After around 8 hours of driving on not-so-good roads, passing hundreds of bush fires and difficult gas station visits with language barriers we finally arrived to Lencois, a town in Chapada de Diamantina national park. We had checked that this town would be the best option for us to see the different places we wanted to see in the park.
Lencois
When we arrived to the town, we noticed that driving there is quite difficult. Restaurants and cafes put their tables and chairs on the street, so it is impossible to drive in the center. We could not get to our pousada (=guest house) with the car so we left it a bit further. When we came to the door, we noticed that it was closed and a "for sale" sign on the wall... Not again... We asked about it from the restaurant next door and they told that our pousada is in a different place. Phiuh, it did exist! Bags back to the car and find it again. To this spot we could drive all the way. It was a bit aside from the center but the whole town was so small that even if we were on the edge of the town, we had only 400 meters to the center 😊
The first afternoon / evening we just wondered around, had dinner and reserved a tour for the next day. We found one that had many places included but enough time in each place. And a very important thing, the guide did speak English! 😜
The next morning our guide came and pick us up from Pouso da Trilha Hospedagem. Besides us, there were two Brazilian girls on the same tour, Luana and Giulia. It was a nice surprise that we got two Brazilians who could speak English! 😉 It's not that common here that people can speak anything else than Portuguese.
Mucugezinho river and Poço do Diabo waterfall
The first place to visit was Mucugezinho and Poço do Diabo. The first one is a river with few falls and the second one is a proper waterfall. It was just a short walk to the river and the waterfall. We walked on big stones on the river and the stones made natural bridges. We had also some fun photo sessions during the way. Our guide was quite funny and he liked to take photos. Because Edda's knees weren't fully healed yet, Edda didn't wan't to go swim to the first waterfall. Markus, Luana and Giulia went for a short swim. After the swim we saw also some really small monkeys before we returned to the car 😊
Gruta Lapa Doce (cave)
After a while, we arrived to a small parking place. We got flashlights and started to walk to the next sight, Gruta Lapa Doce. After a short walk, we came to a huge cave. We have been to few big caves before, but this one was really huge. It has been a river back in the days when dinosaurs were walking. We walked and walked and the cave just continued. There were many stalagmites and stalactites here and there and other natural formations of stone, sand and other materials. We walked 850m in the cave, but the tunnels in the cave cover around 20km. A bit after the half way we had to sit down, be quiet and turn off our flashlights. It got pitch-black and totally quiet. We couldn't see anything and it started to ring in the ears when it was so quiet. It was quite interesting. 😊
When we got up from the cave we had lunch, and for Edda it was a nice surprise, because there were a lot of vegetables and other vegetarian food. After the food Giulia and Luana introduced a local sweet to us, pacoquinha. It's made from peanuts and it's both sweet and salty, jammy 😋 Edda fell in love with the sweet. 😍
Poco Azul (blue cave) and Gruta da Pratinha (another blue cave 😉)
After the lunch we went to see the famous blue water cave, Poco Azul, but, because it was cloudy, the water wasn't that blue. 😒 Well, it was quite nice anyway and we can't be lucky with the weather all the time. 😜 After this, we went to Gruta da Pratinha, another blue cave-lagoon place. Here we could go snorkeling into the caves and Markus got excited about it. Edda was thinking about it for a while, but decided to skip it because her knees weren't fully healed yet. Both Giulia and Luana were medical students and they said also that it would be better not to go, but that probably nothing would happen if Edda would go. It was good that Edda didn't go, because it was very dark and the flashlights weren't that good so you couldn't see much in the caves. Besides this, the water was freezing! We were totally 5 people and our guide and all of us were shivering of the cold water. The cave itself wasn't that exciting, but outside the cave, it was nice to snorkel with a lot of different fish.
After snorkeling we had around 20 minutes before going to the last place. During this time we had company from some small monkeys. 😃
Morro Do Pai Inacio (tabletop mountains)
Our tour ended at Morro Do Pai Inacio, the famous tabletop mountains. The views were amazing from the top. We knew that we wouldn't see a proper sunset because of the clouds, but it was worth going there anyway. It was a 15-20 min walk up to the top and from there we had spectacular views. We got some nice pics there and we saw a nice moon rise when we were leaving. The moon just rose above the mountains.
In the evening we went for a dinner with the girls to a Mexican restaurant. We had a good time with laughs and interesting conversations. They told us a lot of the Brazilian life in the big cities and asked about our way of living in Finland.
