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Originally posted on A little tour around the World:
It was hard to leave Boipeba, it’s blue waters and empty beaches but we knew that Lencois would offer its fair share of wilderness and peace too. The trip from Boipeba…
Having now travelled for 2 weeks I would like to impart some of the huge amount of useless information I have accumulated:
Like, the first person you meet at a party being the last person you want to talk to at the end of a party, the same can be said of all railway stations, bus stations and simply parking in the street. The first person to approach you is the one to be avoided at all costs, especially if he tells you how honest he is and offers to help you in any way whatsoever, a swift kick to the groin will let him know in no uncertain terms how much you require his help and what he can go and do with it.
If you are a nervous passenger, never EVER get into a car with a Brazilian at the wheel. It’s as though every driver on the road is a challenge and to be over/under taken at all costs. This applies to lorries, taxis and seemingly friendly people who look like they wouldn’t say boo to a goose.
Do not put toilet paper down ANY toilet, even the slightest hint of paper will lead to instant blockage and involve the next two hours with a coat hanger trying to unblock said blockage. This also applies to, what most men will understand as, the morning after poo. Flush regularly.
Brasil seems to have its own special variety of mosquitos and if you should dare to be outside between 5 and 6.30pm, well then you’re in south central mozzie territory and you’re fair game, you have been warned. Unlike the English football team, they appear to work well as a team so while you are frantically waving your arms about trying to get one mozzie buzzing around in front of your nose, a team is down below going to work on your legs. Neem soap: doesn’t work, jungle spray: they eat if for breakfast, lager: who the hell came up with that one?!? So we have taken to mozzie tennis with a nifty tennis racquet shaped zapper which is actually quite entertaining. I would, however, recommend you taking Claude and the boys with you next time you venture into mozzie territory, as they work wonders as mozzie magnets, hence leaving me well alone!
Always check under the toilet seat before sitting down as, we have found, there is usually a frog sitting under it. I am not sure who screamed louder, me or the frog, when I sat down and he jumped! Leave the frog alone as apparently they eat Mosquitos, although in fairness, ours has had his work cut out for him here in Brasil and appears to be losing.
When travelling by public transport don’t ever expect to arrive anywhere even remotely close to the time stated on your ticket, the departure board or the very bored looking lady (in the loosest possible way) behind the counter, if you can get her off her mobile to serve you that is…
Taxi prices here are dependant upon the following: how desperate, naive, savvy or monied you look, and God forbid if you have luggage as then he will get the calculator out and then you’ve had it! You may try the, I’ll try chatting to him to show him what a great guy I am and try to appeal to his better nature ploy, this will only serve to irritate him while he is trying to chat animatedly to someone on the other end of his mobile phone so don’t.
Flies will return to the same spot on average three times… Unlike the little bugger bar flies which fly around just in front of your nose, they just never give up!
It was hard to leave Boipeba, it’s blue waters and empty beaches but we knew that Lencois would offer its fair share of wilderness and peace too.
The trip from Boipeba to Lencois was expected to be a question of jumping from 1 bus into an other. It turned out however, that the bus schedules are even more unreliable than we heard about and since we could not book any bus trip online, all we could do is ask and hope that the information given was correct. Well it only partly did…and although the first bus was on time, it was not the express bus expected and the 2h journey, took 4.5 hours; we then missed the connection and had to wait 5h in Feira de Santana for the following bus to Lencois to leave at 00.05 in the morning. All together our 350 kms trip took 18 hours! We got there in the end and I am very glad the boys are cool and big enough to handle the lack of sleep (Max enjoying the opportunity to finally stay up late and Alex gifted with the ability to fall asleep in seconds literally anywhere).
