On the fourth day of our trip, we took the longest hike, leaving at 10AM and returning at 5PM. We went up to these 2 waterfalls on the same river, called "Angelica" and Purificação". On the way up to the falls, we came across a group of micos (squirrel monkeys) and I was able to get one or two good pictures. Vilma put a tangerine on a branch close to us and the group, including two babies, came down to get the fruit. They were soooooo cute!!! We hung out for a good 20 minutes watching them play and jump around in the trees.
The waterfalls were incredibly beautiful. The only bad part was that due to the holiday, the trail was packed with people. So much for solititude and quiet. There were lots of people swimming, yelling, and making noise. It was worth it though to go up there and check out the waterfalls. Here is a picture: And here is one of me, sitting on the rocks above the falls: The hike on our last day in Capão was shorter...about 2 hours on a road and then 5 minutes down a hill to a waterfall/swimming hole called Riachinho. I have no idea what the translation of this word is, so I will just leave it with the Portuguese name. This is another place that a lot of people like to visit due to how easy it is to get to and how beautiful it is. The weather was kind of cloudy and chilly, so I did not swim here. I just kind of relaxed on the rocks, listened to the running water and checked out the view. Here is a picture of the spot: The last thing about the trip that I wanted to share with you all is a description of the São João parties that they had every night. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, São João involves a lot of Forro music, roasted corn, boiled peanuts and fruit liquor. I can say that I partook in all of these things, except that the corn was boiled in Capão and not roasted. Below are some pics from the festa.
On the last day I was really sad to leave and head back to the city. We also encountered bad traffic on the way home. A section of the highway that normally takes one hour took 2.5 hours! But we made it back ok, in one piece, and still dreaming of the beautiful mountain views and yummy food we had eaten during our time in Capão!
Saturday´s main activity was a hike to a place called Rio Preto (Black River). This place is a short hike from the village, about one hour, and is the kind of place you go to just kick it in a beautiful setting for a mellow afternoon. There are waterfalls, rocks that you can climb on, and pools that you can swim in. LOTS of people like to go there, I think because it is so easy to get to, and so beautiful once you are there.
I swam, and the water was COLD! Remember that June here is wintertime, and so the water was colder than in February, when I last came here, and the temperatures at night got down to about 13-15 degrees celsius, which is in the 50´s farenheit. Now I know this is not cold to you Oregonians, but for Vilma it was freezing, and for me after living for almost 2 years in a tropical climate it was pretty damn cold! Luckily I brought plenty of warm clothes to wear. Here is a picture of me after swimming. I was very thankful that I brought that sarong along with me!!! Despite the cold, I have to say that it was really refreshing and cleansing to swim in this river. It feels so clean and unpolluted! Now I would not drink the water, but I feel a lot better swimming here than I do in the Bay of All Saints in Salvador. The beaches in Salvador are known for having pollution problems due to sewage lines running into the ocean closeby. Yuck!
We hung out at the swimming hole here for a couple of hours before heading back to the village. We stopped on the way back to eat homemade ice cream that was surprisingly disappointing. The ice cream cafe is on the edge of the village and apparently the freezer was on the blitz or something. It was more like flavored ice than ice cream. That night we had pizza from the "other" pizzaria. Capão has 2 pizzarias, one is referred to as the famous one, and the other doesn´t have a real reference so I decided to call it the other one. We ate at the famous one the first night that we got to town, so decided to try this one out since we have never eaten there. It was delicious! We got 2 small pies, one plain cheese and the other a veggie mix. They used a lot of sauce, which is a rarity here in Brazil. The norm for pizza in Brazil includes a pie with little sauce, and then Brazilians put ketchup and mayonnaise on top of the pizza as condiments. I have never been able to get into this concept.
Later we went to the town square for more forro, fruit liquor and peanuts, then to bed early again because we knew we would be hiking again the next day. Here is a picture of the town of Capão so you can get an idea of what it looks like. The banners that you see hanging are traditional São João decorations. I have no idea of the significance, they are kind of like what garland is to Christmas.
We left our apartment on Thursday (June 19) at 5:45AM because we had to take a bus to the rodoviaria (long distance bus station) to catch our bus to Palmeiras that left at 7AM. Luckily we had no troubles and made it with 15 minutes to spare. We arrived in Palmeiras about 3PM and then had to take a "cab" up to Capão, which is about a 45 minute ride. I put cab in quotes because all the "cabs" are 30 year old jeeps that have no shocks and run on propane gas. In fact, our driver had to stop and change the propane tank on the way! I never knew that the same stuff that fuels gas grills can also fuel cars!
