2012, 8th – 18th February: Puerto Colombia, Chichirivichi & Coro, Venezuela

2012, 8th – 18th February: Puerto Colombia, Chichirivichi & Coro, Venezuela

My first ten days in Venezuela were spent along the Caribbean coast in the north west of the country, visiting the small coastal towns of Puerto Colombia and Chichirivichi as well as the city of Coro.

For the photos covering this period of my travels, use the following link to Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212524@N04/sets/72157629104162690/

Puerto Colombia: 8th – 11th February

I flew into the capital, Caracas, but given the widespread reputation the city has for crime and violence (even amongst Venezuelans), I elected to steer well clear and arranged an airport pick-up straight to Puerto Colombia. Being a peaceful and picturesque colonial town three hours west of the city it is a world away from Caracas.

Puerto Colombia is on the north coast of Parque Nacional Henri Pittier which includes mountains and beaches. The nearby palm tree-lined beaches are visually stunning because they have the rich blue Caribbean Sea on one side, with the land rising immediately to forest covered mountains on the other – though such a steeply rising land mass does make for some turbulent wave forms, so the beaches are not the best for swimming.

Playa Grande Near Puerto Colombia

I was lucky to meet some great people in the Posada - Stefan and Martina from Sweden and Maria from Germany. I ended up hanging out with them in Puerto Colombia as well as Chichirivichi.

My time in Puerto Colombia was spent on the nearby Playa (beach) Grande, on a boat trip to nearby Playa Valle Seco, and on a walk up a nearby mountain to an abandoned hotel where there were great views down to Puerto Colombia and neighbouring Choroni.

Chichirivichi: 12th – 14th February

Chichirivichi is a small coastal town close to Parque Nacional Morrocoy, a beautiful area of numerous islands, islets, cays and mangrove-lined bays.  With my new friends we spent our days making excursions by fast launch out to many coastal highlights which included Cayo Peraza, Cayo Sombrero, Golfete de Cuare and Cayo Pescadores (where ´cayo´ means small island). The Chicirivichi quay side was awash with men hustling for business on their different launches, so some haggling was required to achieve a reasonable price.

While speeding around the coastal area on the launch or walking on the beaches of the islands we visited, I was presented with a stunning array of colours, from crystal clear water in the shallows over white sands, through aquamarine hues and darker blues over rocks and the deeps. The vistas were completed by more blues in the skies and bordered by mangroves and palms.

Beach on Cayo Sombrero, Parque Nacional Morrocoy

Suffice to say the sea was wonderfully warm and days were passed swimming, resting in the shade of palm trees and wondering which island to visit the next day. The seas were not as rich in sea life as other places in the Caribbean, but there were a range of fish to spot and even a cay with starfish.

Starfish in Parque Nacional Morrocoy

Coro: 15th – 18th February

Coro is a city close to Peninsula de Paraguaná in the north west of the country. While it has a colonial area it cannot claim to be a visual jewel. After all the beautiful dunes I saw in Brazil and the stunning beaches of the Henri Pittier and Morrocy national parks in Venezuela as well as other beaches in Brazil, the coastal areas near to Coro struggled to compete with my visual memories from earlier travels.  A visit to the beach at Adicora on Peninsula de Paraguaná was only a place for a good swimming workout – ah, it seems like I have been spoilt by stunning beaches elsewhere during my travels as I´m getting picky! So some of my most memorable Coro moments were hanging out and cooking with more great people in a pleasant posada and a street parade at the start of Carnival weekend.

Maria from Germany continued travelling with me and just before leaving Chichivirichi we hooked up with Ivo and Marije from Holland and Nando and Fabienne from Switzerland. We all stayed in the same posada. We all wanted a break from the typical fayre found in many Venezuelan eateries which can lean towards the stodgy side of possibilities, which along with regular frying of food leaves one feeling in need of dishes centred on fruit and vegetables. So we all chipped in and ate healthily and heartily for three days.

Tim & Friends Enjoying ´Home-Cooked´ Food

My final few days in Coro coincided with the start of the Carnival weekend (celebrated throughout South America). One day there was a large street parade which was predominantly for children. Each of the numerous groups had their own themed costumes and many had a percussive band accompanying them. The enthusiasm of the people made for some great photos.

Coro Carnival Exuberance

Coro Carnival Rhythms

Coro Carnival Costume

Venezuelan Food Experiences (So Far)

It is fair to say that Venezuelans like it doughy and fried which likely explains the large number of spare tyres walking around. One food I like is a breakfast item called an arepa. It is a flat circular patty made of maize flour and cooked with a little oil on a hot plate. It is sliced open and filled with many possibilities including shredded beef or chicken or fish. It is funny that if you buy a cheese one, it automatically comes with ham in addition to the cheese (though the ham is not mentioned) – vegetarianism…what on earth is that?!