Rio Lencois and Primavera waterfall
The next day we decided to go to a waterfall and other sights in our own. We started around 10am to walk along an almost dry river. It had really interesting formations and colors. It looked almost like someone had made it with all the smooth surfaces and colors.
After a while we came to a place where we weren't really sure where to go, but after a short wondering and a little help from a guide, we found the path again that went through nice small caves.
The path continued along the river and we had to cross it on small stones. It was nice to walk there when we were almost the only ones. After a small hike up, we came to a waterfall, but it was a bit crowded so we decided to continue. We bought a coconut and drank it and also opened it to get the coconut "meat". It took a while and a big group that had been at the previous waterfall continued their way also. It sounded like a crazy carnival group, not a as a group who would enjoy the beauty of the nature. When we finally arrived to the main waterfall, the group came there at the same time. We decided to climb above the waterfall, because the Spanish speaking group sounded like a teenage party... The waterfall was quite nice, but when we came to the top, it had even better views and we couldn't hear the screaming of others. 😜 We had a good time looking around the top and views.
On our way back down, we started to get hungry. It was already 3pm and we had had our breakfast at 8am. Markus climbed fast to a viewpoint on the way. When we arrived to Lencois, we met Giulia and Luana. It was good, because they told us that the entrance to the Table top mountains ends at 5pm. Because we didn't see the sunset previous evening, we had decided to go there again. It was 4pm at that time so we went just to take acai bowls and left to Morro Do Pai Inacio. There was construction work on the road, so we had to wait for about 20 min. This was not good. We were in a rush and we noticed that we are going to be late from 5pm. Luckily they let us in even if we came 5.15pm. We climbed to the top and saw the sunset. It was really nice and beautiful. After the sunset we waited for the moon, but this night it was cloudy on the side where the moon rose, so no moon that night.
We should have checked out the next day, but we decided to stay one more day in Lencois. That day we were just lying in a hammock and took it easy. We planned our stay in Rio, Salvador, Morro de Sao Paulo and Iguazzu falls. In the evening we went for dinner with a nice Brazilian family that we met at our hotel. Valmir and Mayumi and their sons Leonardo and Tiago. After the dinner we went to a cafe and Mayumi told about another local sweet. It was some kind of chocolate ball made of chocolate and condensed milk. It was really good! 😋 We really enjoyed our stay in Lencois, but the time came to an end and it was time to go to Salvador.
On the top of Morro Do Pai Inacio
Lencois
When we arrived to the town, we noticed that driving there is quite difficult. Restaurants and cafes put their tables and chairs on the street, so it is impossible to drive in the center. We could not get to our pousada (=guest house) with the car so we left it a bit further. When we came to the door, we noticed that it was closed and a "for sale" sign on the wall... Not again... We asked about it from the restaurant next door and they told that our pousada is in a different place. Phiuh, it did exist! Bags back to the car and find it again. To this spot we could drive all the way. It was a bit aside from the center but the whole town was so small that even if we were on the edge of the town, we had only 400 meters to the center 😊
Streets at night
Streets at day
The first afternoon / evening we just wondered around, had dinner and reserved a tour for the next day. We found one that had many places included but enough time in each place. And a very important thing, the guide did speak English! 😜
The next morning our guide came and pick us up from Pouso da Trilha Hospedagem. Besides us, there were two Brazilian girls on the same tour, Luana and Giulia. It was a nice surprise that we got two Brazilians who could speak English! 😉 It's not that common here that people can speak anything else than Portuguese.