We are learning about sleeping rough and coping with it. The thoughest part is the poor choice of food on the go. We are pretty easy and are happy to eat whatever is available, but 10 days into the trip, we already bored of fried doughy food and manioc sandwiches and feel very frustrated to see amazing mangoes, papayas, pineapples and guava simply turned into juices with plenty of added sugar with no actual pieces of fruits anywhere to be found! So we reached our pousada in Lencois at 5am to find that we were expected to have the 2nd child sleep in the same bed as his parents! Alex is not a big big but still! Despite the town’s cockerels already crowing away and desperate to get a bit more sleep before the town woke up, we put up with the inconvenience and put the kids to sleep in the same single bed for a few hours.
When we woke up at 9am, beautiful Lencois was already buzzing. Only a small town of 7 thousands, Lencois is rich in history and culture: part of the Chapada Diamanta, it was once a prosperous and fashionable town, wealthy from its coffee plantations and diamond mines. French fashion stores opened here once and as the coffee plantations were slowly abandoned and mining dried up until it was totally forbidden in 1995, so did the economy of the little town. The region is very green and wild, with amazing deep red soil. Once a very deep ocean, it’s rocky soil is carved by the water and offers a vast number of waterfalls, caves and canyons. Chapada Diamanta is the size of Switzerland and it would take many months to be explored fully. Today, Lencois thrives on tourism based around expeditions and trekking. Although very touristy, it has a very warm artistic and hippy feel. And we felt immediately at home. It’s cobbled little streets all lead onto a piazza with the Mercado Artsanal and the main church. The houses are small and brightly coloured. Most have no windows with just tall doors that open fully. Music is always playing and locals sit on their doorsteps watching the world go by, whilst cradling the new born.
We were in Lencois to watch Brazil v Germany. The entire day was put on hold for the match, all the shops, excursions, where to close at 1pm for the 5pm match. At 5 the entire town Center woke up, a massive screen popped up in the market and the bars set a TV screening the street. The excitement quickly made room to an eery silence with the odd scream for hope from a Brazilian or a tourist desperate to raise the moral. The dramatical fall of Brazil really hurt the nation that night and the pain could be felt for days to follow. Some youngsters however did not let themselves go and pulled out the drums to perform what Brazil’s is best at, amazing beats and catchy rythms. A lot of locals went home early that night, but many enjoyed the heart warming beats and stayed on to enjoy a happy night out with beer and caipirinha!
Whilst in Lencois, we took a day trip to the amazing caves, waterfalls, rivers and canyons to the north of the town. We walked in a 800m cave with 20m high ceilings, 9m tall stalagmites that grow at the pace of 1cm per 33 years; snorkelled in another, in such clear waters you feel as if you were suspended in mid air, surrounded by millions if little fish suckling on your skin. We walked up a 90m climb to reach the top of rocky mountain which edges at the top were carved by the sea millions of years ago; we trekked through the jungle full of trees with medicinal virtues and spider holes with amazingly manufactured front doors. The following day we walked 2h to a massive waterfall of black, tannin and iron full water. We all found it spooky at first but the fun soon took over.
Lencois was truly beautiful. July is winter here and although we had rain everyday, the days always brightened up and the temperature, still around 28c, was perfect for trekking. Well worth the stop!
En Francais!
Lencois:
Nous etions tristes de quitter Boipeba, sa nature sauvage, ses eaux turquoises et sa serenite.
Nous avions prevu de faire le trajet entre Boipeba et Lencois en bus et avions ete prevenus que les horaires des bus etaient generalement peu fiables. Nous nous ne pouvions donc mieux faire que de se renseigner en personne a la station. Chose faite. Le bus etait a l’heure ce jour mais au Iieu d’être ‘express’ celui ci s’arreta dans toutes les petites Villes et au lieu de durer 2h le trajet dura 4.5h. Nous avons ainsi manqué notre correspondance et avons du attendre 5h pour le prochain bus partant de Feira de Santana a 00.05. Je confirme, ne compter pas trop sur les horaires des bus! Heureusement les enfants sont grands maintenant et Max etait ravi d’avoir l’occasion de veiller tandis qu’Alex a l’abilite de s’endormir en l’espace de quelques secondes peu importe ou il se trouve.
