6 August, Wednesday, 2014, 3:28 am, Passos, Brazil
Just got back from the bar that we went to after the triple
birthday party. Natalia’s cousin (one of the many) is in a band and he was
playing tonight and we just got back from it. It was really cool. It was a
great experience to go to a club like that with a band that we knew someone in…but back to the
other day and maybe I will actually get somewhat caught up…I am still wired
form everything and there are several dogs barking/howling, so I doubt sleep
will come quickly tonight….
After climbing out of the water down stream of Casca Danta,
we dressed and continued our hike up the trail.
 |
| Posing with a termite hill on the way to the waterfall |
Along the way, we ran into a group that said “Oi!” to us,
then when we had little to no response, the said (in English) to one another
“Do we sound too much like tourists? Maybe we do, how do we sound more like
Brazilians?” I thought about stopping, but I really had absolutely not desire
to talk about where I am from or have that small talk with English speakers
that is usually so welcome when I am travelling abroad. I am not sure why. Maybe it was because I was
so focused on just wanting to see the waterfall. Maybe it is because I think
Portuguese is one of the most beautiful languages and I didn’t want to hear
anything else unless it was necessary communication or a translation. We
eventually did stop because their group had a question about how to get to the
water to swim in it. After that brief interaction, we moved on through the
trees that were becoming more rainforest-esque – the roar of the waterfall
heard just out of sight, beyond the trees.
 |
| Forest, just outside of the falls |
Eventually we made it to the first look-out – a cement set
of steps facing the waterfall, a good distance up from the base of the
waterfall. Several photos later, and one
monkey sighting later, we continued on, this time on the decline, toward the
rocky base of the fall.
The forest opened up to a tall grassy area, just before the
large black rocks of the fall. As we climbed through the grass, I couldn’t help
but think of those movies where the main characters are chopping through the
grasses of a foreign land, machete in one hand, compass in the other. I had the more modern version of a cell-phone
and a path that has been traveled a few times already.
The grasses came to a halt and we had nothing before us
except for large, black rocks and the towering Casca Danta, plummeting down to
the rocks. After several hours (about 5,
at least) we had made it to the major destination of the day. Natalia, Conrado and I all climbed the rocks
to explore and see what views were the best. Conrado climbed down to the water
to fill his water bottle with the mountain-fresh water that was so clear one
could see the details of the rocks several feet below the surface. We basked in the beauty of it all; the
waterfall, the river leading from it and the opening of the river that repeated
spectacular views of the park.
 |
| View of the waterfall |
 |
| My parents, hanging out in the grass |
This would be the closest we would get to this waterfall,
even though you could swim in the water at the base, we didn’t.
 |
| View of the waterfall, on our way back to the jeep |
Over five hours into our twelve hour day and we still had so
much more to see. Back to the jeep and we bounced back to the small town a few
mountains over to have lunch. A hearty lunch - of salad, meat, rice, beans,
pasta, caju (cashew) juice and coffee – later, we were back in the jeep for our
journey back home.
 |
| Our host for lunch (left) and Conrado (right) chat after lunch (foreground) |
The sun was also beginning its journey down to its rest
below the horizon. The new angle of the sun changed the appearance of the
landscape, in some areas making it look like the uncharted surface of an alien
planet. At other times, it highlighted the beauty in a single palm tree in a
field.
 |
| Burned field in the park. Sad, but beautiful |
Our journey led us to see two more toucans as they were
startled by the noise of our trusty jeep.
Several green parrots and countless other birds, all fleeing the
commotion we were causing. The sun descended lower to the red-orange color
before it is snuffed out for the evening. The final rays highlighted the few
clouds there were with pink around the edges and exaggerated the purple-y
center of the clouds. The landscape
turned various shades of purple, blue and pink, aside from the land immediately
around us which was still charcoal-black from the recent fires that had come
through, and the road, which lay before us as an un-ending white ribbon,
twisting and turning with each new mountain, headed toward some unseen
destination just over the horizon.
We had to stop to take pictures.
 |
| Winding road |
Within minutes it was too dark to see anything beyond the
headlights, which only shown so far with the variations in the road ahead of
us.
The constant bouncing rocked me to sleep and I fell in and
out of sleep as we bounced back to Passos. At 7:30pm, it was completely dark
out and we were dropped off by our new friend, Conrado. We soon had some supper and went to bed after
another beautiful day here, in this beautiful country.
No comments:
Post a Comment