Venezuelan Currency

One can obtain the Venezuelan currency (Bolivares – abbreviated to Bs) one of two ways; from the banks or from other sources. If you go for the latter, you will achieve an exchange rate that is nearly twice (yes twice) as good, which would almost half the cost of your time in the country.

As a Bolivare is not really worth that much, you end up feeling like a money lender with the amount of notes that end up in your wallet. Also, with the rate at which you dish out twenties when journeying around on buses or shopping for food you think that you´re blowing the budget, but then you remind yourself that 20 Bs is not a lot of money (about £1.80 with exchange rate from other sources).

Venezuelan Petrol Prices

If you are a fellow European, the petrol prices in Venezuela will ´do your head in´. During my time in the country, the cost was a little under 0.1 Bs per litre. When I first saw this price displayed on a pump I had to re-do the sums in my head again and again because I could not believe what I was seeing. To put this price in context, here are some related currency conversions (as of mid-February 2012):

Official exchange rate (at banks etc):  £1.00 = Bs 6.8

Exchange rate from other sources: £1.00 = Bs 11

Petrol price in Venezuela based upon official rate:  1.5 pence per litre

Based upon other exchange rate:  0.9 pence per litre.

So we´re talking in the realms of 1 pence per litre !!!!!

Let us now relate this to the current crude oil price, which is $103 per barrel on WTI basis and $120 per barrel for Brent crude. Using a conservative rate of $100 per barrel this gives $0.63 (£0.40) per litre for crude.

Crude oil will have to have all the other fractions and gunk refined out of it before it becomes petrol. Once this is done, it will be worth a lot more. So when refined petrol is being sold for less than one fortieth of the price of crude, it is clear that President Hugo Chávez is effectively giving it away (maybe to win votes from the less affluent). The 0.1 Bs charged per litre is likely just the markup charged by the petrol station to cover their operating costs.

As a closing remark to sum it all up; so far the cheapest mineral water I have found is Bs 15 for 5 litres (Bs 3 per litre), so petrol at the pump is nominally 30 times cheaper than mineral water in Venezuela!

Venezuelan Cars & Trucks – Fuel Economy

Why might a great many Venezuelans care about the price of petrol? Because what many of them drive drinks the stuff. Around a third of the cars and trucks in Coro are a big lump of metal with an old boat engine in it – not quite, but that´s an indication of the engineering prowess. Most of these metallic hunks are cars from 1960´s, 70´s and 80´s United States of America. When brand new I doubt these metal monoliths on wheels were getting more than 20 miles per gallon, and now in Venezuela in 2012 probably around 6. They all run rich, making for a soupy atmosphere at road junctions. The knackered state of many of them is entertaining, but really, if you´re only paying 1 pence per litre you´re not going to be too bothered if the fuel gauge drops like a whore´s drawers.

Metal Monolith on Wheels in Coro

Venezuelan Cars & Trucks – Sound Systems

It seems that in Venezuela, as a man your wheels and your sound system are right up there as factors in determining where you are in the pecking order. If you have the money to buy a set of wheels other than the hunks of metal on wheels mentioned above, then your next priority is the sound system – it must be loud and coloured lights are even better.

Then it´s off to park at the local hang-out place with your boot open and the bass bins jumping to draw all those pretty women with your pop-samba and latino-pop-funk.

Venezuelan Buses – Sound Systems

I get the impression that the local Venezuelan buses are owned by collectives, so they treat them as a personal possession – as such the stereo system is an important accessory.  As a minimum, the panel above the windscreen will be full of tweeters and bass cones. There will also most likely be a pair of hi-fi speakers near the back on the luggage rack and the real men also have a sub-woofer somewhere on the bus too.

Venezuelan Bus Sound System (Speakers on Panel Above Windscreen)

The ticket collector is that plus a DJ and journeys are spent listening to all his bouncing sounds – sometimes it´s really loud. A suited English gent with his newspaper would probably spontaneously combust with indignation in such an environment.

2012, 29th January – 7th February: São Luis, Belém & São Paulo, Brazil

2012, 29th January – 7th February: São Luis, Belém & São Paulo, Brazil

My final days in Brazil were spent in the cities of São Luis, Belém and São Paulo.