Nous apprenons donc a vivre en nomades! Dormant dans les avions, les bus et vivant dans les quelques vetements empaquetes. Ce qui a ete assez frustrant au Bresil jusqu’a present, c’est le fait de ne pas trouvé d’alimention saine”sur la route”. Les Bresiliens raffolent de plats frits et farineux et leurs magnifiques fruits sont vite tournes en jus auquels est rajoute une enorme quantite de sucre. Il est bien difficile de trouve un fruit entier a croquer!
Ainsi nous sommes arrives a notre ‘pousada’ (petit hotel avec petit dejeuner seulement- equivalent du bed and breakfast) a 5h du matin et vite nous recouvrons que notre chambre n’a que 2 lits et que le plus jeune des enfants est sense dormir avec papa et maman! Alex n’est pas bien gros mais quand meme! A defaut de creer une scene a 5h du matin et desesperes de pouvoir profiter de quelques heures de sommeil de plus – les coqs chantent deja- nous empilons max et Alex dans le meme lit et nous effondrons tous rapidement.
Nous nous reveillons a 9h et déjà Lencois est en pleine activite.
Cette petite ville de 7 mille habitants est riche en histoire et culture. Elle fait partie de la region de la ‘Chapada Diamanta’. Elle fut un jour une ville riche et a la mode, grace a l’exploitation des plantations de cafe et des mines de diamants de la region. Alors que les plantations de cafe furent relocalisees et les mines doucement assechees, l’economie de la ville en fit de meme.
La region est tres verte et sauvage avec une terre rouge fonce. Les marques d’erosion dans les rochers creent un paysage tres sacade semblable a des canyons et la presence d’enormes cavites, grottes et cascades nous rappele que cette region, grande comme la Suisse, fut un jour un ocean tres profond.
Aujourdhui, Lencois s’epanouie grace au tourisme pour les randonnees et explorations dans la region. Bien que tres touristique, la petite ville est tres accueillante, artistique et hippie et nous nous y sentons bien tout de suite. Les maisons petites et etroites sont toutes de couleurs vives. La plus part n’ont pas de fenetres mais une grande porte d’entree longue et etroite a deux battants.
Les petites rues sont pavees et menent toutes au ‘mercado artesanal’ ou a l’eglise. Partout on entend de la musique et les habitants sont assis sur leur palier, bercant dans leurs bras le dernier ne.
Nous etions a Lencois pour suivre le match Bresil – Alemagne. Des 13h, les magasins fermerent leur porte, tout en ville s’arreta pour le match. A 5h la ville se reveilla, un grand ecran fut installe dans le hall du marche, les bars et restaurants sortirent les televiseurs dans la rue, les barbecues portables apparurent. Tres vite cependant, les cris de joie et d’excitement laisserent place a un silence pesant et de temps a autre un Bresilien frustre ou un touriste souhaitant passer une bonne soirée, poussa un cri d’espoir pour remoter le morale des troupes. Un groupe de jeunes decides de ne pas se laisser demoraliser, sortis tambours de toutes tailles et firent ce que le Bresil fait de mieux: creerent des rythmes chaleureux. Beaucoup rentrerent chez eux tot ce soir la, Bresil lourdement ecrase sous le poids de la defaite. Mais d’autres profiterent de la musique et de la caipirinha pour finir la journee en beaute!
A Lencois, nous avons visite des caves d’eau translucide qui innondees par la lumiere du soleil, creer des ‘trous bleus’ (poco azul); nous avons nage dans des caves d’eau si claire que nous nous sentions comme suspendus dans les airs tandis que des milliers de petits poissons sucaient notre peau. Nous nous sommes baignes dans des cascades et rivieres d’eau noire, pleine de tannin et fer grace a la vegetation locale; nous avons grimpes 90m de rochers sculptes par l’eau il y a des millions d’annees de cela et avons admire les canyons; nous nous sommes promenes dans de chemins encevelis dans la vegetation, decouvert des varietes de plantes medicinales et admire les magnifiques petites ‘portes d’entree’ des trous d’araignees. Nous avons visites des grottes de 800m de long et 20 m de plafond avec des stalagmites de 9m grandissants a la vitesse d’un centimetre par 33 ans…
Lencois etait vraiment magnifique. Bien que ce soit l’hiver ici et qu’il ai plu casiment tous les jours, nous avons profite des temperatures moderees (toujours autour de 28 degres) pour les ballades et randonnees. Une alte tres recommendee!