Mucugezinho river and Poço do Diabo waterfall
The first place to visit was Mucugezinho and Poço do Diabo. The first one is a river with few falls and the second one is a proper waterfall. It was just a short walk to the river and the waterfall. We walked on big stones on the river and the stones made natural bridges. We had also some fun photo sessions during the way. Our guide was quite funny and he liked to take photos. Because Edda's knees weren't fully healed yet, Edda didn't wan't to go swim to the first waterfall. Markus, Luana and Giulia went for a short swim. After the swim we saw also some really small monkeys before we returned to the car 😊
Gruta Lapa Doce (cave)
After a while, we arrived to a small parking place. We got flashlights and started to walk to the next sight, Gruta Lapa Doce. After a short walk, we came to a huge cave. We have been to few big caves before, but this one was really huge. It has been a river back in the days when dinosaurs were walking. We walked and walked and the cave just continued. There were many stalagmites and stalactites here and there and other natural formations of stone, sand and other materials. We walked 850m in the cave, but the tunnels in the cave cover around 20km. A bit after the half way we had to sit down, be quiet and turn off our flashlights. It got pitch-black and totally quiet. We couldn't see anything and it started to ring in the ears when it was so quiet. It was quite interesting. 😊
The huge entrance to the cave
When we got up from the cave we had lunch, and for Edda it was a nice surprise, because there were a lot of vegetables and other vegetarian food. After the food Giulia and Luana introduced a local sweet to us, pacoquinha. It's made from peanuts and it's both sweet and salty, jammy 😋 Edda fell in love with the sweet. 😍
Poco Azul (blue cave) and Gruta da Pratinha (another blue cave 😉)
After the lunch we went to see the famous blue water cave, Poco Azul, but, because it was cloudy, the water wasn't that blue. 😒 Well, it was quite nice anyway and we can't be lucky with the weather all the time. 😜 After this, we went to Gruta da Pratinha, another blue cave-lagoon place. Here we could go snorkeling into the caves and Markus got excited about it. Edda was thinking about it for a while, but decided to skip it because her knees weren't fully healed yet. Both Giulia and Luana were medical students and they said also that it would be better not to go, but that probably nothing would happen if Edda would go. It was good that Edda didn't go, because it was very dark and the flashlights weren't that good so you couldn't see much in the caves. Besides this, the water was freezing! We were totally 5 people and our guide and all of us were shivering of the cold water. The cave itself wasn't that exciting, but outside the cave, it was nice to snorkel with a lot of different fish.
After snorkeling we had around 20 minutes before going to the last place. During this time we had company from some small monkeys. 😃
Our Sony camera managed to catch the blue color on auto better than the eye
Some photo shooting before we went to see the cave
Outside it's good visibility but inside that cave we couldn't see much...
Snorkeling in the cave but didn't see almost anything
Outside the cave it was nice with a lot of fish
Playing with the small monkeys 😊
Morro Do Pai Inacio (tabletop mountains)
Our tour ended at Morro Do Pai Inacio, the famous tabletop mountains. The views were amazing from the top. We knew that we wouldn't see a proper sunset because of the clouds, but it was worth going there anyway. It was a 15-20 min walk up to the top and from there we had spectacular views. We got some nice pics there and we saw a nice moon rise when we were leaving. The moon just rose above the mountains.
On the top of the world 😉
The moon rise was nice
In the evening we went for a dinner with the girls to a Mexican restaurant. We had a good time with laughs and interesting conversations. They told us a lot of the Brazilian life in the big cities and asked about our way of living in Finland.
Dinner time😃
Rio Lencois and Primavera waterfall
The next day we decided to go to a waterfall and other sights in our own. We started around 10am to walk along an almost dry river. It had really interesting formations and colors. It looked almost like someone had made it with all the smooth surfaces and colors.
The bottom of the river was so smooth that it felt almost soft 😄
After a while we came to a place where we weren't really sure where to go, but after a short wondering and a little help from a guide, we found the path again that went through nice small caves.
The path continued along the river and we had to cross it on small stones. It was nice to walk there when we were almost the only ones. After a small hike up, we came to a waterfall, but it was a bit crowded so we decided to continue. We bought a coconut and drank it and also opened it to get the coconut "meat". It took a while and a big group that had been at the previous waterfall continued their way also. It sounded like a crazy carnival group, not a as a group who would enjoy the beauty of the nature. When we finally arrived to the main waterfall, the group came there at the same time. We decided to climb above the waterfall, because the Spanish speaking group sounded like a teenage party... The waterfall was quite nice, but when we came to the top, it had even better views and we couldn't hear the screaming of others. 😜 We had a good time looking around the top and views.
Crossing a river
Found a Christmas colored dragonfly
The first and most crowded waterfall. (managed to take one pic without the other tourists)
Primavera waterfall
Primavera from above
Edda above Primavera waterfall 😉
Found a small waterfall on the top of Primavera and there was nobody else 😄
We got our sunset
We should have checked out the next day, but we decided to stay one more day in Lencois. That day we were just lying in a hammock and took it easy. We planned our stay in Rio, Salvador, Morro de Sao Paulo and Iguazzu falls. In the evening we went for dinner with a nice Brazilian family that we met at our hotel. Valmir and Mayumi and their sons Leonardo and Tiago. After the dinner we went to a cafe and Mayumi told about another local sweet. It was some kind of chocolate ball made of chocolate and condensed milk. It was really good! 😋 We really enjoyed our stay in Lencois, but the time came to an end and it was time to go to Salvador.
Just chilling the last day in Lencois 😁
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