Salvador & Chapada Diamantina

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This part of our trip was spent in Salvador, Lencois and Chapada Diamantina and it was so good!

Salvador is such a vibrant city and the energy there is amazing. The sound of drums filled the city day and night and the locals would just start moving as soon as any music started playing. We really enjoyed being in the midst of the exciting African demographic and their culture. And the city was definitely not as scary as people made us believe. Although we didn't exactly venture out to anywhere dodgy.. we stuck to the historical centre (Pelourinho) and the beach areas (Barra & Itapua) and in these areas there was a strong police presence - the tourists are a protected species here.

We then bussed about 7 hours to a cute town called Lencois to base ourselves for trips into Chapada Diamantina (a national park). These few days were great. Firstly, Lencois was actually a really nice town (we were only expecting it to be a place to sleep), then secondly, some of the things we did in Chapada were incredible. We did some hikes, saw a couple of waterfalls, had a great view over the valley, but the incredible moments were the cave swims. They were truly amazing. The first one was in Gruta da Pratinha - a lakeside cave which became pitch black as we swam into it. We were equipped with snorkels and flash lights and we could not see anything - above us, or below the surface of the water - unless we shone the torch on it. Although it was amazing, I (Chloe) have to admit that it was slightly terrifying. The second cave, Poco Azul, was less scary and much more beautiful. We descended down some stairs into a cave with a pool of brilliant blue water. It was so clear and so blue that we couldn't really see the water at all. It just looked like a blue light was being shone at the rocks. The swim was so tranquil and so surreal. It was really one of the best moments I've ever had.

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