6th August, Wednesday, 2014 10:08am - Somewhere
between Passos and Sao Paulo
We left Passos about an hour and a half ago and are
currently somewhere in the countryside. The countryside looks very much like
the rest of the countryside we have been seeing, except not as many sugar cane
fields and instead more coffee bean fields. The drive to Sao Paulo, we are
told, should take 5-6 hours. We will be staying with another one of Natalia’s
relatives - Henrique’s sister (Henrique is Natalia’s cousin that we met in
Brasilia). It is so nice to meet so much of her family while we are here.
I want to write about yesterday though, before I forget
everything. Yesterday is when we went to the lake that was formed from the
installation of the hydroelectric dam.
Being an environmental engineer, the first thing I noticed
was how low the water level was. We had been told on several occasions that not
only is this the dry season, but it has been a very dry year for this season,
and that was very evident in the level of the lake.
The lake was a dark blue that partially reflected the
clear-blue of the cloudless sky. The trees bordering the sky were a deep green
and chocolate brown (from being dry). Between the trees and water stretched a
wide band of barren, rusty colored soil – a tell-tale sign of where the usual
height of the water during the wet season. At about 12 meters, this is much
more than the annual water level fluctuations.
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| The lake |
It looks like Brazil is beginning to run into some of the
same issues we have in the United States with dropping water levels at their
dams. We have been told that several people that the government has been having
people conserve their water at home in an effort to keep the water levels at
the dams high enough to have enough head (height differential that results in a
pressure differential) to produce energy. While I think water conservation is
always good, especially when it comes to really excessive use (people in the US
who work to get the much sought after green lawns, even during droughts and in
desert elements), a large part of me has to question the reasoning for it.
Yes, we live in the 21st century and are highly
dependent on electricity for everything from our smart phones to the
manufacturing of our food, but how much longer before we are conserving every
ounce of water that we consume to counter [c1] the
energy production to turn on our lights or to turn on our phones so we can
Instagram photos of ourselves at the lake that we rationed so much to save?
With all of that being said, there are a lot of good things
with dams when compared to other sources of energy, such as coal or nuclear.
And I doubt it will get to the point of major rationing of drinking water –
people have a tendency of fighting such strict regulations of their basic
rights, but water issues have occurred world-wide, so it could potentially
happen. I guess time will tell, these are just things that are on my mind when
I see and hear things like this.
But that wasn’t everything that happened that day, it wasn’t
even the main thing aside from being the reason the lake exists.
The five of us – Natalia, myself, my parents, and her uncle
“Eddie” – climbed into the boat with our guide and two other gentlemen who were
also along for the tour. There were four attractions on the tour that we would
be stopping at: a cave/canyon and three waterfalls. We jetted across the lake
in our modest, but comfortable, speed boat – back-end deep in the water, front
end several feet in the air. Before too long, we were slowing down to a
puttering as the walls of the lake rose and closed in on us. The cleavage, and
piling of the rocks was in such a way that they called it something along the
lines of “Grande Bibliotech,” or “large library.” And it definitely felt like a
grand library of books upon books whose history of this lake were written on
the solid pages of eroded time – their edifice changing with the seasonal lake
levels. One rather large rock sat precariously on top of another very small
rock. Our guide said it had been like that for five years and hasn’t moved at
all those five years. I wonder how much longer it has?
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| The Grand Library |
We could only go so far into the canyon as the water was so
low that the boat wouldn’t be able to go past the one point. We could see the
rocks in the shallow water aboard, and could see the water mark of the usual
summer water height on the walls around us – easily 10-15 feet above our
current level – so I can only imagine how much different the access is and how
different things look in summer. We exited the “library,” back into the open
water of the lake – onto our next destination.
