Free Fallin´
Trip Start
Jan 29, 2007
1
8
23
Trip End
Jun 02, 2007
Lençois, Brazil
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
I´ve felt a lot of things at the end of a big party- exhaustion, muscle pain, headache, etc. But when the Bahians collapsed in on eachother at the end of the last bloco of Carnaval, it wasn´t from fatigue- it was sadness. Many of them actually just burst out in tears. I couldn´t believe it- Could these people live for the party so much that its end warranted tears? I later realized that the end of Carnaval meant not only the end of a party, but back to work and off to university for many. For others, it brought on Lent´s repentance of the summer´s sins. In any case, I thought that the dramatic change of mood from exuberance to actual sadness revealed just how central the party is to the people of Salvador.
To be fair, I´m not sure that the party ever really ended. As we were leaving town after a seemingly endless week of Carnaval, I could swear that I heard the rumbling of drums coming over the hill from across the Pelourinho. Knowing full well by this point that we could not keep up with the Bahians, we retreated inland to the Chapada Diamantina, a national park full of waterfalls and caves to explore. We caught a bus to Lençois- a tiny dusty town of 4,000 people that developed as miners flocked to the diamond-rich area in the early 1900´s, but since mining was finally officially banned in 1996, now survives largely on tourism- a fact that was made immediately obvious by the sheer number of boys, age 5 to 25, who offered to be our guide while walking around town. Rather extensive local inquiry revealed that they do not make, or at least do not sell useful maps of the surrounding trails. Rather frustrating at first, but then revealed itself to be a rather shrewd business strategy. (`No, there is no map of that trail, but I´d be happy to be your guide- for a small fee.´) We managed to get around fine on our own the first day, making our way to two local swimming holes- the Serrano, where the black river rushes over cavernous rocks that make for a veritable playground of surprisingly deep swirling pools; and the Ribeiro do Meio, where water rushing over a wide slab of smooth rock makes for a massive natural waterslide into a deep pool. Despite the gaping holes that emerged in both Sandro´s and my shorts after repeated sliding, I´d venture to say that it rivaled even cross-fire slip-n-slide for the best water sliding experience of my life.
The next day we set out on a three-day trek to see the Cachoera da Fumaça (Brazil´s tallest waterfall) from both the bottom and top. It was incredible, and both the most mentally and physically strenuous hike of my life, due to the constant clamoring over nearly vertical rockfaces and crossing rivers over slick logs and boulders. In fact, after that trek, I think I could quite accurately write The Gringo Guide to Falling Down in the Jungle. (Step 1: Get a guide whose Portuguese you can´t understand and therefore have to communicate with through wild hand gestures. Step 2: When nature calls, pick a spot directly above a swarming pile of stinging ants that will then attack your feet and legs and whose bites can only be averted by fully submerging your new water-proof boots in the river. Step 3: Make sure those boots are so waterproof that they trap all water inside the boot so for the duration of the trek you are sloshing about in mini feet-sized puddles. Step 4: Keep your nice digital camera in the side zip pocket of your breathable REI hiking pants so that when you fall into the river (which you will, especially if you follow Steps 3 and 4) the LCD display with crack against a rock, or the whole thing will get wet and stop working altogether. If your lucky, maybe both.)
Needless to say, we were humbled by our guide Adriano, a Lençois native who did the entire trek in $2 flip-flops and whose version of a dia tranquilo (a phrase he oft repeated) was 6 hours of strenuous hiking instead of 8. After three days, we waddled back to Lençois, actually looking forward to sitting on a bus for 24 hours the next day. The sad news we must report is that there will be some delay in getting any pictures up for a little while (see step 4 of the Gringo Guide) but with the help of some friendly Kiwis, hopefully we will remedy the picture situation soon. I really hope we can, because words really will do no justice to the untouched sites we saw this week. And Jeff... videos? Really, its hard to keep up with all the demands. It might be a while.
Happy Birthday Jose!!
Comments
Wow
That sounds like quite an experience. Glad you are perservering and having fun. Sorry to hear about camera damage! That is rough. If the videos don't turn out, I understand. :)
-Jeff