole project and helped me with lots of tasks so that was amazing. Joana, one on the old volunteers, is back for ... read more