For the photos covering this period of my travels, use the following link to Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212524@N04/sets/72157629468325835/

São Luis: 29th & 30th January

On my route from Barreirinhas to Belém, I stopped for one night in São Luis. I stayed in the colonial centre. The city did not capture me. The historic area has some character, but the exteriors of many of the buildings are in need of renovation, which takes the edge off the charm of the place. Away from the historic area and into the commercial centre there is little that grabbed my attention.

Belém: 31st January – 2nd February

The mighty Amazon is an iconic world river, so as part of my Brazilian travels I wanted to at least got a feel for the river systems that drain the vast swathe of Brazil. However, I did not fancy a week travelling upstream in a hammock on a (reportedly) very mucky boat to Manaus. So for me, while Belém is not actually on the Amazon river itself, it is close and Belém´s rivers (such as Rio Guamá) offered me an appreciation of a very similar river environment.

The hot and humid city of Belém is bordered by Rio Guamá close to where this river meets Rio Pará. The mouth of the Amazon river is to the north east, the other side of the large island Ilha de Marajó. One day, rather than take one of the very expensive tourist boat trips on the river, I took a public ferry across Rio Guamá to Araparí and back. The importance of river transport in the area was very apparent, with numerous ferries as well as a car transporter and even a floating petrol station. Even though Rio Guamá is small compared to the Amazon (but then most rivers are), it is very wide with dense vegetation along all its banks.

Port at Cidade Velha (Old City) in Belém

The city of Belém starts from the Cidade Velha (Old City) near to the port, which has many historic buildings, a fort, many old churches (Cathedral da Sé is particularly beautiful inside) as well as the bustling Ver-o-Peso market. The streets of nearby Comércio (commercial district) have a chaotic mix of stores, with plenty of hustle and bustle.  After this, the Nazaré district (where my hostel was) is more relaxing with tree-lined avenues.

One afternoon  I took a tour of the Theatro (theatre) da Paz which is very ornate inside. It was built in the 19^th Century in the rich days of the rubber boom. The benefactors wanted to emulate the style of European buildings and splashed-out on ornate woodwork, stonework and decorative features.

Central Light in Theatro da Paz, Belém

On my last full day in Belém I went on a canoeing excursion - joining two men from Israel (Guy and Geva) that I met in the hostel. We paddled on a ´small´ river to the north of the city and enjoyed exploring it´s small tributaries. All the banks were lined with mangrove trees and the mud at its edges was home to countless crabs. We finished with a swim in the river and a delicious lunch of local fish. When back in Belém, an açai smoothie was the order of the day. Açai is a berry-like purple Amazonian fruit which tastes more like blueberry than raspberry. It is very popular in Brazil and the smoothies are normally made with something less sharp such as banana or guaraná (another Amazonian fruit) to make the smoothie less tart.

Tim & Friends Canoeing on River North of Belém

São Paulo: 3rd to 7th February

I wanted to travel from Brazil to Venezuela by plane, but my research showed the only way to make the route from Belém to Caracas was to change in a major city. One of the options was to change in São Paulo, which gave me the perfect excuse to stop there a few days and visit my new-found friends Sergio and Mariangela who live there. I met Sergio while travelling in Argentina, while Mariangela is a friend-of-a-friend back home.

I stayed at Sergio´s home with his girlfriend Leomar. Sergio was very kind and arranged some social events for me to join. His very amiable friends made for some fun times, including a party at Sergio´s house with many home-made pizzas (even chocolate and banana or strawberry – obviously without tomato) and a sing-along session with one of his friends on guitar and yours truly on a improvised bongo (old plastic drum).

Sergio, Leomar, Mariangela and friends strengthened the opinion that I had already formed while in Brazil – that Brazilians are nice people.

Mariangela, Tim & Sergio

2012, 22nd - 28th January: Barreirinhas & Lençois Maranheses, Maranhão, Brazil

2012, 22nd - 28th January: Barreirinhas & Lençois Maranheses, Maranhão, Brazil

I am sad to say that the number of photos available for this exciting part of my travels is rather limited. This is because a computer virus on a PC in an internet café corrupted some of the files on my SD card. Unfortunately, the best photos taken during my time in the centre of the national park (which were the most spectacular and beautiful) are lost.

Those photos that survived can be found by following this link to my Flickr account.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212524@N04/sets/72157629271664677/ 

You will see a big chronological gap in the photos, which is the result of the missing files that were corrupted. Hopefully, my descriptions of the places and sights go some way to recreating the images.

