Tamandaré received us with open arms. It was easy to get there, since Christian, the owner of Pousada Patacho, had to go to Recife and dropped us off where we wanted to stay and thus saved us a difficult taxi/van/bus connection.

The pousada we stayed at, Recanto dos Corais, turned out to have an excellent cost-benefit ratio. It is one of these pousadas where you feel at home. The owners, a nice gaucho (from Rio Grande do Sul) couple, personally take care of the pousada and guarantee that everything is running smoothly.

We decided to go to Tamandaré because it is next to the Carneiros beach. Many, including the Brazilian guide Quatro Rodas, consider this beach one of the most beautiful in Brazil (we will try to go to all in the Northeast!). And indeed, it is really pretty! It has white sand, the ocean is blue and it is surrounded by coral reefs, and is next to the mouth of the Ariquinda river with its crystal waters. As if all of this were not enough, there, where the river meets the sea, stands a small white church!

Unfortunately Carneiros is already starting to get more than its fair share of tourists, who come with large boats from Porto de Galinhas (the most famous beach town near Recife) and elsewhere.

Even though Carneiros is considered the most beautiful beach, the one we liked the most was Tamandare’s “ugly” beach. That’s right, there everything is so beautiful that even Praia do Forte that the natives consider ugly, is beautiful! On this beach the Coral Reef Project was housed, which gave rise to the Marine Biological Reserve of Tamandare and the Coral Reef Institute.

The best was to learn all this by walking along the beach, getting a ride in a Jangada, diving between corals and getting to know wonderful people. We ended up staying longer in Tamandaré and its neighboring areas and did not go to Porto Galinhos for the same reason we skipped Maragogi. For you to see what we are talking about, here a small slideshow:

Source/ Fonte: http://www.infochapada.com/indexparque.htm

The National Park “Chapada Diamantina” (Diamond Mountain Plateau) is located in the heart of the Brazilian State of Bahia and covers 152.572 hectares of the Sincorá ridge. The Park was created in 1985 and includes the municipalities of Lençóis, Palmeiras, Andaraí, and the districts of Igatu and Mucugê. The park’s name comes from its past as an area famous for the extraction of diamonds, which was the main economic activity followed by coffee production. Today, the main motor for the local economy is ecotourism.

The beauties and attractions of the park are so many, that we could easily spend the four months of our trip discovering its secrets. Abundant waters molded breath taking waterfalls, caves and valleys into the Sincorá ridge. The Atlantic Forest and singular fauna are equally impressive, and the cities and small villages do not leave anything to be desired. Among the historic remnants of the Diamond exploitation, the coffee plantations and the mystic and alternative Vale (valley) do Capão, there are plenty of options for those not so keen on walking.

We had chosen Lençóis as the main city for our adventure since we did not know better and because it is difficult to move around the park by bus. We admit, however, that when passing by Vale do Capão during our hike, it felt like staying. We were also very curious to visit Mucugê (some say it is like Lençóis some 20 years ago), Igatu (the city of stones or the Machu-Picchu of the Chapada) and the Marimbus, a flooded area also known as the Mini-Pantanal of the Chapada.

Unfortunately, as there is so much to do in and around the park, we had to choose. We chose to go on a hike that would allow us to see the greatest numbers of attractions while at the same time allowing us to experiment first hand the park’s wild nature. We did the “Cachoeira da Fumaça por Baixo” (Fumaça waterfall from below) and the Pati Valley trails walking about 105km during 8 days. We swam in several waterfalls, crossed many mountains (some just hills), enjoyed panoramic views and benefited from the abundant kindness of the remaining inhabitants of the Pati Valley.

Before loosing ourselves on the park’s trails, we took a tour called Route 1. This Route is a day tour that takes you past several of the Park’s main tourist attractions, such as the famous Morro do Pai Inácio (Pai Inácio’s Hill, a reference to Candomblé religion) and Morro do Camelo (Camel’s Hill).

The hike of “Cachoeira da Fumaça por baixo” is a difficult 3 days hike. It goes from from Lençóis to Vale do Capão passing the Palmital and Capivara waterfalls, and seeing the Fumaça from below and above with many additional panoramic views along the way. The hike took us to places where diamonds were previously extracted and some almost untouched Atlantic Forest. Hikers should bring their own food and it advisably also their own tend in case of rain or crowed burrows (naturally covered areas used as places to sleep).

The hike of the Pati Valley is considered to be one of the most beautiful in Brazil. The hike goes from Vale do Capão to Andaraí, passing through the Vieira and Rio Preto plains, and including the Castelo hill, and the Funil and Cachoeirão waterfalls. It is a moderately difficult hike.

The Pati Valley (alongside Vale do Capão) was home to most of the coffee producers in the region at the beginning of the 20th century. During this time, the Valley had almost 2 thousand inhabitants. The coffee crisis during the first half of the last century was responsible for the exodus of most of its population. Today it is reduced to a total of 50 people (see Guia Vale do Pati).

Many of these remaining inhabitants receive visitors in their homes. This way of accommodation makes the Valley trails even more special. The hospitality of the Wilson, Eduardo and Joia families was without a doubt one of the highlights of our walk.

Besides treating guests with great kindness, the food at their houses is great and homemade. We drank coffee grown, toasted and grounded on their properties. We tasted green papaya salad that everybody thought was cabbage. We ate tropical fruits and vegetables directly picked from their garden, bananas of many kinds and juices from mangaba, umbu and acerola. The chicken were running around freely before we ate them and desert homemade. Dona Maria, Sr. Wilson’s wife, swears it is the walk that makes the food so good, but I think it is good indeed!

As it is hard to describe in words what we saw and what we felt, we have prepared a couple of slideshows and videos with images and histories of our walk. We hope that seeing the images you can feel at least a little bit of the emotions (and maybe the tiredness) we felt. We hope you will like it!