Sao Bento - Pedra do Bau

I flew from Bahia on the eastern point of Brazil back to Sao Paulo on Friday and the next morning Aggie and I rented a car and drove for three hours to Sao Bento, a small village in the mountains.  Aggie had booked us a room at a new pousada that was at a farm.  It was very picturesque with green pastures and lots of cows, that mooed all night.  That afternoon we drove to a waterfall, but the water was too dirty from the cow poop to swim in. That night we went to dinner at a nice restaurant in town.  The food was good and very inexpensive.

Sunday morning we got up early, had breakfast, and drove to the base of Pedra do Bau, a famous rock formation, that is at 6,400 feet elevation on top.  When started up the trail to the base of the rock about 10:30 and there were only a few other people on the trial.  It was already getting a little warm, but we had plenty of water with us.  There are iron bars imbedded in the face of the rock to form a ladder and we climbed about 800 feet up ... then decided that the exposure and risk without a rope

 outweighed the potential reward of climbing to the top.   So we climbed down and drove to Cachoeira dos Amores, that are beautiful waterfalls just a hundred yards from the road. 

We cooled off and ate the left over pizza from last night's dinner, then drove to Bauzinho, another rock formation just west of Pedra do Bau.  But the difference is that the road to Bauzinho goes almost to the top of the rock.  It is only a 500 yard scramble over rocks and along the arête to the top.  The view was incredible.  A thunder storm was rolling in and we could see the lightning approaching.  We knew we did not want to be on top of the rock when the storm reached us, so we hurried down, just as the rain started. 

We drove to Campos do Jordao, a quaint tourist and vacation town that looks like it is in the Swiss Alps.   Most of the buildings have typical Swiss architecture.  We wandered around the shops, had an espresso, Aggie was stung by a bee, then we headed for Sao Paulo, arriving at about 9:30 p.m.  It was a very nice weekend and it seemed like we had been gone for several days, rather than just over night.

Itacare

I flew from Manaus to Salvadore, Brazil on a red-eye, arriving at 7:30 a.m.  The map on TripAdvisor indicated my destination, Itacare, is a little south of Salvadore.  Well, I should have enlarged the map. It is about 160 miles south and the route is not very direct.  I rode a city bus for one hour from the airport to the port, where I took a 50 minute ferry ride.  After a 90 minute wait, I caught an "express" bus south for the 5 1/2 hour ride to Itacare.  But I had the front seat and a great view of the country side.  So it took me ten hours to get from the airport to Itacare.  

Itacare is a very laid-back beach vacation and surfing town. There are hundreds of pousadas (B&Bs) restaurants, bars, and boutique shops. The tourists are mostly Brazilian families and young couples of all sizes and colors.  There is also a surfer bum community of locals with lots of guys with dread locks and pretty young girls.  I booked at Casa Tiki, a small pousada owned by a young couple, Kevin and Patricia.  Kevin is from Belgium and Patricia is from Sao Paulo, Brazil.  They are lovely, friendly and extremely helpful hosts.  I had to change my return flight to Sao Paulo and Patricia spent about two hours on the internet and phone assisting me with the change.

My first night I walked around town and had dinner at an excellent restaurant that had live music.  Patricia made reservations for me on a river rafting trip for the next day.  We rode for about 90 minutes in a Toyota Land Cruiser over a road that made me start humming the theme song from Indiana Jones.

The rafting trip was short (about 4 miles), but very exciting with class 4 rapids.  We were a group of three rafts plus two safety kayaks.  One raft flipped in the third rapids.  No one was hurt, but some were a little shaken. 

We walked around one rapids and the guides took the rafts through without us.  That night I went to Kevin and Patricia’s new restaurant and she gave me a piece of her excellent lime pie.  I went across the street and sang one song a cappella at a bar that had open mike night. 

I made a reservation for a private surfing lesson the next day.  I surfed a little when I was in college at Long Beach State, but that was 48 years ago so I was just a little rusty.  Then there was the problem with my big toe on my left foot that no longer bends or takes weight since the operation in October. 

  After changing to "goofy foot" position, I was able to get up on the board and had a blast.  My instructor kept yelling, "one more, David," and I would bash through the waves to get back out to the surf line.  The conditions were ideal for learning with almost

constant three foot waves spaced far enough apart that I could get through them without choking.  I lost track of how many waves I rode, but after two hours, I was exhausted. 

I was going to rent a kayak the next day and paddle up river to a waterfall, but there were breaking waves at the mouth of the river so I decided to hike to the beaches instead.  There are four beautiful beaches separated by headlands.  They reminded me of Laguna Beach in Southern California, except the water is a lot warmer. 

