Bahia and Salvador BRAZIL

Chapada Diamantina Lencois, Bahia

With only one false start and two moments of  panic,  the intrepid 4 of Judy, Louise, Sarah, and Julie hopped a 7+ hour overland bus to the interior of Bahia, headed for the National Park of Chapada Diamantina.  Just at sundown the bus pulled into a rest stop station where we ~enjoyed~  roadside food.  Later, in pitch dark, when the bus stopped still for many minutes way out in the wilderness we wondered..... "where are we and what is going on???"

Roadside rest stop just before dark.

Well after dark we arrived in Lencois, the lovely small central city in the region of the national park.  In fact, the national park is a large region of wilderness designated for preservation with no actual park infrastructure.  Lencois has many (guest house) pousadas, restaurants, shops, and live music.  In Lencois the tourists engage drivers with overland jeeps for day trips to the various sites which include caverns, mountains and bluffs, rivers and waterfalls.  From a menu in a book at Pousada Corona de Pedra we selected two days of water features for the next few days.

Lencois is charming and friendly to tourists from Brazil and abroad with colorful buildings and plazas on cobblestone roadways. Geared for tourists to this natural wonderland, the town is filled with charming and rustic cafes and shops.  Each evening there was live music at a town square grandstand.

In these photos Lencois appears deserted but such was not the case.  A friendly mix of locals and visitors ambled pleasantly throughout the charming town. 

Yes rainbows appear frequently. 

Saturday market in Lencois 

Julie and Sarah prepare for our first day tour in front of Pousada Corona de Pedra run by Floristan and wife Talita who baked coconut and fruit cakes daily for the yummy breakfasts.

Little did we know of just what days of fun and adventure we had engaged.  Our competent, tall, smiling and largely-silent driver Mustafa skillfully bounced and careened us along the roadways and overland jeep trails to get us to various waterfalls, pools, and underground caverns.  Meanwhile Diego our 4'7'' loquacious guide entertained, enticed, laughed, and coerced us into adventures we'd barely dreamed of. Driving distances were 75 km this way and 150 km that way while we laughed as we jostled and bounced our way around Chapada Diamantina.  Grand thanks to Louise for having the confidence that we could pull off these adventurous days... and for researching just how to do it!!  

Diego, our ebullient Guide: a little person with a broad smile and a huge heart.

For 2 long full days we bounced and jostled and rumbled and rolled many kilometers on paved, non-paved, and almost non-existent roads. 

Pica Pau 4

Please note the height differential in our jolly gang of 6

 Outfitted with headlamps (would OSHA approve?) at Popo Atazul, wearing headlamps, we crawled deep down into underground caverns with waters of azure blue

At Popo Encantata we gingerly scrambled down constructed stairways to float blissfully in cool cobalt blue pools of subterranean water; 

Lovely rock light shaft into Popo Encantata. 

Sarah emerges

Chapada Diamantina (Diamond Mountain) is a dramatic big-sky country. Diamonds related to those in Namibia, Africa (from before the continental drift-apart of Pangaea) were prospected and mined in this region of Brazil.
I was continuously searching, fruitlessly, for left-behind diamonds! 

  Is that a road or a rock?

At Pratinha I overcame years of snorkeling fear dove and swam in black waters after driving across pure rock "roadways".  Julie, Louise, and I donned snorkeling gear to swim deep under the rocks into the darkness.   Guided by a whistling (non-English-speaking) Brazilian guide, equipped with a wrist light, mask, flippers, and life vests sufficient for much larger folks than we, our snorkeling adventure took us deep into the cool dark (and darkest....and pitch darkest) waters of the river. Magically, Louise sang in the deep reverberating caverns as we drifted our way out. Julie said "it takes a lot of trust to breathe while snorkeling", and thereby empowered, I found this a magical experience.

 

Empowered

Across the river from the cave was a local riverside swimming area like untold hundreds of thousands of places around the world, locals enjoying youth, the sun, and the water. 

Deep blackwater ponds are not unusual in Bahia. The clear water is stained due to minerals in the rocks and soils.  

Here at Muchglezinha, the tinted water slides down a rockface incline. 

The locals are well-aware of the 'over-here' visitors.