The guy at the pousada (bed and breakfast) was expecting us, so our room was ready and waiting. It was a good thing because I think that every room in town was booked. Some locals were even renting out beds in their houses to make some extra money and provide space for those who didn´t make a reservation. I was glad to have our little room with a bathroom for the equivalent of about $25US per night. Here is a picture of Vilma in the doorway of our room. We took advantage of the hammock in front and spent some QT relaxing there. The second day we were there, we went on a day hike up to Cachoeira da Fumaça (Smoke Falls), which according to Wikipedia is the 25th highest in world at over 1000 feet! Once at the top, there is a spot that overlooks an amazing canyon. There is a rock that you can lie on and stick your head over the edge to look down. Of course you need someone to secure your feet, but even with this, I could not put my head totally over the edge. See the picture above to check out how far I made it.
I have done this hike a number of times before, but each time when I arrive at the top and see the incredible view, plus the waterfall, I am rendered speechless. It is truly an amazing site to see. You can do a 4 day overnight hike from Lençois to the base of the falls, which is something that I hope to do sometime soon.
That night we had dinner at a restaurant owned by this Italian guy. They specialize in vegetarian pasta dishes and are renown for their lasagne, which is what we ate. Homemade noodles and homemade tomato sauce=yum yum! Later we went to the party in the town square (more about the São João parties later), but didn´t stay up too late because we were both tired from the hike and knew we would be hiking again the next day so wanted to get some rest.
Another interesting thing happened on the way down from the waterfall...we saw a snake! A big one! It was red, grey and black. There are 2 types of coral snakes here in Brazil, real corals, which are the poisonous type, and false corals, that have the coloring of real corals but which are not poisonous. A group with a local guide was behind us and the looked at it and said that it was a false coral. I was glad to hear that, but surely didn´t want to mess with the snake, poisonous or not! Here is a picture so you can get an idea. OK, more later about the rest of the trip. Hope you enjoyed the story so far!
I´m back in Salvador now after 6 wonderful days away from the city. As you can see from this picture, Capão is a little slice of heaven just a 9 hour bus/van ride from here. The top ten thing is a little old, so here is just a plain old list of what I love about Capão (in no particular order):
-There are tons of awesome day hikes that you can take just by walking out of the village. No car needed! And all of them include amazing views, waterfalls, rivers to swim in, or a combination of all three of these things! We hiked every day that we were there. -The food there is incredible and most restaurants serve all homemade dishes. The best dish I had was this lasagne that had homemade pasta and homemade tomato sauce. It was vegetarian and yummy! It is cheaper and easier for folks to make all the ingredients since this town is so remote and ready-made ingredients are harder to come by as they have to be shipped in. -There is little to no police presence. I am not sure how this works, but all I know is that when I was there during Carnaval I saw 2 cops one afternoon, but the rest of the time there were no cops. And during this holiday weekend I saw no police at all. And I also saw no fights, there was no visible crime and everyone was totally chill. What they do when they have disagreements about stuff I don´t know, but whatever their system of justice is, it doesn´t seem to involve the police very much. -The air is fresh, the light pollution minimal (great star gazing!), you can swim in the rivers, there is no constant traffic noise, and it is totally peaceful and chill. -The people who live there are all very mellow and seem at peace and happy. -The best coffee that I have ever had can be bought there for R$9 for one kilo (that´s about $5.50US!). -People there just seem to enjoy good old fashioned fun, like a town dance every Saturday night. There was more partying happening due to São João, but it all involved hanging out and dancing.
I am going to post some more stories, describing more about my trip, but wanted to at least give you a taste of my time away. And the person in the above picture is Vilma :)
São João is rapidly approaching, the exact dates are June 23 and 24, although pretty much everyone will celebrate it all weekend long continuing on through Monday and Tuesday. There are some traditions that make this holiday unique, and one of them is called "guerra de espadas", which translates to "war of the fireworks".
Not every town has guerra de espadas, and some towns are famous for having lots of it. I have posted a Youtube video so that you can see what it looks like. And the music playing in this video is Forro music, which is the music of São João.