The small town of Barreirinhas in the state of Maranhão lies 3-4 hours east of the city of São Luis. Barreirinhas is a convenient base for starting treks in the national park Lençois Maranheses - a vast complex of sand dunes that runs parallel to the coast from Rio Preguiças in the east to Rio Allegro in the west. The national park is known for the numerous water pools that form in the depressions between the dunes after the rainy seasons. Though during my time there all but a handful of pools were dry. While this did mean that the trek was much hotter (no pools to cool off in), it did mean that progress was not impeded by having to wade through the many pools which would be a feature of any trek made in the months after the heavy rains. I made a fourday guided trek (fifth day getting back to Barreirinhas) through the national park. With my guide Alisson we walked between remote settlements where we stayed each night. Two of these were on the edge of the dunes, but two were located in 'oases' in the middle of the vast expanse of sand. I use the term oases because the dunes are not a desert as they do receive heavy seasonal rains, however, during the dry months when virtually all the water pools are dried up it feels like a desert with the settlements the only places where water can be found (via wells).

Day 1: Lagoa Azul to Canto do Atins

We accessed the national park by joining a party of tourists who were being driven by jeep to a pool at the edge of the park called Lagoa Azul (one of te few pools that is present during the dry seasons). The jeep journeyed along sandy tracks as well as making a short river crossing on a tiny flat ferry.

I foolishly brought my hike boots with me which then ended up being an unnecessary weight in my rucksack for five days. As I found out; wearing footwear on the dunes is a little pointless as it would just fill up with sand, so I started my first bare footed trek - see discussion on footwear later in this blog entry.

The colours of the dunes were somewhat subdued on the first day as it rained for much of the time. Being close to the edge of the national park on this route, there was more vegetation present than towards the centre - though it was still sparse. So around some of the dried-up pools there were bushes bearing the odd tiny fruit to nibble on.

The walk to Copo do Atins was fairly short at 4 to 5 hours. The settlement of around eleven dwellings is located close to the shore in the north east of the national park. We stayed in a small pousada who provided a great evening meal of locally caught shrimp, rice, beans and farofa.

The Shore at Copo do Atins

Day 2: Copo do Atins to Baixo Grande

This day was the toughest as it was the longest and the hottest. The walk started by following the beach, before heading away from the coast towards Baixo Grande which is located close to the centre of the national park. Once away from the cooling effect of being close to the sea and as the time approached the hottest part of the day (midday till two), the feeling of walking in a desert-like environment was very apparent. My three litres of water was nowhere near enough for the journey.

As we headed away from the shore, the physical environment gradually changed from relatively flat expanses of sand with some scrubby grasses to progressively larger sand dunes with virtually no vegetation. As the sun moved higher in the sky, the colours of the sand became whiter in its glare. In such a vast area where winds can progress unimpeded, there was a nearly constant breeze or wind which did provide some relief from the sun and ensure that the temperature of the sand was not too hot to walk on in bare feet. In the midst of the wide expanse of hot white dunes I could imagine that a few more hours isolated in such a place would lead to an advancing lethargy and a stumbling progression to a hot stupor full of imaginings of water - 'just give me some water......'.

The Flat Area of Sand Close to the Shore

When descending the large dunes on their leeward sides I sank to halfway up my shins in the soft sand - a good example of why bare feet is best. This sand was sheltered from the cooling effect of the wind and in bare feet it felt really hot - ouch.

As one would expect, the windward side of the dunes have a gradual slope while the leeward faces fall away steeply. It is on the windward sides and tops of the dunes where the wind carves its magic. As well as all the wave-like ripples that are always present, there are also patches of grains of different densities and colours (browns and charcoals contrasting with the bulk whites and creams). These are distributed into long arcs that form patterns and lines of darker sand 'drawn' onto the vast expanses of pale sand. Sometimes the effects of previous rain showers form the sand into harder patches where the light and dark grains form beautiful sculptured lines, full of peaks and arcs woven into patterns that have recurring features but which are never wholly repeated.

A Large Dried-Up Water Pool in a Depression Between Dunes

Some of the depressions between the dunes had damp earth at the base (a remnant of the dried-up water pools) - enough to support a scattering of rough grasses. I think that the constant shifting of the sands by the winds means that places where pools once resided long enough to nourish a substantial shrub are now a dry pit. As a result, I sometimes came across the blackened stumps of long-dead trees, which provided a striking juxtaposition of colours against the pale dunes.

The Desert-Like Environment On Top of a Vast Dune

We reached the 'oasis' of Baixe Grande at around 2pm. It was a relief because the full heat of the day was scorching and my water had run out. Baixe Grande is a large expanse of shrubs with some palm trees. A handful of families live there which must make for a pretty tough life as it is unsupported by roads or tracks (such features would quickly be buried by sand). After arriving and downing a lot of water, I was asked by the host whether I would like chicken for my evening meal later. I said yes, so shortly after the yard was minus one chicken. The Rio Negro does pass close by the settlement, but it was completely dry when I was there, so all the water was drawn from a well and the shower was just a bucket held above one's head.

