Kiribu

I was thrilled to be off to the mountainous Chapada region of Bahia state, just 5 hours bus ride from Salvador, to do a bit of trekking and test out my new boots. When I arrived to the small town of Lencois, where all the hiking tours leave from, I immediately got hustled into the Zen Turs jeep with a bunch of Belgium law students. It was late and pitch black when I arrived. I verbally agreed a day trek to see a few of the major attractions in the Chapada and at about 100 Reais all in, it seemed a pretty good deal. I thought I would wait to see what the Pousada Dos Duendes had to offer since they supposedly organized tours too. It turns out the pousada didn’t offer treks unless there were enough people. ZenTurs seemed a fairly reputable company and I thought i would check it out and see what else is available the next day.

The trek minibus picked me up at 8:30 and dumped me in with about 6 or 7 israelis, Zen Turs is owned by an Israeli, which i thought was good since on the whole Israelis don’t put up with bad companies and it’s very word of mouth. Also jumping on the minibus were two guys from Minas Geirais, Francisco and Bruno. These guys turned out to be a great help. Also on board were Levi the guide (whose catch phrase was ‘heeey frendd’) and driver Pedro, who is an excellent amateur camera man.

First off we drove to a natural swimming pool, the water is brown because of the pigment given off by the local trees. There were two ways to get to the pool, walk up and around down the rocks or repel (they strap you on to a rope with a carabiner) and zip down into the water 15 meters below. At first I hesitated, then my Brazillian friends persuaded me to zip line, it cost 15 reais but well worth it… I was supposed to form an elegant cross and glide on my belly accross the water at the end. Instead i just zipped down sideways and face first into the water… nice.

We then went to a nice waterfall and landscape on the highest point on the Chapada before heading for some lunch… Comida a Kilo is essentially pay per weight of food. Its handy having brazilians when ordering meat because they made sure i didnt get the bad off cuts. I managed to get an entire plate full and weigh in at 798 grams, Francisco managed almost a full Kilo. Brazilian food is very very tasty.

After lunch we headed towards one of the many caves in chapada, Chapada is famous for its rocky terrain, waterfalls and grottos. This paticular one was one of the best preserved, we only went down a short way but it extends to 4km in length. In the part where we were told to take off our hard hats a few of us managed to hit our heads on the stalacmites, they are really hard. They grow about 3cm every 30 years, really slowly, so the guide wasn’t too pleased when someone broke one with their head.

We then drove to another cave, the Gruta Azul, due to the mixture of minerals, iron, magnesium, potasium and a few others, along with the sunlight, the water in the cave appears to be a beautiful turquoise blue. It is a really stunning sight, you can go snorkeling and by boat further into the cave but since we were going to swim nearby in crystal clear water i gave it a miss. There is actually a blue lake where you can also swim and is near a waterfall, called Posto Azul, next time I come I am heading there.

After a succesfull first day we got dropped off back in town. During the day Francisco and Bruno had mentioned they were going on a 3 day trek with a local guide, I intended to stay in Lencois only a couple of days but this was tempting. I agreed to meet with the guide and see what he had to offer. Soon enough we, (guide Washington included) were on our way to my pousada to pick up my things and head over to his house/pousada to be sure we all left on time in the morning. There were 10 of us in total, France, Spain, Italy, Brazil and Holland were all represented.

We had to carry 3 days worth of food and water which was quite a struggle for me as I was not in the best of shape. After a long drive of almost 3 hours to Guine, we headed straight up the mountain, not along a quiet path but a fairly steep rocky path. I was glad to be able to make use of my boots and socks bought specially for this type of trekking occassion although the guide and two others were just going up in flip flops or skateboard shoes!

One thing that wasn’t really pointed out to me and that I didn’t really consider was that we were heading out into the wilderness. The only water we would be drinking was the liter or two we each took before we set off (half of which I had already consumed during the 3 hour jeep trip). There would be fresh mountain water along the way but these streams were few and far between. Also they turned out not to be too fresh. More on this later.

We stopped for lunch by streams and pools so we could cool off, it was averaging about 35 C during the day and around 15 at night. It really was exhausting especially the final descent on the first day, through scrubs and loose uneven rocks, gave my knees a real good pounding. We stayed on farms at night, the first night was in the a valley where the view of the night sky was incredible. You could see a huge moon and many stars, including a few shooting stars and what was either a satelite or UFO.

The second day trekking was relatively easy compared to the first. Although there was far more varied terrain, sand, forest, rocks and slippery streams. I managed to negotiate myself safely through the dificult path above the stream swinging from trees and stuff, but when it got to the easier bit of crossing the stream I slipped and completely submerged myself below the waist. I was fine. My phone drowned and my camera drowned. After some days in the sun the phone recovered but the camera lense broke so now takes only one type of black picture.

The second night was spent with a beautiful view facing the mountain we would climb on the last day. I had a shower by candle light as there was no electricity in the outdoor cubicle. While waiting for dinner, which included 2 chickens we had bought to eat from the farm owner for 25 Reais, we sat in the garden admiring the glow flies which flew and sat in the tree above us.

The third day was by far the heaviest. It was between 35 and 40 degrees in bright sunlight and there was no wind. We had to climb up a mountain walk around and down the otherside of it. Unfortunately this meant that the clean water from the house was finished way before half way. So we were forced to dip into some water from the stream. We also had to do this trek in a hurry since there was only one bus a day going back to Lencois. The rain suddenly came and soaked the flat rocks which meant a few of us lost our footing a few times. The rain had cooled us off and the river water seemed to catch up on a few of us when we finally got down to Andarai after drinking some normal water and getting some food while waiting for the minibus to transport us back since we missed the local bus.

One of us got ill and threw up everywhere before we got on the bus. Then another decided it would be fun to spew out the minibus window a few times. I was feeling pretty tired when we got back and knew it was just a matter of time before I would join in. Sure enough I got sick about an hour after we got to Lencois. One of  spent a few hours on a drip at the hospital and the next morning I was still feeling bad so I went there to get the same treatment.

I was hoping to join others on the journey to Ouro Preto that day but had to delay. By the evening I felt a lot better. I booked a Real Expresso bus to Feirra de Santana to catch a bus on to Belo Horizonte down south.