Lakes in the Desert Next to the Sea

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Over Memorial Day weekend, we flew to Sao Luis in the state of Maranhao. We rented a car with our friends for a several hour drive that kept going and going. At some point, Alex asked our navigator (not Jenn) if there was a speed bump coming up, and the reply was “Yep” as we launched the rental car at 30 mph. Our GPS got us to the small town of Barreirinhas, but our eco-hotel wasn’t on the map, so we eventually hired a taxi to escort us.



The next morning, we thought it would be fun to take a small plane for a short sight seeing trip to see the area’s famous sand dunes intertwined with lakes in Lencois Maranhenses National Park. What we did not know was that our pilot was an aspiring Top Gun instructor and buzzed all the attractions. Alex’s friend is a pilot who convinced the real pilot to let him fly the plane during the landing approach. At the last second, the Brazilian pilot took over control to line up with the correct runway, however this maneuvering caused the plane to drop low enough to clip a tree.



In the late afternoon, we hopped into an open-air safari truck and headed to the dunes. We hiked across huge sand dunes and through shallow lakes before Jenn swam in a big lake. The sensation of swimming in the desert was surreal. Watching the sunset over the dunes was beautiful.



We took a boat ride down to the mouth of the river, stopping on the way to see some hungry monkeys and at the village to check out the lighthouse. We stopped for lunch on a barrier island where we rented four wheelers for a ride on the beach. On the way back, we hopped out on a sand bar to enjoy the sunset.

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Photos

Lencois Barrier Island
View from the death trap