The next morning I rented a kayak and paddled for two hours up river to a side stream that goes about half a mile through jungle and mangroves to an eco preserve that has a series of beautiful waterfalls.  I went for a swim, ate my lunch, and met a young lady who is studying law at a university in Sao Paulo.  We talked about law practice for about a half hour, and then I had to leave to get the kayak back on time.  The paddle back was with the current, but against the wind.  Three hours of kayaking was enough for one day. 

The next morning I got up a 6:30 and started the long trip back to Sao Paulo.  I got there, but my bag did not make it.  I have only flown GOL airlines twice, and had big problems both times.  I will not fly GOL again.

Bombed by Bats - Heart of Amazon

I was picked up at my hotel by a ten passenger air-conditioned van with leather seats and flat screen video system.  The other passengers were the guide and two Brazilian families.  All of them except a 10-year old boy spoke good English.  They conversed amongst themselves in Portuguese, but warmly responded when I introduced myself and soon English was the language for the day. 

My new friends included a professor at the university in Brasilia who teaches computer programming, his son, who is finishing a master’s degree in economics, and a man who is in pharmacology.  We got to know each other during the two hour drive north from Manaus through the jungle to the Urubui River that flows into the Rio Negro.  Our destination was the Maruaga caves.  We hiked about an hour into the jungle along a narrow, slippery trail, up and down small valleys.

  I have been in lots of caves but this was the first one that is carved out of sandstone.  We waded up the underground stream flowing from the cave, ducking from the hundreds of bats flying over our heads. 

I felt something wet hit my head and I realized the bats were pooping on me.  I quickly got out my hat.  I brought my backpacking head lamp and stayed in the rear most of the time so the other trekkers could see where they were stepping.  Our guide had the only other light.   We walked about 200 yards into the cave, to a point just short of a large cave in.  Ahead of us we could hear thousands of bats fluttering their wings.  We turned off our lights for about a minute and just listened to the bats. 

It was a loud, eerie sound that raised the hair on the back of my neck.    We walked out of the cave and then followed the stream through the jungle to another smaller cave that opened into a beautiful waterfall and pool. 

After a short swim, we hiked back to the van and drove about 15 miles to an excellent restaurant on the Urubui River.  After a lunch of tambaqui fish, we drove another 15 minutes to a large waterfall and pool.  The water, like that of most of the Rio Negro, is the color of tea from the tannin.  We swam and enjoyed the falls for about an hour.

Find David in the falls

 

I had arranged with our guide to drop me off at a small town near the river where I could stay the night and see the culture of rural Brazil in the heart of the Amazon.  We stopped at a modern hotel that wanted about $75 a night for a room that was small, dingy, smelled bad, and had a dirty shower.  I went across the street and checked into an old 1 1/2 star hotel for $35 per night.   It was a one star hotel with a cold water only shower, but it had WIFI, so I gave it another 1/2 star.  I wondered around the town, in and out of shops, and then stopped for pizza and a beer.  The restaurant had a video projector and sound system that was showing concerts of famous Brazilian entertainers.  

I was the only gringo on the street and no one spoke English.  But most understood my bad Spanish.  After dinner I watched a soccer game played bare foot on a concrete surface, about the size of a basketball court.  There were five players on each team and they were all good.  I watched for about 30 minutes and they played hard, non-stop, with neither team scoring.  It was Friday night and almost a full moon.  Lots of families, young couples, and kids were wandering around, looking for something to do in rural Brazil.  The town had a very old, small movie theater and I put my head inside.  An animated movie for kids was showing.  I saw some kids walk in and sit down.  I don't think there was any admission fee.  I sat at an outside bar and watched people for a while before returning to my hotel for a cold shower and bed. 

The next morning I walked to the Saturday morning farmer's market and browsed.  It was typical of any local market in a tropical country with lots of fresh veggies, fruits, fish, chicken and beef.  It started pouring rain during breakfast, so I decided it was time to take the bus back to Manaus and get to the airport for my flight to Salvador, in the north east corner of Brazil.

Amazon Clipper Cruise

Full Moon on the Amazon

I boarded the Amazon Clipper Premium in Manaus, after five days at the jungle eco lodge.  Again there was an interesting mix of guests:  Two couples from England, a couple from Italy, a lady from Switzerland, a Russian man, who had a lovely young professional guide with him from Turkmenistan, and a couple from Austria.  The Russian did not speak English and kept to himself.  All the rest of us enjoyed getting to know each other.  I taught salsa dancing the first night to the Austrian couple and the second night to the English ladies and the Swiss.  The cruise was well organized and we were busy from wake up at 5:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. when we finished night tours up side channels of the Amazon.   The weather was perfect, not too hot and beautiful sunsets, followed by a full moon reflecting on the Amazon. 

