Today is my last day in Chapada Diamantina, and Juliana invited me for another trek, so I despite the low mood, I decided to go for it. We left early with her parents giving us a lift to the start of the path, which was on their way to town. We set off on a 9km walk on mainly flat ground, amongst all the fantastic mountains that fill this land.
As in the previous days, the path was full of all sort of lizards and each time I saw one, I’d exclaim happily: ‘lizard!’ Juliana is laughing at me for that and says she’ll remember me each time she sees a lizard now. From other interesting animals, I’ve only seen hummingbirds and lots of termite nests – but no armadillos, sloths, or anteaters. Ah well.
As we set off pretty early, there was nobody on the path. As it was getting warmer and I took my shirt off, Juliana jokingly mentioned I could just as well get naked. Which I promptly did, of course, to her surprise. Trekking naked is fantastic, I heartily recommend it to everybody. It most certainly lifted my mood considerably.
After two hours of constantly amazing views we got to a place under Mount Morrão, a fantastic flat table mountain where the views we just best. We sat there for a bit, listening to a faint sound of flute coming from further down the path, and had some early lunch.
After a while we decided to go find the second destination which is nearby – Aguas Claras, a set of pools with really clear water. Juliana didn’t know where to look for them exactly, so we went with the vague indication from the map and, as it turned out, moved in the completely wrong direction. But this ended in a great trek down the river bed and finding another sweet spot with a small waterfall and a pool, where we sat for a while to survive the midday heat in some relative shade.
Did I mention, by the way, that this is the closest to the Sun I’ve ever been? I mean, this time of the year, the sun is exactly in zenith here, and at noon I have no shadow. This is absolutely amazing! I feel like I’m getting all the vitamin D here that I’ve been missing in Scotland.
Soon a small group of older tourists showed up. Quite inspiring – I’d like to be fit and travel like that still when I’m 60! We asked the guide where Aguas Claras is, and it turned out it’s in the opposite direction. We moved on, in fifteen minutes heard the flute again, and yes! It was exactly there. A group of young people set up a camp there with a couple tents and a fire where they were just preparing their lunch. I got pretty jealous – I’d love to travel like that! Just camp for a day or two in such a beautiful location, wake up to those views and have a fire before sleep… And the location is stunning – Aguas Claras is a really small pool with a small waterfall (compared to those I’ve seen before), but it’s so beautifully located! It’s a small oasis in the savannah, a little part of paradise hidden away under Mount Morrão. I really enjoyed swimming and just chilling in it – it was a very welcome opportunity to cool down.
After a while, we set out on our way back. In a couple hours we were back on the road, sadly with no reception to check if Juliana’s parents aren’t on their way back and couldn’t pick us up. But it only took a couple minutes before we hitched a ride with people who were heading part of the way our way, to Poço do Diabo. There Juliana’s grandpa works – this meant some free water and sweets, and a phone to call her parents. Sadly they’re back in Lençóis, so we had to hitch more rides – a truck picked us up for some 10km, and it only took a minute before another car stopped to take us the rest of the way. Hitchhiking in Brazil turns out to be quite easy!
Back in town, we went for one last caipirinha, chatted for a bit longer, and each set off on our ways home. It was really great to have the chance to travel with Juliana, I hope we’ll stay in touch!
Back home, I packed, wrote this, went out for a quick, cheap dinner, and read a bit more waiting for my night bus to Salvador. I hope I’ll get some sleep on it! The seats on the bus going this way were really comfy, so I hope so!
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