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Published: June 27th 2006
Lençóis Marahenses Desert
It rains here 300 more times then the Sahara Desert creating these lagoons...pretty sweet!When we last left our caped crusaders they were trapped inside a car heading towards the town of Barreirinhas. Will they make it there today? Will they survive this drawn out car ride? Will they be able to experience life outside of the vehicle? Read on for more of their journey to answer these questions…
January 18, 2006
Day 4 - Middle of Nowhere Land We had about 400 km to go today so we knew we would make it to Barreirinhas before supper time. We only got lost a couple times, but the driving went by fast, and we were all very excited to finally make it to our destination. Heather and I didn’t know what to expect when we pulled in since we didn’t do any research on the town, but after being in a car for over 20 hours we were hoping to see paradise...this wasn’t the case. It had been raining a lot the past few days and the roads weren’t paved, so there was mud everywhere, there were no restaurants to be seen, no grocery stores, no bars, just a lot of mud.
Barreirinhas is located in the state of Maranhão along
Rio Preguiça, or the Lazy River, and is known for the 155,000 hectares (600 square miles) of sand dunes that neighbor the town, so it wasn’t just all mud after all. After almost getting stuck in mud a couple of times, we made it to our hotel where our rooms where individual little bungalows, very charming. We asked if there was anywhere to eat a late lunch and they said up the road at the next hotel they have a restaurant, but that is about it.
I remember Amanda asking her mom if she was crazy and if we could return to Fortaleza, but Ana said that we had two days of fun activities planned and the first was going to be a boat tour in the morning. We all chatted for some time, took a walk to the river, then went to bed so we would be refreshed and recharged for tomorrows events.
Day 5 - The Little Boat That Could At 9am the boat pulled up to take us for a day long tour. There were seats for eight, which meant it was a perfect fit for us and the driver. We were told that
our final destination was only 16km away in a straight line, but due to the wide and wandering river it would actually take us 43km one-way to reach it (almost triple the distance). The driver started the engine and we were off, then we stopped because the engine was having troubles - imagine that. He jumped into the water and swam to the back of the boat, pulled some levers, and got it running.
Our first stop was at a section of the sand dunes where they met up with the river and the marshy jungle. We jumped out and walked up the dunes. It was amazing, first we were cruising down the river, with the dense green vegetation spearing up at the very edge of the river (there’s not even a sign of a river bank), then all of a sudden these sand dunes were there. Once we climbed our way to the top of the first sand dune, the view was incredible because the dunes seemed to continue forever. At the top of first sandy hill there were some kids with plastic disks and they would ride them down the dune. We asked if we could give
it a go and they said ok. Felipe slid on down the hill and it looked like fun so Samuel gave it a go, then I did. I didn’t have the prettiest dismount at the bottom of the hill and sort of crashed (which Heather got on video with her camera) but that wasn’t the worse part. I looked up and saw Samuel slapping his back like crazy and I then realized we were getting attached by mosquitoes! I ran back up the sand dune where I rolled around to get them off and Samuel joined me. After much scratching and itching, Samuel ended up with 30+ bites and I had about 20+…damn mosquitoes.
In a magazine Ana read back in Recife it said that the best shrimp you will ever taste in your life is a remote little restaurant just off the river north of the dunes. It said that the way you can reach the restaurant is by taking a boat up the river where it meets the ocean and then taking a 20 minute horse ride. We all love shrimp so we decided to have our boat driver stop there for lunch. We got out, tied
up the boat, and went to ask about hiring some horses. Well there were no horses to rent, but our boat driver knew the way and we started to walk. By this time the clouds had disappeared and the sun was out in full force and I was really wishing we had horses. After everyone was about to pass out from the heat we made it to “Restalrante da Luzia” (a little misspelled on the sign) where they had cold water to pour on our heads, shade, chairs, and hammocks.
