Chapada Diamantina and Lençois, Brazil

From Brasilia I had great plans of Hitch-hiking all of the way to Fortaleza, more than 1,000 miles away. To start off I took a bus to get out of Brasilia, then made it to the small town Posse for the night. It was a fun surprise to stay in the small farming town where I ended up going out with my hotel owner's son and his young friends.



The next day I caught one ride to the highway then another to the state line where all of the semi-trucks were required to stop. I thought I could find something there, but it was more wait and hassle than it was worth so I caught a bus to the next big city, and then another to the turnoff for the small town of Lencois. I got to the Lencois junction in the middle of the night and there was nothing around so I camped at the turnoff, woke up early the next morning, then caught a ride the last 10 miles into town. The only vehicle that passed was a full gas truck so it made for a fun ride on top of the tanks!





The reason for stopping in Lencois was that it was the closest town to a picturesque part of Brazil called Chapada de Diamantina. I knew the town was supposed to be nice but I was surprised to see that it was actually a beautiful town, and that I had arrived in the middle of their week long celebration of Sao Joao! The town was beautifully decorated with party banners strung across the cobble stone streets and beautiful plazas.





















After walking around the town I decided hike one of the many trails around Lencois. There are dozens of hikes around the town but I was only staying a couple days so only saw a few of the many natural sights. Apparently there are lots of caves, waterfalls, and mountains all throughout the area.

On my way out of town there was a good view of the city and about there I ran into a local teenager that was was wearing an Obama shirt. There are certain things that stand out about places and Obama's popularity in all of Latin America, and especially in Brazil, is one of them. Despite any political preferences it can't be denied how much Obama's presidency has restored Latin America's faith in the United States politics. I've been asked so many times about US politics and it has been amazing how excited people outside of the US are about Obama. It's amazing how one person and their administration can change how so many people feel about an entire country.

Continuing on to the trail I made it to a number of pools and water falls. People were hanging enjoying the water and having a great time. I made it to a nice lookout to Lencois in the distance, then ran into some people staying at same guest house was camping at.














Later that night there was a huge party with all kinds of things going on. Kids were lighting fireworks and very loud firecrackers, bonfires were lit in the streets, there was some crazy personified bull dance, lots of great food to be had, and then later there was a big dance under a tent on the main square.










Under the tent on the big square there were a couple of cute kids dancing with each other, then there was a folkloric dance that was a lot of fun. At one point I met another kid who may be a budding photographer and got a big kick out taking photos with my camera. After the folkloric dance show there was a dance party the whole night until sunrise. Yes, Brazilians know how to party!


















The next day I went with Daniela, a woman I met the night before, on a beautiful hike to a natural water slide. At the falls we met up with her brother and sister. We had so much fun sliding down the slippery falls to the pools below!
























The next night was another great party!




The next day I left to continue toward Fortaleza and made sure to stop by the most picturesque part of the Chapada Diamantina. I hitch-hiked back out of town and caught a ride down the main highway towards Seabra. I got out to hike up the most accessible of the table top mountains in Chapada de Diamantina. It was an absolutely gorgeous view from up top!

From what felt like the top of the world I hiked back down to the highway and caught one more very slow ride back to the city of Seabra where I planned to catch a bus to Fortaleza early the next morning.
















Obama in Brazil

Brasilia, Capital of Brazil

From the picturesque town of Ouro Preto I made it to the big city of Bello Horizonte for the night then the next evening I caught a 12 hour overnight bus to the capital of Brazil in the middle of the country, Brasilia. Brasilia isn't known for being a tourist draw but it seemed interesting to me from an architectural and urban planning point of view.

Brasilia is a relatively new city that was carved out of the middle of Brazil in the 1960's. There are different reasons sited for moving the capital from Rio de Janeiro to the interior such as creating a more centralized, more inclusive capital; out growing the governmental infrastructure in Rio de Janeiro; and avoiding massive political protests by putting the government hundreds and hundreds of miles away from major population centers. Whatever the combination of reasons for creating Brasilia it is an interesting experiment in urban planning and architectural design.

In Brasilia I stayed with a cool guy from the Couch Surfing project (www.couchsurfing.org) who had almost the same name as me, Bernhar. Bernhar lived on the university of Brazil (UnB) campus with four other great guys. For the three nights I stayed at his place we had a fun time going out in the evening and taking in a local festival in honor Sao Joao (Saint John). It was another terrific experience staying with truly amazing and fun people through Couch Surfing. Between sharing beers, shots of caçasa, meals, visiting the festival, and meeting Bernhar's great friends I had a terrific experience in Brasilia.






The city of Brasilia was interesting yet flawed in that it was built around the use of the car. Everything was spread out and a pain to get to without a car. And even with a car the traffic getting from one part of the city to another was an issue. The utopian vision that Brasilia was created on falls apart at the several satellite cities that have built up around the spread out, fancifully designed capital. More than three million people live around Brasilia many flooding in and out of the city each day. Brazil’s most famous architect Oscar Niemeyer designed many of the signature buildings in Brasilia including its iconic Cathedral. The buildings were fun and artistic.










































Bernhar and his friends were terrific. They and even dropped me off at bus station to catch a bus to the outskirts of town. From there I was set to hitch-hike to Fortaleza. They wished me luck and I was on my way.




Looking up at a light tube