After resting away from the afternoon heat, in the evening Alisson and me climbed back onto the dunes near the settlement to see the effects of the low sun, which after having it's light scattered by some sporadic clouds, cast beautiful blue and grey hues over the expanses of sand.

Day 3: Baixe Grande to Geimada dos Britos

A short day of only about three hours walking - the duration was dictated by the distance between the two 'oases' of Baixe Grande and Geimada dos Britos, with the latter being the next place we stayed. At one point I came across some natural sand sculptures, where the wind had carved the sand into shapes that one might expect to see on a potter´s wheel - cylinders with wave-like circumferences.

It was nice to finish the days walking before the heat of the day really kicked-in, and the afternoon was spent in the shade of the roofs of our host's homestead just snoozing and reading. In the late afternoon Alisson and me climbed the dunes near to the 'oasis' and I marvelled at the natural beauty of the place. In the low sunlight, the dunes took on a yellow hue which softened the appearance of their various surfaces. The low light added shade and form to the dunes, casting them into relief and sharpening their edges in pleasing offset straight and diagonal lines. All this was against a backdrop of a rich blue sky. Some black dead tree stumps in one depression helped one to fix a point in space in the midst of such a transient landscape.

Day 4: Geimada dos Britos to Betania

The day's trekking started with the traverse of more dunes, followed by a period walking through scrub land at the edge of the national park. To avoid the peak intensity of the sun we took a long lunch break in the home of a family with father, mother and six children living in a small simple building. They provided coconut water (drunk straight from the coconut) and a lunch of fish, rice and beans. After lunch I passed some time reading a novel on my 'Kindle' (electronic book). For a time I was absorbed in the story unaware of that a group of onlookers had formed behind me. The father and children were fascinated by the e-book.

During our onward walk through the scrub land we were accompanied by the two eldest sons on their bicycles. One of them kindly kept me supplied with various small fruits picked from the bushes along the way. The last part of the day's walk was in the pleasant late afternoon light and was once again across dunes - many of them impressively high, making for fun descents. Some local men happened to be making the same route - but on bicycles. Seeing the guys pedalling across such an unreal landscape tickled my humour and resulted in some entertaining photos.

The finale of the day saw us reach Rio Allegro which was at a low enough level for us to wade across. In the village of Betania we slept in a local bar - an alfresco affair with just a roof covering. A nearby offshoot of the river afforded a refreshing swim. Betania was the first place in four days that was connected to the electrical grid.

Looking Down to Rio Allegro

Day 5: Britania to Santos Amaro

 This day was mainly concerned with getting back to the town of Barreirinhas. A short three hour walk was all that was required to get from Betania to Santos Amaro where we would take transport back to Barreirinhas. The infrastructure of Santos Amaro struck me as a little strange because while there were some paved roads in the centre of the small town, there are no paved roads connecting it to the 'outside world'. In fact, to get from Santos Amaro to the main road where we could then take further transport back to Barreirinhas, we had to spend two hours travelling 'offroad' by jeep along sandy tracks. The difficulty of readily transporting goods along such a prohibitively slow route likely explains why when I ordered a pizza for lunch in a bar in the town I was told that they could not make me one because 'there is no cheese in Santos Amaro' - i.e. the whole town had run out.

The Dwellings

The buildings in the dunes such as those in Baixe Grande and Geimada dos Britos are simple constructions - just concrete screed as a floor, then trunks of small trees for vertical supports and roof members, with the roof covered with palm leaves - though I did spot some polythene sheeting in the roof so palm leaves are not that good! Sometimes the walls are left open to the breeze, otherwise they are made of thin branches. If you want a fence around the building to keep the chickens and pigs out, then some thin wooden steaks suffice.

