The Brazilian Countryside in HD

I have a loud voice, which is choice, when I’m rolling in my Rolls Royce, the Portuguese word for two is dois…that was just a preview of how I spent my time on the six hour bus ride to the inland town of Lençóis (I’m only spelling it with the accents once). Lencois is a small inland town with incredible natural attributes. Over the weekend, I climbed breath-taking (yes, breath-taking!) cliffs, went caving, and swam in waterfalls. It was like an episode of Planet Earth, I couldn’t believe all of these amazing things were in one place.

This trip was also really fun because it was an EAP sponsored event that took the entire program, so 55 people and the program directors, Clara and Morbi, all went along for the ride. After pounding out a fat section of East of Eden on the bus and thinking up some of the ill rhymes displayed above, we arrived at the Chapada Diamantina, a series of cliffs and plateaus that jutted and stretched throughout a huge valley. We went on one of the first, but tallest ones, so when we got there I didn’t really know what it was. Then we started hiking and climbing straight up on rocks until we reached the top plateau and you could see for miles all around. It was truly breath-taking (yes, breath-taking!). After that we were asked if we wanted to go straight to the hotel or check out a small waterfall with a natural pool. Some girls concerned with clubbing were trying to start a “back to the hotel” vote but thankfully we were able to sway the populous to go the waterfall. After hiking a small trail, you reached a big natural pool with a short but wide waterfall surrounded by large rocks that jutted out in layers. The climbable rocks and deep pool provided a perfect spot for jumping and it wasn’t long until we were climbing to the top. Finally, we went to the hotel for the night and grabbed some Mexican food from a local spot. In retrospect, it wasn’t very good but having something wrapped in a tortilla seemed irresistibly tantalizing at the time.

The next morning featured a very nice breakfast buffet that unfortunately started at eight in the morning. After powering through that, everyone piled on the bus to take off for the caverns. We started at the top of some cliffs and broke off into small groups of ten or twelve, each with our own tour guide who was only equipped with an old propane lamp and a lighter. The cave was, well, cavernous inside and really fun to explore. It was really cool entering through what seemed like a small hole in the side of the cliff and entering a huge cavern. In the middle of the cave, the guide shut off the lamp and it was pitch black and completely silent, a very big adjustment for my senses after life in the city for so long now.

After that, we went to the natural pool from the day before but kept following the river it feed into until we reached a huge opening with a sixty foot waterfall at the end. The waterfall fed into a big pool or a small lake (your choice) that feed into another waterfall and river. The most fun part was taking a zip-line from the top of the waterfall and crashing into the pool beneath. Spinning around to see the waterfall while flying through the air was unforgettable. It was one of the coolest, most fun places I’ve ever been. Unfortunately, some dummy (supposedly) broke his neck jumping from the top so that was ruled out but it was still fun swimming under the falls and hiking around the amazing area. It definitely seemed like something from a movie.

When we got back to the hotel, our guide took a small group of us to more natural pools that were up over the hills of the city. I know, this was all in one day! We got there as the moon was coming up and it was really beautiful. The moon was so big in the sky and it was really cool to see the lights of the small town brighten in a small circle in the valley below us. We went back, took HOT showers (I’m still not over it), and had a giant feast with chicken, steak, salad and a bunch of other good stuff. We also have been playing this secret friend game, which I wasn’t a big fan of, but it worked out because I had a really nice girl who gave me a cool painting and Brazilian maraca-type thing. It turns out, if you have a secret friend who gives you sweet presents the game isn’t so bad after all.

The next day after breakfast, we were given the choice of going to natural waterslides or checking out this village where the descendants of escaped slaves live. My friend convinced me that we could check out waterslides in the States but wouldn’t get a chance to see a slave village. I went and it was okay but I would have much rather gone to the waterslides. I thought it was going to be a Colonial Williamsburg type-place but there wasn’t anything special or historic about the village, it was just a place where people fished and lived. Also, I feel kind of dumb doing stuff at that like I’m ogling at people in a zoo who are just trying to live their lives. It was cool to see but I think I would have enjoyed the waterslide more, especially taking into account that the waterslide was free and cooled you off and I paid 14 reais to be hot in a village. When we got back though, it was all worth it because we checked out of the hotel and had another all-you-can eat feast at a local restaurant, which was even more delicious than the last. Plus they had some of the best lemonade I’ve had. Maybe I was hot and thirsty but it tasted sooooooooo good. As we began our long trip back to Salvador, the bathroom on the bus broke on the way home causing a very foul smell to engulf the bus for most of the ride but it was all worth it. Between the delicious food and crazy places we went to, it seems unreal. I still don’t believe all these cool things were located in the same place… Lençóis! (Alright, it deserved another proper spelling).