The lovely thing about travelling is meeting and talking to other, like minded, people. But the best part is that if you don’t really like them you can just walk away and never see them again! Although we have yet to meet anyone we have not liked, yet, as everyone we have been lucky enough to meet has been so interesting. When people find out you are travelling for a while, as opposed to being (God forbid) just another holidaymaker, they seem to open up and want to help as much as possible.
Having lived in Kensington for such a long time, I had become used to the usual conversations at various Kensington social gatherings:
“Oh Ranj let me introduce you to James, he’s related to Lord Wiffenpoof, big in cows”
Me proffering hand only to have it crushed in a rather too manly fashion
“Hi I’m Ranj, lovely to meet you” gently rubbing life back into hand
James looks bored already “oh…hi”
James then looks me up and down, and then comes the question I’ve been dreading; ” so what do you do?”
And that’s the problem, you are immediately judged on what you do, and I hate it. The best thing about meeting people here is no one is really very interested in what you do, rather why you are doing whatever you are doing. I’ve had the same thing with our Kiwi and Ozzie mates in London at a barbecue. It was only after the barbecue, as we had said our goodbyes, that I realised that for the whole afternoon not one person had asked the dreaded question, not one! Wonderful!
So now I am learning not to judge a book by its cover, and assume that everyone here is after my money, although most of them are and I appear to be losing the battle. But recently I have become more savvy, and so I let Claude deal with them, and I sit and scowl at them letting them know subconsciously that I’m onto them.
In my typically English way I asked politely if I could borrow a seat to watch the Brasil Germany game “5 Reais” without blinking, or laughing! I felt somewhere better when Germany beat Brasil 7-1 as was hoping this man may be blaming his Karma for the result!
Boipeba virgin beaches of Boinema and Morere
We’ve just spent 4 amazing days on the island of Boipeba.
This little island is located south of Salvador, close by the more known Morro de Bahia. A real paradise! Still untouched because so remote and difficult to access to (the trip itself would put you off: ferry, bus, speed boat, taxi and eventually tractor – or horse or donkey if you don’t have as much luggage as we do!) The island is protected by Unesco and has no access for motorised vehicules.
We got to our pousada Casa Bobo after a 5h trip from Salvador and we found ourselves in stunning little wooden lodges in the middle of Brazilian wilderness. Myriam and Nilton who built and run the pousada are an amazing couple, very kind and caring and extremely Eco and health conscious. The pousada is immaculately decorated, in an elegant yet simple and traditional manner and all details have been carefully thought off. Although the island is solely covered with fine white sand, they manage to grow their own vegetables organically and fed us the best home cooked food we ever had in Brazil. We discovered, manioc cake, cooked plantain (balata de terra), moqueca (typical bahian dish with either fish, seafood or chicken, coco oil, beans, and more cooked in a terracotta bowl) – delicious!
Boipeba is simply stunning: long wild white sand beaches naturally ornate with palm trees, little trails running through the mangrove, natural swimming pools filled with clowns fish and other stunning species; lots of gorgeous humming birds swiftly flying around, large bright butterflies and multicolour birds and crabs, the island is a true paradise. It is also home of hundreds of sea turtles protected by the Tamar project.
One evening our hosts took us to visit the native village of Monte Allegre, where the villagers were celebrating the inauguration of a community Center. The youngsters were dancing samba and demonstrating their skills of Angolan Capoueira to the beat of the drums and local instruments: the atmosphere was nothing like anything we’ve ever seen!
