back into the wild

We leave the crazy atmosphere of Salvador for more peaceful grounds, starting with Lencois. It is a lovely village quite similar to Paraty with little street with white building and colorful windows and doors. As we only had a day there, we went on a mini bus for a tour of local waterfalls, caves (one being 2k long), swimming under one of them and finaly enjoying the sunset from the top of a hill.

 

As we were back on the road, we had to do some shopping near Brasilia

Brasilia is probably the most strange town I've ever been to. It has been built from scratch in the 50's to bring some of the population further in land. It is the creation of the architect Oscar Niemeyer. It is divided into different zones making the shape of a plane. Houses, shops, gouvernement building. Each residential block has a piece of social building, can be a church, a gym, a library...

After that quick stop, we are heading back into the wild with a couple of nights in Chapada Diamantina National Park. Another place famous for water falls and wildlife. We had 2 walks over 2 days in different parts of the park...

On the road...

Our next stop is Porto Velho. The town has nothing special but it is where we catch a ferry to go to Manaus along the Madeira river, one of the numerous rivers forming the Amazon. Time and schedules here have nothing to do with european ones. It is a bit like you leave when it is full. It meant that we got on board at 1pm and left at 9pm... a day later. After 2 days onboard, we arrived at 5am instead of 6pm. It was an amazing experience as we were sleeping in hammocks on a covered but open aired deck. Toilets are in the shower.. or maybe its the other way round. Water comes straight from the river... Oh! and I've learnt to play backgammon!!

After finally made it to Manaus, it was time to head to the Amazon jungle, but that will be for next time ...