We crossed over to another canyon, knowing we would soon be
seeing our first waterfall of the day. Our boat stopped short, a promising bend
ahead of us that the boat could not cross the rest of the way would have to be
on foot – across slipping rocks and up the canyon wall. At one point we had
about three feet of space to walk on a few meters up from the black water below
– one wrong move and …
We were too in the moment for that. The sense of
adventure and promise of a beautiful waterfall ahead of us, we eagerly climbed
on. Tadpoles darted away from our steps as we trudged through thigh-high icy
water. Only a few meters ahead of us roared the wide waterfall, with only a
land-mine of jagged rocks and splintered wood under water between us and the
falls. With cautious steps, we made it through the wood and rocks to our
waterfall destination.
Having finally made it, we quickly ditched our shorts and
sun-glasses so we could douse ourselves in the roaring water. Natalia sat down
first, thrusting her head back, allowing the cold water to run down her hair
and back, exclaiming how good it felt. Standing a few feet away from her, I
could feel the cold mist on my bare skin. I knew it was going to be cold – no
in the way of the polar plunge, but in the way that you gasp for air when you
first get wet and then get used to it after a while. She scooted over, making
room for me and I just went for it. It was cold. And the coldness kept pounding
down (because funny thing about gravity is that it doesn’t stop – no matter how
cold you are). But it felt good. Really good. As we sat there, cold water
pounding the backs of our necks and flowing over the rest of us, she told me
how this waterfall is believed to cleanse the bad energy out and because of
that belief, people flock there on New Year’s to cleanse – themselves of the
bad energy of the previous year. I could definitely feel that. I felt very
rejuvenated and refreshed as we walked away back toward the boat – but not with
one more adventure in this canyon.
We climbed around the bend to our perch above the inky
waters. One of the other guys from the tour decided it was a good time to go
cliff diving, so he dove off the cliff. Natalia and I were ahead of the group
so weren’t really sure what was happening.
...Until the guide asked Natalia if we also wanted to take the
jump.
When Natalia relayed the message to me, she had a spark in
her eye that said the same thing I was thinking, “I will do it if you do it.”
How could I pass up cliff diving in Brazil? We headed back to our perch, filled
with excitement. And some fear.
Due to the order we were in, Natalia was ready to jump
first. She stood on the edge sizing up the situation. We were a few meters up
from the surface of the water, with large rocks immediately below us. The water
was so clear that we could see the rocks continue into the water and disappear
into the black abyss.
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| Natalia jumping from our ledge |
After a few seconds Natalia turned to me and asked if I
wanted to go first. I looked at her, shook my head and said “You are already up
there, you go.” We were both paralyzed so we tried coming up with a few different solutions – maybe if we jumped together?
No, that didn’t work, were too afraid of not jumping out far enough to avoid
the cliffs. Maybe if we counted? No, there was too much mental pressure that
way. She asked that I step back so she could jump on her own. Eventually she
worked up enough courage to just jump and I wasn’t too long after her.
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| Me taking a leap of faith |
Afraid of belly-flopping from so high up, I jumped feet
first into the darkness. The sound of my own scream, mixed with laughter was
broken by the crashing of my feet breaking the surface tension of the water,
followed by nothing but the bubbles rushing past my ears. I don’t know how far
I went down, but I could tell it was fairly deep and took a few good strong
kicks to get to the surface.
(No writing in Sao Paulo at 22:03 at night)
All I could feel around me was the icy water that had swallowed
me and the tell-tale burning sensation of a nose that had not been plugged when
jumping into the water. Within seconds, I was on the surface laughing from the
adrenaline rush and from the situation as a whole. I swam toward Natalia and we
both climbed out of the water.
Our guide told us that we could jump again if we wanted to,
but we both thought that one jump was enough for that day. We could both say
that we had done it and wouldn’t get mad at ourselves for getting that far and
not doing it. And with that we climbed back into the boat and rode off to our
next waterfall.
The second waterfall required no climbing and was much
higher. Our guide informed us that, of the top 100 things to see in Brazil, this
particular waterfall was in the top 30 (or something like that). It really was
spectacular. I am not sure how tall it was, but it was well over 100 feet and
plummeted straight down to the pool we rode in on. As we rode closer, we could
see the mist at the top forming a halo in the sun. When the water is higher,
the water fall comes further out and…
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