It was dark by the time we got there around 7:30 at night. We walked up through the cobblestone Main Street that was lined with tables and chairs of all the restaurants. Live music was playing in a couple areas and it just had that cool little hippie vibe that we were looking for.
Main Street during the day.
We found the campground set up our tent, grabbed some food, and cooked it in the kitchen provided at the campground. Each kitchen we use at campgrounds/hostels has its own quirks. One common theme is that the fridges are usually a disaster with uncovered food and food acting like a petridish for many microscopic creatures. This kitchen was very devoid of plates and cutlery, but as always we made it work.
The next day we met up with Ed, a wondering Englishman, who we had met up in Olinda. He was headed on a hike/swim with some other travellers he had met, so we decided to join him. He told me about this app Maps.Me that also had hiking trails and stuff on it that has really become quite useful as it works offline. It was an easy hike to the first spot called Ribeirao which was a swimming hole with a natural water slide.
We hung out there for a couple hours and just relaxed. Roberta provided some entertainment for all those present with her screaming and squealing as she went down the natural slide.
Ed, Roberta, and I decided to keep on hiking to a waterfall that was some kilometres away. The travel companies in town had said we should use a guide, but since it was following a river (and we were too cheap), we decided to do it on our own. Maps. Me definitely helped us find the trail head and it was a pretty easy trail to follow for the most part. At one point where it came out to the river, we lost where it went back up. We decided to just do some bouldering up stream to get to the waterfall.
It just kind of increased the experience to be honest, but was tiring in the hot sun.
After a couple hours we ran into some people on the way back from the waterfall. Ed had a chat with them in Portuguese and found we weren't that far away. Upon arrival we were met with a spectacular swimming hole equipped with the waterfall. And as an added bonus there was only 4 other people there.
We stayed for an hour and a bit soaking in the scenery and having a swim. We left around 10 mins after 2 girls who had a guide, so we could spot where we missed the trail and it worked like a charm. We were getting tired a bit so decreasing the amount of climbing up and down boulders was nice. We didn't have any problems sleeping that night as we were quite exhausted from the days activities.
The next day we decided to not go too crazy and just do a short hike that Ed had done to some small waterfalls and look out points. Maps.me came in handy once again as there were many diverging trails.
We took it slow and saw the sights and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. The next day we decided to get off our wallets and go see some further sights. Ed had lined us up a private car for a good price. Speaking Portuguese definitely has it perks. We headed to Poco Azul which from the photographs we had seen looked quite spectacular. It was just over an hour to get there. It is a very dry area. As Ed as our interpreter we learned more about the area from the driver. There were actually cactus fields that were grown to feed to the cows. I thought that was pretty crazy thinking the needles would cause a lot of damage to the GI tract. On closer inspection of the cacti, they didn't have many spines and we were told that they are processed before they are fed to the cows.
On arrival we had our mandatory shower and put on our mandatory life jackets. At first glance from above we were not totally impressed. We thought maybe because it was cloudy that the water wouldn't look very blue, but the smiles on the people's faces as they came up the stairs told us we were in for something special.
We have seen some pretty blue waters before, but those have been glacial fed lakes and are bright blue like Peyto Lake in the Rockies. This was a deep blue like nothing I have seen. It didn't even look real.
As an added bonus, we had the place to ourselves. It was incredibly peaceful.
The day after, we decided to do a van tour that went to a bunch of different places. If there is other ways of seeing a place, we usually try to do it on our own. But sometimes doing a tour is a must. We started off by heading to Poco do Diabo. It was a cool spot to have a swim and relax.
We had a laugh at a French couple that was taking the most selfies I have probably seen. Traveling around we do some selfies of our own, but this was on a new level. They didn't stop taking pictures for the whole hour we were there I don't think. Haha each to their own as they say.
Next we headed to Lape Duce cave. We kind of have been spoiled by the caves in Vietnam and New Zealand in the past, so this wasn't on that level but still good to see.
We had a buffet lunch after that in which I impressed myself on how much I could eat. Got to get my money's worth. Haha. Good thing I finished it all as if you had food left over, your plate was weighed, and you had to pay for the leftovers. Kind of a cool idea from keeping people from taking too much.
Next we headed to Pratinha where some very blue water exited a cave continued on as a river. We stayed there for a couple hours and this allowed me to relax and digest the huge ball in my stomach.
Groto Azul right next to Pratinha.
Last stop for the day was Pai Inacio for sunset. It was the perfect way to cap off the day and our trip to the park. I will let the pictures describe it....
Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
No comments:
Post a Comment