I considered that in such a climate where it is never cold, with the worst it throws at you being some heavy seasonal rains, one can easily survive in a very simply constructed dwelling - a far cry from the homes of us British mortgage slaves. If you really want some electricity, you can start-up the generator (if you have one), otherwise you sleep when it gets dark and get up when it is light. Seeing such 'cheaply built' homes, I reflected that the cost of living associated with your home is like the cost of building and operating an aeroplane. The faster you want to fly, the bigger engines you need, but the bigger the engines needs more fuel and you must have wider wings to lift this extra fuel. But then you need a bigger engines still to provide enough thrust to power the bigger plane, for which you need more fuel and so on and so on. In the modern city, the grander your house and the more possessions within it, the more money is required to fuel it all. At the outset you want to go faster, but then you end up running all the time just to keep up enough speed to stop it all falling out of the sky. Seeing people live quite happily on very little (in the analogy, flying a much smaller, slower plane) made me stop to reflect on what one really needs to survive. That said; after such right-on ramblings, such an existence would not work for me back home for two distinct reasons: Most importantly, one could not survive with any degree of good health in such a simple dwelling in the sometimes very cold and wet UK. Furthermore, the lack of stimulation living in such a place would eventually get me down a bit. So I have no desire to sell-up and live in the dunes just yet. Nevertheless, during my travels in northern Brazil I have seen vast numbers of people surviving of what seems to be next to nothing and I am developing a respect for people who can live such lives with grace and a smile.

Footwear

After seven weeks in Brazil, I can safely say that I have 'gone native' on footwear - which means that I wear flip-flops all the time. Prior to spending an extended period in a hot and often humid country, I considered flip-flops to be rather ineffectual items - good only for a brief excursion from the beach to an ice-cream stall and back. However, while here in Brazil, one does have to consider that there might be something in this whole flip-flop malarky. Well, if you are prepared to get through the early days with red skin between your big toes and the next ones, then you're away on an alfresco foot life. With all the flipping and flopping that goes on, your feet are well ventilated and you (and those nearby) can enjoy a whiff free time. So now I live in the things, spending full days walking around cities, taking planes, going on nights out, with a cheerful flip and a content flop.

So now for the real-man's footwear challenge - the four day bare foot dune trek. As one might expect, the sand dunes contain quite a lot of the stuff, with most of it near your feet. So a dune trek in northern Brazil in lace-up footwear would involve the sensation of walking with your feet in sand bags, plus with the heat and humidity and all, there would be curds and whey swilling around your boots by the end of the day - making a nice cheddar 'n' sand combo in your socks. Your next option is the good old flip-flops, but the trouble is the loose sand is flipped and flopped up into the air and your footwear acts like a pair of sand shovels. So that leaves the hard-core 'going native' option of bare foot trekking. All good until one's poor little, normally protected, heels and pads of toes start to blister. Then the sentence 'oh my ****ing feet' does sound in one's head with some regularity.

Well, apart from taking some brief rest-bites in my flip-flops when my skin really stung, I did complete the trek in bare feet, though I was left with some mighty blisters (see photos) - next stop hot coals? I am left with one question though, in Brazil, is a suit-flip-flop combo considered appropriate attire for business meetings - maybe as long as the flip-flops are black?

2012, 6th - 8th & 20th - 21st January: Salvador, Brazil

2012, 6th - 8th & 20th - 21st January: Salvador, Brazil

For more photos follow this link to the set in my Flickr account:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212524@N04/sets/72157629000105943/

There are not so many photos accompanying this blog entry as I was not inclined to carry my camera around Salvador too much as it has a reputation for street crime - so I thought it best to be cautious.

My time in the city was spread across two separate weekends, with my visit to Lençois in-between these two stops in Salvador. I stayed in the Barra district which is at the end of the peninsula on which the city is built. Barra (pronounced Ba-ha) is a more relaxed place to stay than (say) the Pelourinho as there is less street crime. In fact, I felt relaxed in Barra while I had heard a lot of stories of ´issues´ on certain streets in and around the Pelourinho.

It is with thanks to a friend Laura in Rio de Janeiro (that I met through my host there) that I had such a sociable time in Salvador. Laura put me in touch with some of her friends in Salvador, and Brazilians (as well as someone from the US) being such nice people they volunteered to show me around the place.

On my first weekend there I met with Túlio. I accompanied him, Kate and Tanure on their boat. We sailed from a marina in Baía Todos-os-Santos which is the large bay to the west of Salvador. We made a trip into the main bay in the direction of Salvador - giving views of the city in the distance, before heading to the shores of a small island (Ilha de Mare) where we dropped anchor. Túlio phoned a restaurant on the island who delivered (by launch) a lunch of shrimp, lobster, crab, salad and farofa to our boat (tough life isn´t it).

