Exploring Around Lencois and the Chapada Diamontina

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Originally uploaded by CarlMyhill.

On our first full day there we took a trip out in a Land Rover with a local guide called Roger (pronounced 'Hoger' as 'Reals' are pronounced 'Heals'). Last stop was this fantastic viewpoint

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Originally uploaded by CarlMyhill.

Earlier in the day we had been exploring amazing caves, with tremendous stalactites and stalagmites in them.

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Originally uploaded by CarlMyhill.

You could even go for a guided swim, with fins and snorkel and lifejacket to explore some of these caves and try to spot some of the fish that lurk in the black waters beneath you. It's a little disconcerting swimming into a cave with 4 people, only one of whom had a torch. Eduardo, experienced in Scuba diving, explained that for safety it is sometimes a good idea to hold hands - his intention being that me and Kathryn stick together. This worked fine to begin with but as we got more confident we drifted apart a little. Not for long though because we were in deep water, in a cave and in the pitch dark. I turned around at one point and could not see Kathryn. When I finally found her I swam over and gently took her hand, only to realise that I'd found Eduardo and was now holding his hand. I don't know whether I was more shocked from the mistake or from not knowing where Kathryn was but in the event she appeared momentarily.

After not seeing much in the way of fish we headed home. But then, up ahead we could see the bluest water you could imagine, like some kind of jewel. As we got near it we could see if was filled with fish. So we all floated about looking at the spectacle for a while before we realised this was precisely the spot we'd entered the water in the first place but after being in the dark for a while it had suddenly turned quite magical.

So, a great day out (apart from the hand holding incident), ending with great views. Actually, it did not quite end there. Roger had to drive us back in his Land Rover in the dark, which despite his excellent driving was not much fun. In and around Lencois the roads were terrible. One lane in each direction was tarmac but with occasional pot holes too big for a land Rover to want to drive over, and causing oncoming trucks to be on the wrong side of the road very often. Not fun but thankfully Roger was a skilled and safe driver.

In the evening we found a great vegetarian restaurant. We'd just walked through the door when Maya found a friend to play with, the son of the restaurant owner, so we didn't see much of her during the meal. She has a great knack for very quickly making friends with other children and the restaurant owner seemed very happy for her to play too. It's a shame we didn't get to go back to the restaurant, the food and service were very good. But perhaps that says something about the general standard of food in Brazil - there were lots of good choices even in a small place like Lencois.