Lunch was going to be R$15 per person and this included the famous shrimp, some fish, beans, rice, and other side dishes. After waiting about one hour they brought out our food and we all dug in. The shrimp were delicious, very delicious, but they only brought out one plate for seven of us. This was a bit disappointing because for R$15 per person we were expecting a huge shrimp-fest, but I guess they get to mark up the price a bit since they were published in a magazine and all. After eating we were told for R$4 per person (a little under US$2) we could have a truck
take us back to the boat, but Samuel and Ana thought that was expensive so made the long walk back in the heat.
On the journey back to the boat I told Heather it would be funny if the tide had went down and the boat was out of the water. I should have knocked on some wood because the boat was out of the water sitting up on the beach! We both got a little giggle from this, took some pictures then after about 10 minutes of pulling, we got the boat back in the water. We stopped at some other dunes, played in the water for sometime and then headed back to the hotel. On the ride back Amanda spotted something in the water so the driver turned back and it was a snake swimming on the surface. We took some pictures and at one point the driver killed the boat and the snake got really really close to us, but luckily he got the boat running and we were all unharmed. (I’m just glad I got to enjoy some playtime in the river before I saw the snake.) Some dark clouds were starting to form in
the sky, so we cruised towards the hotel.
On the way back the boat died. There was a hand pump connected to the gas tank that went to the engine and if someone pumped it, the boat would run. I just happened to be closest to the engine so for about 5 minutes I pumped until we were able to get to land. The driver walked us up a long path and pointed down a road and said walk that way until you see your hotel, then the clouds broke and rain started to pour! We ran to the hotel and we were all pretty soaked so we decided to play in the warm tropical downpour for some time and had a lot of fun.
The next day’s activity was going to be a 3 hour truck ride into the dunes where there’s a lagoon to play in and a lot of sand…woohoo!
Day 6 - The Truck Ride of Doom A 3 hour truck ride one-way to play in somewhat-fresh water that is surrounded by sand. If I planned a 20+ hour car ride to get somewhere, the last thing I would want to do
is plan an activity that requires 6 hours total of being in a vehicle again! In our hotel there were some pictures of the location we were heading to and it looked pretty sweet so maybe the 6 hours would be worth it. At 7am the truck pulled up with two guides ready to go. It was a 4 door Toyota with 4 seats bolted in the bed of the truck with a canopy, so 5 people in the cab, and 4 in the back. Heather, Felipe, Ita, and I took the seats in the bed of the truck because we thought that it would be a fun time safari, but it really wasn’t all that great.
The first hour of the trip was on some good paved roads where the truck was going about 100kmph. We didn’t have a shield protecting us from the wind so the 100kmph wind wasn’t exactly pleasurable. If you open your mouth it was like having a leaf blower pointed at you and your cheeks would fill up with air and flap like crazy (Heather got some good video of this). After the wind tunnel of hell we had 2 hours of off
road driving with many…many bumps. Then when you think it couldn’t get any worse there was a rain storm and the canopy doesn’t help much if the truck is moving. Those of us in the back made the best of it and stripped down to our swim gear where we sang and shouted as the truck continued on in the rain.
After being drenched we made it to the Lagoon and had some fun. There were some steep sand dunes so we had fun jumping off the top of them and I “attempted” a couple flips. I dug a big hole and was buried in some sand then we all ran down and played in the water for a bit. After this we ate some lunch and had our 3 hour tour back. After our adventure in the back of the truck no one really wanted to ride back there, but we weren’t picky so Heather and myself rode in the back again with Ita and a guide from the trip. We didn’t think being in the back could get any worse, after all we survived the first journey - rain included, but we were wrong. Once we were
on the paved road, the rain returned, but this time we were going about 100kmph and rain really hurts when it pelts you that fast, sort of like getting shot with a million BB guns at once! Heather ended up seeking refuge on the floor, Ita ducked down to avoid the pain, and I took the top off the cooler and made a shield for me and the guide.
We had been having too much fun there, so the next day we were heading northwest to the town of São Luís.
Still more to come…
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Erika
non-member comment
You guys are so crazy!
I think the title says it all! That is a serious amount of sand! I am glad you guys are having so much fun! talk to ya later, love, Erika