Kate, Tanure & Túlio on their Sailing Boat

On my second weekend in Salvador I spent time with Lisa who I met through Túlio. Lisa is from the US but has lived in Salvador for many years, so she has a great knowledge of the city. One evening we visited the Pelourinho district, which is a historic quarter (the city centre during the Portuguese colonial period). It has plenty of charm (and a bit of grit too). The name Pelourinho means whipping post  - there was one in it´s central plaza for punishment of slaves. Now the district is a hotbed of Bahian music and dance with many schools and theatres. Lisa took me to a performance called Balé Folclórico da Bahia held at a small theatre. Accompanied by live musicians at the back of the stage, the dancers performed many pieces from traditional African dances with the Gods (Orixá) - including homages to the Gods of war, rivers and lakes, death, storms, hunting and fire. A visually inspiring pieces was the fisherman´s dance (Puxada de Rede) with rising circular movement which was uplifting. The highlight of the evening for me was the Capoeira, a dance which (normally gently) mimics fighting and which was originally performed by slaves in Brazil. The form performed at the theatre was a more athletic and acrobatic version than the original more gentle and fluid Capoeira Angola, so plenty of multiple back-flips, high kicks, posturing and bravado. This is more of a showy form of Capoeira and it is certainly very entertaining with more wow factor. However, the Angola version (which we saw in a plaza later in the evening) is more ´dreamy´ and flowing - maybe a little longer-lasting if you are into nodding along to simple rhythms in a chilled stylee.

After the theatre we wondered the cobbled streets of the Pelourinho, admiring the colonial architecture. The many music and dance schools on the first floors of buildings were sending out the banging rhythms of live percussion - leading to a real cocophany of sound in the streets. We stopped at the stall selling traditional Bahian cusine - tended by a fine looking black woman in traditional dress. The food on offer was typically Bahian; including dishes made with shrimp, beans and manioc flour (acarajé is a memorable one) as well as sweet dishes made with tapioca - and typically for Brazil only a passing glance at vegetables. Around the Pelourinho there were various performances in full flow - these involved a group of really competent percussionists playing carnival-esque banging rhythms with a vocalist on the mic.

Lisa & Tim with Bahian Food Street Vendor in the Pelourinho

 Banging Bahian Rhythms in the Pelourinho

The next day I joined Lisa and two of her friends (Tom and Paulo) for lunch which included more Bahian food such as farofa (made with manioc flour) and moqueca (a fish stew with coconut milk). In the evening Lisa took me to a jazz performance at the Modern Art Museum which is by the sea - a pleasant spot in the setting sun with some really competent musicians playing jazz with some Bahian percussion fused-in at times.

My enjoyment of Salvador is largely due to my kind hosts - so thanks go out to them.

2012, 9th - 19th January: Lençois, Bahia, Brazil

2012, 9th - 19th January: Lençois, Bahia, Brazil

For a full complement of photos, follow this link to the set in my Flickr account:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212524@N04/sets/72157628966021785/

Lençois is a small town around 6 hours west of Salvador in the state of Bahia. It is located next to the Chapada Diamantina National Park. Chapada means ´elevated plateau´ and diamantina means diamonds. The town and others in the area grew up in the days of diamond mining which started in the region in the 19th century and ended (I believe) 30 or 40 years ago. The main attraction of the area are the numerous plateaus, mountains, valleys, canyons, rivers, waterfalls and caves.

The rock in the area was formed from marine sediment. This is evident in the sides of the mountains and canyons by the layer upon layer of rock (formed from layer upon layer of sediment layed down many years ago). Tectonic activity later pushed the whole area upwards, causing the rock to crack. These cracks were then subject to erosion over millions of years which formed the numerous mountains, valleys and canyons.

I was glad to experience this area of Brazil because before visiting the country, I perceived that the only features on offer were jungles, cities and beaches - I happily stood corrected.

I lost a few days at the beginning of my stay here while I had to rest after catching a mild virus. Other ´off´ days were spent waiting for treks to be available and catching up on these blog entries, photo uploading and arranging the logistics of my onward travel northwards in Brazil as well as the next country (Venezuela).

 Four Day Trek in Chapada Diamantina National Park

13th - 16th January

I made the four day trek with a local guide (Puma) and a British traveller (Drew). We walked in the Chapada Diamantina national park - bivouacing as well as staying in simple pousadas located in the valleys of the park. The park is well protected, with no roads at all within its borders.

The water in the rivers and pools throughout the park is a coloured brown from the organic matter it contains (plant and soil). However, it tasted reasonable and drinking it did me no harm.

Day 1

Starting near to the town of Guiné, we climbed Aleixo Hill onto the plateau Gerais do Rio Preto. During the walk across the plateua Puma pointed out orchids and other fauna. We spent the night under a rock overhang at Toca do Gaviáo. A very friendly group of Portuguese hikers were there and they spoke excellent English, so we spent a sociable evening sharing the shelter of the rock overhang, with Puma making a great meal on a fire.