Although we felt like intruders, for them it was an honor to have visitors from the outside!
We did long walks on the fine sandy beaches of the island, the kids played in the sand for hours, we snorkelled looking for sea turtles (no luck there), large shells, bright coloured fish… I got bitten by a sea snake and although most are venomous, mine-which I didn’t even get to meet- wasn’t, so all is well!. The boys played football with the local kids on the beach, we watched Brazil v Colombia is the smallest -yet the fullest and liveliest improvised street cafe ever, we fell asleep to the beat of Brazilian rythms…
We are living the dream!
En Francais:
Après Salvador, nous venons de passer 4 jours fantastiques sur l’ile de Boipeba. Cette petite ile situee au sud de Salvador dans l’etat de Bahia. Un vrai paradis! Nous n’y avons passe que 4 jours mais 4 jours d’indulgence pure au milieu de la nature Bresilienne.
Longue de 40km, cette ile est protégée par l’Unesco et sans acces aux vehicles, elle est encore tres sauvage et peu exploitee.
Rien que d’essayer d’y acceder peu vous dissuader: depuis Salvador, il faut prendre ferry, bus, taxi puis bateau. Le tractor et cheval ou ane sont les seuls moyens de se replacer sur l’ile. Donc eviter, non comme nous, d’arriver avec trop de baggage!
L’ile est couverte de sable blanc fin, de cocotiers et de ‘mangrove’; Elle est entouree de coraux et offre donc de magnifiques piscines naturelles pleines de poisons exotiques mais aussi de nombreuses tortues d’eau protégées par le project ‘Tamar” un project …malheureusement nous n’avons pas reussi a en voir, il faisait trop chaud et elles ne sortent que tard le soir.
Ces temps ci, une polemique derange le calme habituel de l’ile: 7 petits proprietaires ont recu une offre d’achat par de gros exploitants qui veulent developer un resort exclusif impliquant le defrichage de plusieurs hectares afin de developer terrains de golf et helipads. Les indiens, d’abord seduits par l’argent, ont maintenant realises (grace a l’aide de quelques gringos – ‘etrangers’- ecolo vivants sur place et ayant choisis cette ile pour sa virginite ecologique) les consequences nefastes de tel developement sur l’equilibre naturel de la region.
Le village de ‘Cova da Onca’ (un village descendant directement des colons hollandais, ou les gens sont blonds aux yeux bleus) disparaitrait completement, tand dis que les indiens du village de”Monte Allegre’ qui vivent encore de nos jours casiment entierement peche, chasse et cueillette (dont coco), souffriraient de l’impact sur la nature. Le Tamar project et les tortues de mer seraient aussi irradier bien que protégés par Unesco. Un tel project semble bien illegal mais l’argent achete bien des choses et la famille italienne derrière tous ces nouveaux projets semble avoir les bonnes connections!
Nous sommes rester a Casa Bobo, une magnifique petite pousada ecologique geree par Myriam et Nilton. Ce couple espagnol-bresilien a installe la residence en hauteur dans la brousse de Boipeba, surplombant la plage de Morere. Construites de maniere tradionnelle, les loges ont un toit fait de tuiles de bamboo, les murs sont faits de baguettes de bois couverte de boue (case de Taipa) et fibre de coco, le tout peint de blanc et recouvert de resine.
Myriam et Nilton (se pronounce Newton) sont super sympa et nous ont accueilli les bras grands ouverts; super zen, tres centres sur la Sante et le bien etre en harmonie avec la nature, ils etaient aux petits soins. Nilton cuisine merveilleusement tous les produits ecologiques qu’ils reussissent a faire pousser dans ces terres sableuses ainsi que les fruits de mer fraichement peches, les plats a la farine de manioc, la ‘batata de terra’ (plantain) etc, nous nous sommes regales.
