part 3

The next place we went to was Grut Azul = the blue grotto. The name kind of fits I would say...
Looks really cool how the water can be that blue!

Then it was time to go swimming again on a nice little lake.
But the highlight on that day was this: one of the biggest stalactite cave in the world. We were surprised how big it was. This is the entrance. Probably 15 meters high and 30 meters broad. And it stayed that big! We were walking in one direction for about one hour! Thousands of years this cave has been an underground river. The cave was filled with stalactites, stalagmites and things I don't know names for...

part 2

The next stop was a big rock that we climbed. Such a nice view from there! And two really nice portraits we made
That's the rock and below the gas station where we had lunch and switched car and guide again!

The trip with the 4 cars and at least 5 guides

The second day in Lencois we decided to take another tour with the office next door. We started early in the morning with a little car. First we had to pick up two French girls which took some while 'cause they were still sleeping when we picked them up. After maybe 20 minutes in the car our driver stopped. We were not sure why but soon it was clear:
For some reason the closing for the cooling water has not been closed and all the water evaporated and the engine got really hot...
It took some while to fix that problem but with the help of two truck drivers and two police men we were on the road again.

The first stop was a nice swimming place at a river.
On the way to the next attraction of today we stopped again to switch car and guide. Seemed like our car was still not fully repaired.

Walking tours Chapada Diamantina

What a nice town Lençois is. The decoration was still there from festa de Junina.

After a really nice breakfast we went across the street to our tourist office where we had booked our first day trip. First we went to a place quite close to the city where the kids go swimming. The really cool thing is the natural water slide. Here Lovisa is going down. Might not look fast on the video, but I tell you, it feels fast when you go down there!

In the afternoon we went up a track that led us to a nice clear pool

another swimming place where the local kids meet
That's us

Rio-Salvador-Lençois

This was just a traveling day. We took the super delayed flight from Rio to Salvador. Then, our first plan was to take the 2 o'clock bus from Salvador to Lençois, but of course we were late for that so we rented a car. It was a very small place were we got the car from and the employees were kind of surprised when we told them we would like to rent one of their cars.

We were driving around 5 hours and arrived in the evening. So there are not many pictures from that day. Just two curiosities that we saw on the way. One guy transporting his huge swimming pool an a rather small trailer.

And we thought we were in Sweden when we saw Volvo Gotemburgo next to the road

UFOs in Rio

The second and unfortunately also last day in Rio was very busy.First we went took the ferry to Nitéroi to visit the museum of contemporary art. It looks like a UFO. Soo cool with the sugar loaf and corcovado in the background (not on this pictures though but still looks cool)!

The next stop was Copacabana beach which was really amazing! I have never seen such a long and broad beach before. Would have been so nice to go swimming but the water was definitely too cold! Would have been fun with the really big waves though...

Instead we played a scene from Bay-watch

What a busy day... Next we went up the sugar loaf (the mountain where Homer was released when he got kidnaped).

It was getting dark already and we had an amazing view!

After the sugar loaf we went out to a really nice bar that is stuffed with curiosities and antiques. It's called Rio Scenario and absolutely worth a visit! And we were lucky, there was a band playing bossa nova, the traditional Brazilian music.

Rio de Janeiro

One night in the plane and on airports we reached Rio de Janeiro. The home of Jesus, the sugar loaf and Rosario.

Ok, you know the first two, Rosario is a Orchid lover who has her own magazine on Orchids. Lovisa got to know her during the time she was working at the University and we could stay at their place.

After a nap to regain strength after the long night, there was not much left of the day, so we decided to give Jesus a visit. That guy is huge!!!

And he has a gorgeous view over the town

The sloth

The last day in the Amazon jungle we went to find a sloth. Lovisa and I were still so tired and kind of sick from the night in the jungle. We really hoped to find a sloth really fast so that we could return to the camp for a nap. But this time it took hours to find one (the other days we spotted them really easily).

But after about 3 hours in the sun we got the sloth and I got a sun stroke...

That's the guy running away from us as fast as he can.

Later that day, we went back to Manaos where I got a Coke in a plastic bag (they needed the bottle) and at midnight we left to Rio de Janeiro via Sao Paulo.

Wire tree

just because I like this picture so much. An electrical wire with leaves...

Hurra Torpedo

This has nothing to do with Brazil but it's great anyways. The Norwegian band Hurra Torpedo...

a night out

Or last night we decided to spend out in the jungle. We had to leave our save jungle hotel quite early in the afternoon 'cause it gets dark already around 6 o'clock and then the mosquitos attack without mercy.

When we reached the 'jungle campsite' we immediately had to start a fire to prepare dinner and make the hammocks ready for the night including the mosquito nets.

For dinner I had roasted chicken and Lovisa got fish. A guide told us how nice it is to have a Caipirinha in the jungle so we had to try that as well.

At night we were visited by some really naughty spiders...

Actually we didn't sleep very much that night. Maybe around 2 or 3 in the morning we both woke up nauseous. It was impossible to sleep. We don't know what it was that made us sick since we didn't eat the same. That's how we felt on the way back:

native family

On Sunday morning we visited a native family. 

Actually there was not much to see so we decided to explore their backyard and went on a hike through the jungle.

Where we came out some cows were already waiting for us.

Later we jumped in the Amazonas river for some refreshment but the water was so warm, there was not much freshness going on.

Dolphins and paddling on a sunny afternoon

Tuesday morning we went out to catch a sloth but without success. But instead we could follow a group of river dolphins. A group of about 7 dolphins were on their way to visit their family up the river (I'm very sure that's what they were up to)...

Later that day our English friends and Luciano the Brasileiro left the camp to Manaus. Now only Lovisa and I were left in the jungle and because the weather was so nice we decided to go paddling for the afternoon. Oh, how I enjoyed it!!!

Just like in Sweden Lovisa wasn't enjoying it so much... If you don't remember that one click here

That shows quite nicely how it was like to paddle through the jungle:

jungle school and predators

In the afternoon we visited a jungle school.

The kids had a football match to become the new Ronaldinos. They were really into the game and cheering for their team!

Next we went Piranha fishing. We used beef as bait and after some seconds our guide had the first one. In the beginning the fish just ate the bate from our hook and we didn't get one but after some practice we got one after the other.

When the boat was full with piranhas we went back home. It already got dark and soon we didn't see anything. Only some shadows from the moon. And that were perfect conditions to catch more animals. Demiau (our guide) was looking for crocodiles. And he really caught one from the boat just with his hands. It was crazy, we didn't see anything and he spotted this animals that are under water, just with their eyes and nose out.

grub for breakfast

In the morning of the second day in the jungle we had a walking tour. We looked at walking trees. They can move a little bit by growing new roots and letting others die:

Some spiders were waiting for us along the way:

And we had a tinker workshop in the jungle

We even tried a grub that lifes in a nut. Our guide said the nut doesn't taste very good but we have to try the grub. deliciouse!!!

Meeting of the rivers

The second day we started our trip into the Amazon jungle. A short trip by bus, then we jumped on a boat, crossed the Rio Negro and the Amazon river. This place is called meeting of the rivers which was not so spectacular...Then another short trip on the bus to the next boat that took us to our "jungle hotel". The English guys that went with us couldn't let go of their beer can ;-)



On the way we met a school boat
And finally reached ArarinhaIn the afternoon we went out with the boat to get a feeling for the rainforest and visited a local family that probably gets the nicest sunset ever...