Many of the plateaus in the park are at a resonable elevation (800 metres or more), so it was surprisingly a little chilly under the biviouc even though the time was during a Brazilian summer. The cool nightime temperatures also brought in a light mist.

Day 2

After setting off along the plateau it was not long until we reached a spectacular sight - the point where the Cachoeirão waterfall plunges into the Vale (valley) do Cachoeirão (which is canyon like in shape). Due to dry weather however, the waterfall was tiny (almost non-existent). The view was fantastic with a sheer drop to the base below and a grand vista up the length of the canyon. As well as a great flat viewing point to sit on (part of the river bed when it is in full flow), there was also a pointed section of rock jutting out over the vast drop where the brave could sit - right over the canyon. I had a go which made for spectular photos.

View of Vale do Cachoeirão from the Cachoeirão Waterfall

Tim Sitting Above Vale do Cachoeirão

A hot walk in the afternoon sun brought us to the edge of another valley which had commanding views to Castle Hill (Morro do Castelo) on the other side. The hill (a small mountain really) got it´s name from the turret-like rocky outcrops that surround it´s long flat summit. A steep descent into the valley followed and evening rain produced some picturesque rainbows. After getting wet it was a welcome relief to be able to spend a night in some rustic pousada accommodation at Prefeitura. In the posusadas they cook on wood-fired stoves, and our guide Puma produced another fine meal.

Morro do Castelo in the Distance

Day 3

Our day´s walking involved a rainy start, but by the time we reached pousada Casa do Linda, the rain had stopped and in the Brazilian summer heat it does not take long to dry. We were able to leave our packs at the pousada (where we would sleep that night) before heading up the Vale do Cachoeirão (which we looked down on from above on Day 2). On the way up the valley we followed the path of the river, so the whole way was scrambling across boulders large and small. The river was at a low level, but not so low as to spoil our fun in a fantastic natural swimming pool with a refreshing waterfall at one end. After jumping in I was surprised to find somethings biting me - these turned out to be little fish having a harmless nibble.

Our onward boulder walk became more tricky as the surfaces became more mossy towards the more shaded head of the valley, but the sight at the end was well worth it. The head of the valley is a vast canyon with shear sides more than 200 metres high arranged in a semi-circular shape. The geological history of the area was evident again as the innumerable layers of sedimentary rock were clearly visible. The viewing point and the pointed rock where I had sat the day before could just be made out at the top of the cliff faces. During the return to the pousada, the (really annoying) large biting horseflies were out, but fortunately they went to bed early.

The Foot of Vale do Cachoeirão Below the Location of the Cachoeirão Waterfall
(Waterfall Present When it is Wet)

The night was almost cloudless and we were presented with a beautiful starry night sky (no light pollution to spoil it). Orion´s belt was clearly visible. The white points of light above our heads were complemented by many flashing green ones close to ground level thanks to the activities of numerous fire flies.

Day 4

Puma set us a fast pace despite the fact it was a very hot and humid morning - this was so that we would have time to visit a cave on the way home. We climbed out of valley and up the hill Ladeira do Império which gave great views of much of the route from the previous two days (Vale do Cachoeirão and Morro do Castelo). The descent to the town Andarai (where we were collected by car) took us through Serra do Baiano where evidence of many years of diamond mining was on show. The ground was covered in large chunks of rock that had been extracted by the miners. The pieces were made up of soft sedimantary rock that was full throughout with hard stones. The miners sought diamonds in these stones.

View of Vale do Cachoeirão & Morro do Castelo

We made a diversion on the drive home to visit the cave ´Poco Azul´ which is a small cave filled with crystal clear water where you can snorkel. The conditions in the cave give the water a rich blue (Azul) colour.

One Day Trek to the Fumaça Waterfall

18th January

I joined a guided group to make this easy-going trek to the Fumaça waterfall, which is the highest in the national park. The walk started from an isolated small town called Capão which is well known for it´s laid back atmosphere (reportedly it is a ´hippy hang out´).

The climb to the plateau gave us good views of Morro Morrão (Big Hill) the other side of the valley. At the other side of the plateau (elevation approximately 1200 metres) we reached the Fumaça waterfall. Unfortunately the dry weather meant that the river feeding it was little more than a trickle such that if the wind blew, the water did not reach the valley below but formed upward spray instead. Nevertheless, the view was impressive as the drop made by the waterfall is approximately 400 metres.

The Fumaça Waterfall

On the drive home from Capão we stopped off at one of the area´s many points for swimming (a pool at the foot of a small waterfall).