My accommodations were excellent.  I had a large air-conditioned cabin on the upper deck with a large window.  But I did not spend much time in my cabin.  The top deck offered a panoramic view of the Amazon and shoreline.  The small ship only had a 4.5 foot draft so it was able to cruise about 20 yards from the shore, offering us great viewing.

We saw lots of birds, crocodiles, monkeys, and a sloth.  The second day we went piranha fishing and I caught two red bellies (the kind that bite people).  The guide was German and he had a not very warm, didactic personality, but trying to do a good job and very knowledgeable.  When we returned to the harbor on the third day, we all expressed that the cruise seemed like it lasted a week, not just three days. 

Metropolis in the jungle

Manaus is located at the confluence of the Rio Negro and Amazonas.  I expected it to be a small outpost in the wilderness, so you can imagine my surprise when I landed in a metropolis of over two million, which has ten major manufacturing companies, including Honda, in a tax free industrial zone.

The day I arrived I quickly boarded a boat to the jungle lodge located in an isolated area about ten miles up the Rio Negro and across from the city.  On my return from the cruise on the Amazon Clipper, I had three nights without reservations and planned on trying to arrange some jungle trekking.  I walked into the Go Inn Hotel and got a very nice, modern, clean, large room for about $60 per night.  I was planning on staying only one night, but could not get any response to my emails and phone messages to tour operators.  So I wandered the city, which is a little grungy, but has some culture and night life.  I finally made contact with a tour operator and booked a trek for the next day.  So I stayed a second night in Manaus.  After dinner, I stopped at a sidewalk bar where a young man was singing mostly American pop songs.  We talked for an hour about politics and life.  He said he is starting a commune and believes the Brazilian economy is headed for a dive.

Amazon Eco Lodge





After missing my connecting flight from Brasilia to Manaus and staying in the airport for 12 hours rather than in the five star hotel room Aggie got me for free, I boarded a boat in Manaus for the 30 minute trip up the Negro River to the Amazon Ecopark Lodge.  The lodge offers cabanas with air-conditioning, hot showers daily maid service, and a open air restaurant that serves excellent food. I met people from all over the world and quickly made friends with a couple from the Ukraine, a family from Denmark, and a couple from Sweden. 

 

Ukraine Friends

My new friends invited me to join them for meals and I enjoyed talking about farming in Demark and the politics between Russia and the Ukraine.  I am reading a new book on my Nook by Tom Clancy entitled Command Authority that is about a war between Russia and Ukraine and it was interesting to learn from my new friends that the book accurately describes in the current political problems.

One thing I have noticed during my travels during the past six months is that the attitude of people around the world is not negative towards the U.S., like it was when George W. Bush was in office.   It is nice not to have to disassociate myself from the policies of our government.

The eco lodge offered several tours and the first afternoon I went to Monkey Island that is a animal refuge and rehabilitation center managed, in part, by the lodge.  There is a family of 16 wooly monkeys and one red-faced monkey of another species I could not identify.  The monkeys live in the wild, but come to a feeding area twice a day to receive supplements to their diet and provide entertainment to the guests at the lodge. 

After the tour, I swam with the piranhas in the Negro River.  I know there are piranhas there because some of the guests and employees were catching them from the dock, about 50 yards from where I was swimming.  But I had learned from several sources that there are 30 types of piranhas and those in the Rio Negro do not attack people. I went swimming several times without being bitten. There was also a small caiman crocodile near the dock, but he also ignored me.  

 

The next morning I took a short trek in the jungle with a guide who explained about the flora, and the many uses of the trees and plants.  We did not see any animals, other than a frog.  That afternoon a young Swedish couple and I paddled a canoe through the mangroves.

I also went on a tour of a Caboclo’s home where they harvested latex from a rubber tree, made rubber, and processed cassava.  

 

Although I did not see as many animals as I anticipated, there were a few unusual, like this beautiful green boa constrictor that was hanging from a tree just outside the restaurant.

Attack Parrot

There is a semi-domesticated Macaw parrot that hangs out around the lodge.  I was going back to my bungalow and he was sitting on the rail on the deck in front of my door.  He spread his wings and actually said "Hello."  I replied "Hello," and we went back and forth with this one word exchange for a few minutes while I took pictures.  I went in my room to get him a few cashews and a piece of bread, which he appreciated.  I went back in to get my laptop and closed the door, but did not latch it.  When I turned around, he was walking right behind me in my room.  He has a very big beak and he was eyeing my toes. 