DIEGO - also known as "Do Do"  !!!!!!

  

Diego was spectacular!  He talked, ate, and pranced about with a zeal that entertained all of us. His broad smile, his caring attention to Sarah, his grand appetite for life, and his antics and high-jinks were enjoyed by all. Some guides are just making a living but Diego was living the life

Not once but twice Diego flung himself off a cliff top into the blackwater. 

Diego struts his stuff while we linger at the patio. 

We enjoyed meeting Diego's wife and mother-in-law at the Sunday evening Catholic church service where his brother-in-law is the local priest. 

We asked him if we might attend and Diego swelled with pride from our visit. 

What a pair!!!

Rio de Janeiro BRAZIL

Rio de Janeiro is a city of ever-changing vistas and breathtaking sights. As we entered the Guanabara Bay the views were mysterious:  time of day...place...direction....focus....Wow! 

As there is no commercial equivalent in Rio, SAS organized a 'hop-on-hop-off' bus which was ambitious, if not successful.  Turns out that multiple buses moving continuously are the best people-movers.  Long waits were pro forma for this SAS bus and apparently no one was able to accomplish the full circuit. 

On the funicular tram up to Corcovado,  the humpback mountaintop location of Christ the Redeemer, a Samba band jumped aboard as we ascended at a 45 degree angle upwards. Joyful Samba is ubiquitous.
Not pictured:  We passed by the Sambadrome where the many Samba Schools compete annually for the Carnival Samba championship.

John, Jake, Stacy, and Julie.  Jones must be there somewhere??? 

At the top Louise, Julie and I enjoy a cool juice drink while striving to enjoy the sights through Rio air pollution.  It was hot. 

At  Corcovado the marmosets were the show-stealers.  CUTE! (and I do not generally use that word!!) Crowds gathered snapping photos of these darling creatures who enjoyed bit of food and ice cream wrappers for the licking. 

Views into the several valleys below from Corcovado.  Here the rocks of Sugarloaf in the center plus Ipanema Beach on the right and Copacabana Beach on the left.  Rio is a modern high-rise city lined with lovely and crowded white beaches. Breath-taking. 

Copacabana Beach by the busy city of Rio. The MV Explorer was docked just to the left of this photo.

Afternoon sun atop Sugarloaf.

Tourists linger to view sunset from the top of Sugarloaf.

Corcovada with Christ the Redeemer is silhouetted by the setting sun. 

Rio is trendy, ebullient, and ever-so-hip. 

A full dashboard in this Rio taxi.

On this national holiday,  it was not possible to actually see the water at Ipanema Beach.  Rio folks,  young and old, rich and poor, turn out by the hundreds of thousands, (VERY) scantily clad (Louise had quite a time getting used to so much skin, so little fabric!!!).  The gangs of rampant teens were also active, stealing and bullying - so much that our tour bus drivers whisked us away at the sign of an incident, not allowing beach strolling.

Sugarloaf in the background, the urban city of Rio, Copacabana, and here is Ipanema Beach

Santa Marta Favela 

Over the last century as Brazilians  arrived in Rio from the poor northern countryside seeking work, the favelas have grown organically up the steep hillsides and valleys surrounding the chic urban districts of the city. Squatters clustered shanties up along mud pathways with open drainage and sewage trenches running down.  Lawless centers for drugs and gangs, the favelas were dangerous and crazy. 

Beginning in the 90's the government has been forcefully entering (with guns and assault weapons) claiming, and "pacifying" the favelas.  Pacification includes building stairways and sidewalks, running water, contained drainage, complete electrification, schools,  and establishing local homeowners associations, community centers, and recycling centers.  

Our hostess and tour guide. 

Santa Marta was the first favela pacified and is a model community.  In this central section a paint manufacturer donated colors and design for the beautification of the community.  Locals take small groups of tourists up, up, up to the top and then serve a home-cooked lunch to the groups. 

Coming down is much easier than going up.  There is a funicular for passengers and cargo but it only works 1/3 of the way up.  It was hot here! 

Protests on structures at the top against and planned hotel. 

Michael Jackson was flown in by helicopter to this location to film the video "They don't care about us" 1996.  He is a HUGE local hero in Santa Marta.