Photos: Brazil----------------
1. Ilheus
2. Itacare
3. Morro de Sao Paulo
4. Salvador
5. Lencois
* The stupidest thing I have ever done
----------------
All,
I am finally off the beaches now and I have to say the last month and a half have been great. 3000 odd kms of Brazils finest beaches and I have loved every minute of it.
I last left you in Ilheus and what a great place to walk around, in fact the only thing to do, so Frederico and I (oh and also Itamar - the least stereotypical Isreali you will ever meet) went on up to Itacare and hired a great place for $5 a night each. The town is the mecca for the surfing fraternity of Brazil and it is easy to see why. Nestled against a river mouth the town stretches across to a great set of 4 beaches that typified a dream tropical beach. Rainforest drips into the water whilst palm trees hang gently over the sand...at the same time perfect 2m waves form and land with a perfect barrel. I sat out the back a couple of days and watched the surfers come through the tubes like I was living in a 3D surfing magazine. The nightlife was great - saw too many sunrises. One day we walked to Prahina Beach, considered one of the top 10 in Brazil, hired a kayak for a day and paddled up the river and through some mangroves, the erst of the time was spent relaxing on the sand. In addition the place had the best bakery since well La Petite Lorraine in St Ives (Rob you owe me a cake for the plug), and it makes a big difference instead of the same old pizza or beans and rice.
After 5 days of suffering with the perfect locations Frederico and I left Itamar and roughed it on Morro, and what a great place. If Itacare typified surfing this place was the ideal tropical island, nice clean beaches, mountainous terrain, no roads only sand walking paths, beautiful sceanery and sunsets to die for. So yes I did like the place, we stayed in a great little hostel right on the sand and though some rain dampened our spirits at first the sun shone brightly and we made the most of our days. We managed to find a very small waterfall and one of the best days was a day trip with some friends that we met, a great day out to some amazing places.
We took a boat to Salvador and on the way I think 90% of the boat was throwing up...so many long gazes at the horizon was in order. Salvador is one great place, built on two levels the town muscles the hill, it is the top part where all of the action is. So after catching the 1930´s elevator up the hill ($0.02) we found a place in the old colonial sector. We arrived just in time for the big Sao Joao festival, think Big Day Out but everyone playing heel and toe polker music...yes that much fun...and this goes on for 5 nights until 6am. SO we took to the streets and explored and explored, found some great old buildings and squares. But the real draw card is the culture of Salvador, they love life and live it to its fullest. It is very rich in African tradition and this moves the people in dance, life, food and relaxation. The best part by far in my books is the drum bands that wander the streets with throngs of people following in their wake all dancing to heavy beats that reverberate off the narrow streets...it is electric.
Most nights we found ourselves sitting in the same bar on the streets watching the thousands of people walk by, random bands walking past and many a street pusher wanting some money, in fact way too many of these and it takes a while to get known so they do not hassle you.
Frederico departed at this stage and again it was a pleasure spending the past month or so with you buddy, I enjoyed it a lot. Oh also kept meeting up with Itamar in Salvador even though he was not supposed to be there.
Next off I said farewell to the beaches after trying to get on a boat heading north, and found myself in Lencois the main town for Chapada Dimantina...a great N.P bigger than Holland. The place was amazing, another colonial town settled for the Diamionds that used to be there and though the festival was still on I escaped to the bush and did a lot of hiking. The N.P is full of waterfalls, massive valleys and huge monoliths...funny thing is that it reminded me a lot of Tasmania only with palm trees.
Now good things first I went on a 3 day hike to the base and then the top of Brazil´s largest waterfall (400m - Fumaca), it was a great hike, sleeping in caves and swimming in pristine waterfalls, the guide was cool and I loved the hike.
In brief as this could take me a whole day to write, but the stupidest thing I have ever done is try and find a way through the Brazilian jungle knowing that there was no trail...well the map had one but the landscape failed to show anything. After deciding to go on a day hike up the valley following the river, get to the end of the moutain and turn right to the road and hitch hike back to town..easy right? Well no, the first part was fine and I waled and walked up the river valley following the free flowing stream, the valley got narrower and narrower and the bush denser and denser. At one stage I was moving at about 100m/hr and the jungle was so thick that I could not see in front behind or to the sides. So I thought I saw a trail and climbed the valley wall about 150m but nothing there, so I climbed higher to about 250m up the wall and saw that the day was getting on, water was low, sun setting and I had no resigned to the fact that I was going to spend a night in the open. Seeing that the other valley wall still had sun and less junglçe I went back down into hell and up another 250m up a waterfall, stopping to rest just as sun was setting and no caves in sight I had visions of being one of those idiots that everyone hates on 60 minutes telling stories of survival, I turned around and saw back on the valley floor a small hut with smoke, so I yelled out and made my way back down. Found the hut and though my saviour spoke no english and me no Portugese we managed to converse what happened. Isaccson is the best and the little coffee farmer and he helpers gave me clothes to wear while mine dried, a great deal of food, a bed to sleep in and even let of firecrackers at night.
Early rise in the morning and after breackfast he walked me to the track and then I managed to walk to the road in about 3 hrs and get a ride into town with a beer delivery guy. Walking back into the hostel I was yelled at in Portugese and told that the police and firebrigade were out looking for me, all of the local guides were on alert....and so on and so on. But I made it back and learnt a couple of things, the map I had lied and the track marked did not exist, in fact all of the maps are not precise for the area. It was one hell of an adventure and though I caused some heartache for some people I have some great photos.....I did learn something from this though...the guy who grows the coffee knows how to brew the coffee..
I am now in Brasilia and will report on the steriod induced Canberra in the next report.
Roland
No comments:
Post a Comment