Brazil part 2

            My last post ended with the peak of the first day's hike, so I'll just briefly describe the rest of that night.  We hiked back down the mountain and into town just prior to the sun setting.  A few of us jumped into the pool to cool off and that's when we realized just how awesome the hotel was.  The pool had a hidden section that wrapped around a bend and was built into the rocks at the far end.  It was beautiful.  Nothing could have topped off the hike better than a relaxing swim in that pool.  Dinner was served at 7 and we were all really hungry by that time.  Everything they were serving looked appetizing so I made sure I tried a little bit of everything.  I haven't had food that tasted that good since I left the States.  Everyone was very happy with the selection, and even the vegetarians of the group had quite a few options to choose from.

           

            After dinner, a group of us checked out town and we were amazed at how much busier the town got when the sun went down.  Many of the shops and restaurants didn't even open until it became dark.  People would congregate in the square that was right across the bridge from our hotel.  It was literally a 5 minute walk from where we stayed to the night life.  We all came back relatively early since we had to be out the door by 8am the next morning.

 

            We were all packed up and ready to leave at 8 and began the most grueling of the three hiking days.  I have no idea how much ground we covered in 72 hours, but it felt like hundreds (I know it wasn't, but you know what I mean).  I wish I could remember all the details about my hikes that I went on, but all the days are blurring together at this point.  If I could load my 550 pictures that I took, they'd be able to tell their own story, but I can tell you that I hiked my ass off.  We saw beautiful waterfalls, beautiful mountains, beautiful rivers...beautiful everything.  I felt like I was in the middle of the most amazing oasis in the world.  I jumped off a 40 foot cliff after hiking for 3 hours and the water was glorious.  My feet hurt afterwards though!!  Some people hit the water wrong and they bruised on the under parts of their arms.  I just had water rush into my brain through my nose which didn't feel too good, but at least my sinuses were cleared after that.

           

            After having lunch near the waterfall next to where we cliff jumped, we headed back down the mountain where we stopped at this place in the middle of the woods that had a natural waterslide that you could slide down.  First, you had to swim about 20 yards and the water was nice and cool.  Oh, just a note, the water was extremely mineral rich so it was a dark brown coppery color.  And it tasted really good.  Not that I was drinking from it, but on the occasion water got into my mouth from swimming or jumping in, it tasted good.  Just an FYI to all the parents out there, Lencois is free from any and all mosquito born illnesses so I didn't have to worry about getting Dengue Fever or Malaria which is nice...

 

            The slide was a lot of fun...it kind of hurt your butt though.  Some of the locals were going down on their feet which seemed completely insane!  I'd risk a bruised behind over a cracked skull any day.  Speaking of bruises, it's amazing that not one of us on the trip hurt ourselves.  There was definitely tons of room for error and there were a few times some people slipped down cracks in rocks and had to be pulled back up to level ground, but other than that, no big injuries.  Just your normal blisters, bruises and scrapes.

 

            The rest of the second day, we hung out by the waterslide for a while and then hiked back to town where we all relaxed, ate dinner and then hit the town for a fun night out afterward.  Some of us went to a reggae bar and danced the night away.  Actually, I should say that some really means one person and that's myself!  Leave it up to me to dance reggae with a bunch of local guys!  Mom, you'd be so proud J  I think there's pictures floating around on some of my friends cameras of the night somewhere.  I didn't bring my camera out cause I didn't want to lose it.

 

            The next morning we woke up at 9 and had an itinerary change.  We were supposed to have a free day to do some hikes and things of that nature by ourselves, but instead, our tour leader Christine decided to have us hike to the top of one of the mountains in the area and she said that it would be "easier".  HA!  Easier just mean that it would take an hour and a half versus three hours to reach our destination.  It was no easier though.  Just shorter.  There was still the same amount of climbing PLUS there was a really strong wind which felt like it was about to blow me off the side of the mountain.  The area where the mountain that we climb was called the "green Grand Canyon" and for good reason.  From the top of the mountain, you could see 360 degrees around you.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  We stayed on the top of that mountain for about a half hour and then began our decent down.  After we all reached the bus, the driver took us to our final destination of the trip where we hiked about 30 minutes to another waterfall.  The coolest part about the whole experience was that you got to zip line or abseil (repel) down to where the swimming hole was.  Of course, you could trek down, which I ended up doing because I had way too much camera equipment to leave in the hands of someone else.  I have some awesome pictures from this area.  Hopefully I'll be able to load some of them soon.  We stayed at this area for 3 hours and every minute we spent there felt like we were in heaven.  Every single person that was on this SAS trip came back with a completely different perspective of Brazil.  This trip has made me want to learn Portuguese just so I can come back to Lencois and stay for an extended period of time and do everything I did over again multiple times.  I can't wait to get back there...

 

            The last night, a group of 5 of us stayed back at the hotel and shared two bottles of wine while every one else went back out into town.  It was nice getting to know those 4 people on a more personal level.  We all have a good deal in common, to be expected when you do a trip such as Lencois.  You couldn't be a girly girl and survive this trip very well.  You had to be willing to get dirty, and sweaty, and bruised, and achey.  I was very pleased with our group and every single person, even our 70 something year old "chaperone" Dr. Rosencranz did everything people 50 years younger than him did.  I was absolutely amazed by his determination and strength.

 

            Well, that's pretty much it for our Lencois trip.  I could write an entire novel on my experiences in Lencois, but I'll keep your sanity in mind this time.  I'm sure I'll write tons about Namibia, Cape Town, India...ALL of my trips.  I should probably head to bed, these time changes (2 hours ahead the past 48 hours) are killing me...I'll be exhausted for the next few days I'm sure.  2 more hours ahead before we hit Namibia too...  Yikes. Good night,

 

Hope all is well back home...

 

Amanda