BARREIRINHAS

South America
March 21st 2010

Published: March 21st 2010

We travelled to a wonderfully remote part of northern Brazil in Maranhao province. The town of Barreirinhas is not special in itself but serves as a jumping off point for some amazing tours in the local area. Our Pousada (guest house) was out of the town, 5 minutes by speedboat. The owner, Michael, picked us up from a dock in town.

We had our own bungalow, deck and hammock and it was set on the riverbank amongst the palms. On the day we arrived the only other guests left, so it was just us.

Andy took Amy in the river for a dip that day and then gave her a kayaking lesson.

Michael is very hospitable and his wife is a fantastic cook. We had fish for lunch which was superb and then filet mignon for dinner which was even better.

While having dinner on our first evening we watched as a small, brightly coloured snake slithered into the restaurant area, immediately followed by the cook with her broom. Then we found a tiny, cute frog in our bedroom that we had to remove as he was boinging all over the place. The thought of a wet

Laguna Fish

A welcome place for a swim after a walk across the dunes

frog on our face in the middle of the night was not appealing.

While it was tempting just to lie around on hammocks all day doing nothing, we had things to see!
First, we took an afternoon tour to National Park Lencois Maranhenses. It is a huge national park with immense expanses of sand dunes.

To get to the dunes we took a jeep which would have to rate as one of our bumpiest ever journeys. Amy, in her usual thrill-seeking way, declared the jeep ride was “even better than chicken noodles!” It was fun and certainly the best way to get to the dunes.

The dunes are mammoth, on a scale we’ve never encountered before. The sand is quite firm and easy to walk on and we trekked for about 30 minutes to Laguna Fish where we were able to cool off with a swim.

At some times of the year there are lakes which form between the dunes. Unfortunately there had not been enough rain as yet so we didn’t see the park at its most exciting. But it is a beautiful and serene place that is so unique and we absolutely loved it.

Lencois Maranhenses

The following day we took a speedboat trip down the River Preguicas to Cabure. The river is lined with tropical plants, mangroves and areas of sand dune. It was strange to see the steep dunes leading right up to the rivers edge.

The boat zipped along the river, dipping in and out of the mangroves. Our first stop was at a great spot with monkeys and parrots .

There was a huge dune with a sheer drop to go dune-sliding, so I headed up to the top with Amy who said that if I did it first she’d go after me. Well, I got on the board and headed down the sand dune at a good pace. Once at the bottom I looked up and Amy had disappeared and we found her walking down a less steep area. She’d decided it looked too scary, but promised that next time we were on top of a giant sand dune that she’d do it.

Then it rained ... and rained .... and kept raining for some time. Our side-trip to the lighthouse was a washout so eventually we got to Cabure, completely drenched, and sat down to dry

Andy at the Lencois Maranhenses

and have some lunch.
Cabure is in a spectacular setting, with the river on one side of the village (which is little more than a few shacks and a couple of pousadas) and the Atlantic Ocean on the other side. We paddled in the warm ocean, picking up shells and admiring the pristine, huge expanse of beach. We saw a couple of bizarre jellyfish, fluorescent pink and purple, dying on the beach.

A beautiful day.

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