Pendant ces quelques jours, nous avons fait de longues promenades sur les plages desertiques de l’ile, visiter des piscines naturelles par petit bateau et nager parmis les poissons clowns; avons nage a la recherche des tortures et navigue au dessus de l’epave d’une caravelle sur la plages des Castellanos (sans succes mais ce fut l’occasion pour moi de me faire mordre par un serpent de mer! Belle morsure, heureusement d’un serpent non venimeux, la plupart le sont!).
Nous avons eu aussi la chance de pouvoir assister a une presentation de Capoueira Angolaise et de samba par une association pour les jeunes dans le village natif de Monte Allegre. Les seuls etrangers, nous nous sentions assez intrus tandis que pour eux, c’etait un honeur d’avoir des visiteurs interesses dans leurs traditions. Nous avons aussi rencontres Marina et son mari ainsi que leurs 3 garçons. Une super famille avec la bougeotte, qui gere une ligne de vetements d’enfants (www.waddlers.co.uk) tout en vivant une vie nomade en Amerique du Sud, quelle inspiration!
Et tout cela en 7 jours a peine! Nous avons l’impression d’être partis depuis si longtemps! Nous n’avons pas eu Le temps de regarded en arriere. Nous sommes lances, et pour le moment , ce sont comme des vacances prolongees. Les enfants sont calmes, heureux, nous vivons le reve…
I love Brazil, it’s an assault on all your senses, from the smells to the sounds to the sights. It’s also a full blown assault on your wallet, especially when the world cup is on. Although we knew it wouldn’t be cheap so I can’t complain, but I do feel a little like I have a target on my back.
Brazil’s hilarious as it grinds to a halt when theres a game on, let alone when Brazil are playing! We had asked for something in the room and were told it would be delivered when the game had finished, no “would you mind…?” just “no” for a moment it felt strangely Parisian. There was absolutely no one on the streets either as the bars and restaurants were crammed with people. I don’t think any nation on earth could be as football mad as Brazil, the atmosphere is amazing because of it.
So the other day we were leaving Salvador for the little island of Boipeba, out in the middle of nowhere which, with enough luggage to sink a small boat became a bit of an undertaking.
Taxi to port: Check (30mins)
Ferry to Bom Despacho: Check (1 hour)
Coach to Valenca: check (1 1/2 hours)
Speedboat to Boipeba: check (1 hour of hanging on)
Boy to carry luggage in little wheelbarrow that was bigger than him: check (15 minutes)
Tractor for last 4 kms through flipping rainforest: CHECK! (15 minutes)
And after all that…we finally arrived at a little slice of paradise in the middle of nowhere at Casa Bobo a little eco resort. Right now we are all sat on our bungalows veranda listening to crickets, and other animals that if I were walking down an alley late at night and heard the same sound I’d turn around and walk the other way but it’s ok here as we are in the middle of nowhere… But despite the strange noises it really is beautiful here, it’s all little bungalows with wooden walkways and low lighting.
Now some people might say that eco is synonymous with the guilt ridden green excuse to extort wads of cash from unsuspecting mugs like me, and they’d be right of course, but now that we are here I can see why people love it so much and it really is worth every penny.
So after a lovely dinner of pasta with lobster we sat on the veranda looking up at the night sky which was filled with stars, more than I have ever seen anywhere. And once again I realise how incredibly lucky we are to be able to be here together…Although I haven’t seen the bill yet so in four days time it could be a completely different story!
Oh and on a final note anyone thinking of travelling to Salvador, take note, everything seems to cost 20 Reais:
Excuse me, how much move my luggage 20 meters when I could have done it “20 Reais signor”
Excuse me signor taxi driver how much to drive just around the next corner? “20 Reais”
Excuse me how… “20 Reais”
You’re starting to see the pattern? That target’s getting bigger and bigger, and as long as we keep ravelling with half the world in our luggage I fear it can only get worse so as soon as possible we will be unburdening ourselves of as much “stuff” as possible. You should have seen us today, it was embarrassing, we looked like American tourists.
Right I have to go now and spend the next half hour chasing a bloody mosquito around our room with an eco slipper!
A little tour around the World 