I was wearing shorts and sandals.  I yelled "get out," but that did not appear to be in his vocabulary and I did not know how to say it in Portuguese.  He kept coming towards me and I was certain that I was about to have another toe operation.  My back was against the wall and not having a broom to defend myself,  I gave him a quick, but soft, kick towards the door.  He walked out, turned around and looked at me with face that said, "You didn't have to kick me."  He waddled off with his left wing hanging down and I was afraid I might have hurt him.  I was just thinking how many thousands I would be fined for injuring a Brazilan Macaw, when he jumped in the air and flew off.  The next morning he was back in the reception area squawking "hello," but I think he remembered our encounter because he refused to look at my feet.  I thought that was the end of the story, but later that morning I returned to my bungalow and he was sitting on the rail in front of my door.  When I started up the steps to the door, he opened his wings and gave me an evil eye.  It was obvious he was not going to let me in my room without a fight.  The maid was cleaning the adjacent room and eventually came to my rescue and scooped the parrot up in a bath towel.  I went into my room and shaved and when I opened the door, there he was, blocking my exit.  I tried intimidating him by waving my hat, but he was not impressed.  I put on my rain parka and held my arms out to make myself look bigger, but again he was not impressed.  I finally took a large bath towel and held it in front of me like I was going to wrap him in it, and he backed away on the rail. 

I scooted out the door, with my bath towel.  So the moral of the story is that the most dangerous animal in the Amazon (at least at this lodge) is the parrot. 

South of Rio - Ubatuba

South of Rio – Ubatuba

We got up early on New Year’s Day and took a taxi to the car rental agency to pick up our car.  We drove for about six hours, the last in very heavy traffic to Ubatuba (I love that name), a resort city south Rio.   Aggie had booked us a room with two beds in two star Brazilian hotel in Itamabbuca, a beach resort community, five miles north of Ubatuba.  It was clean, but lacked the amenities of an American hotel and was a little funky.  That night we went looking for a restaurant in pouring rain. We ducked into a sushi restaurant named “Warling Temakeria” owned by Rosie.  She offered some of the best sushi and sashimi I have ever eaten.  We ate in a Japanese dining room with cushions on the floor and low tables.  I went back to the car for a bottle of wine and we enjoyed an excellent dinner, while the rain thundered on the metal roof ov on er our heads.

The next morning we drove into Ubatuba and went to a tourist information center seeking information on where we could rent a sail boat and the best places to go snorkeling.  Our new “friend,” Luis, said he had a friend with a sailboat and he would call or text us on Aggie’s cell phone.  We drove to a beach about 10 miles north of our hotel and took a water taxi to a small island that was supposed to have very good snorkeling. 

 

The visibility was not bad, but there was nothing to see.  But we had a good swim and the ocean was beautiful.  Aggie gave me a yoga pose for a photo op and we swam back.  Aggie tried getting out on the rocks and scratched her upper thighs and lower belly at her bikini line and it looked like she was hit with the tail of a large shark.  

We doctored her up from my first aid kit and went back to the hotel to clean up and go out to dinner at a restaurant that specializes in roasted heart of palm, which was excellent.

On Friday we drove to Paraty and stopped at a couple of marinas looking for a boat to rent or bum a day sail on, but no luck.  We wandered around the town, which is listed as a very popular beach and artist town.  We were not impressed.  The information center recommended we try Trinadad beach, not far south of town. 

We hiked along a well-marked jungle trail about a mile to a beautiful, almost deserted, beach in front of an exclusive condo complex.  The water was warm and clear, but again no fish.   There were guards patrolling the lawn between the sand and the condos and we were told we could not be on the lawn, but they did not kick us out because we spoke English and are obviously gringos.  We stopped at Trinidad, another local beach, and had a beer before returning to our hotel.  We had dinner at another Japanese restaurant Ubatuba. 

On Saturday we starting driving to Sao Paulo, with the intent of stopping at Domingo Diaz beach.  Traffic was stop and go and it took us an hour to get out of Ubatuba.  We were passing a marina south of town that had a lot of sail boats anchored out.  I decided to stop.  It was one of my typical serendipitous events in which we just happened to pull up to the gate of a sailing club at the same time that a man who owns a 30 foot sail boat was driving in.  He said, “Oh, you must be the couple from San Francisco that is looking for a boat to charter.”  Our “friend,” Luis from Ubatba had contacted him last Thursaday, but there was no follow-up.  Then the stars that control my life took over and arranged for me to meet this stranger at the gate of a marina I had no idea I was going to stop at until 5 minutes before we met.  I will never understand how these things happen.  So I just go with the flow.   We had a fantastic afternoon of sailing in strong winds and bumpy seas.  The boat owner, Bobby, let me steer all the time and I loved it.

We left the marina about 5 p.m. and drove in heavy traffic for about two hours, then stopped for a long dinner, and continued to Aggie's apartment in the Sao Paulo, arriving at 2 a.m.