The town where I am going this year doesn´t have guerra de espadas, but last year I went to a town that does and got to see this spectacle up close and in person. And if you are thinking to yourself, "that looks dangerous", well it is! Every year people lose arms, legs, hands, feet, and there have been deaths. But this doesn´t seem to stop the tradition from happening, nor do signs posted saying "Proibido espada" (Espadas prohibited). People love it, and there is even folklore about how to stay safe during the guerra. Vilma told me that if you run away from an espada, it will follow you. It is better to stay in one place and jump over the espada if one comes your way. Luckily, when I did see it last year, I was far enough away so that I didn´t have to jump or run away.
While I prefer the other São João traditions- drinking homemade fruit liquor, dancing to Forro, eating roasted corn, and kicking it next to bonfires, I can also appreciate the beauty, danger, and mystery that surrounds the phenomenon that is called "guerra de espadas".
Happy São João!!!!
PS. I can´t figure out how to get rid of the second video screen...sorry!
You might be wondering...what on earth is she talking about with a title like that?! Well these are the main activities happening around me today, so I thought I would share my Sunday with all of you readers.
First of all, cookies are not really common here. You can buy some cookies in the supermarkets, but they are American imports and not very good (think bad Chips Ahoy without the chips). On occasion I get a craving and will make cookies. The only problem is that many common ingredients in the US are unavailable here. So that limits the type of cookies that one can make. Thus, I have resorted to making snickerdoodles whenever I want a cookie. They are easy to make and delicious! I think that I have turned Vilma into a snickerdoodle fan :)
The word "bomba" in Portuguese has several meanings. One meaning is obviously, "bomb". But the meaning that I am talking about today is "firecracker". I don´t know why exactly, but firecrackers are a big part of the São João tradition. And like the 4th of July in the US, the week or so leading up to this holiday is filled with mostly young male children lighting off these bombas as soon as darkness sets in (which here is about 6PM). It is now 7:15PM and I have been listening to almost constant bombas for the past hour and a half. It is driving me crazy!!!!! But of course there is nothing to do about it and complaining doesn´t solve the problem. I just have to accept that this is what they do and try to get on with my night as best I can.
Which leads me to the Godfather. I have never seen this movie in my entire life, and neither has Vilma. We went to the movie store today and in the interest of watching a cheaper movie (new releases R$6, old movies R$3 on the weekend), we found the Godfather. So I am about to embark on an almost 3 hour tale of gangsters, with the sound of bombas chiming into the background of the gunfire in the movie. Wish me luck!
This is what happens in Salvador when it rains. Everyone freaks out and the traffic is horrible. Check out the canal in the middle...not only does it totally fill up with water and sometimes flood when we get a lot of rain, it is also the most polluted water that I have ever seen in my entire life. And some days when you drive or take the bus by there, you can smell the most disgusting smell ever, coming from the water. Yuck!
This picture was taken this morning, near the biggest mall in Salvador. I did venture out in the rain today, but luckily I had my umbrella and went nowhere near the place where this picture was taken!
I am originally from Vermont, and now live in Portland, OR. I lived in Brazil for 3 years and came back to the US in March 2009. Since then I've been taking pre-requisites to apply to Physician Assistant school and I currently work as a health unit coordinator on the psychiatric unit at a local hospital. I plan to start applications this summer.
On the fourth day of our trip, we took the longest hike, leaving at 10AM and returning at 5PM. We went up to these 2 waterfalls on the same river, called "Angelica" and Purificação". On the way up to the falls, we came across a group of micos (squirrel monkeys) and I was able to get one or two good pictures. Vilma put a tangerine on a branch close to us and the group, including two babies, came down to get the fruit. They were soooooo cute!!! We hung out for a good 20 minutes watching them play and jump around in the trees.
And here is one of me, sitting on the rocks above the falls:
The hike on our last day in Capão was shorter...about 2 hours on a road and then 5 minutes down a hill to a waterfall/swimming hole called Riachinho. I have no idea what the translation of this word is, so I will just leave it with the Portuguese name. This is another place that a lot of people like to visit due to how easy it is to get to and how beautiful it is. The weather was kind of cloudy and chilly, so I did not swim here. I just kind of relaxed on the rocks, listened to the running water and checked out the view. Here is a picture of the spot:
The last thing about the trip that I wanted to share with you all is a description of the São João parties that they had every night. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, São João involves a lot of Forro music, roasted corn, boiled peanuts and fruit liquor. I can say that I partook in all of these things, except that the corn was boiled in Capão and not roasted. Below are some pics from the festa.
