*The internet is crappy & slow and that is why there are no pictures yet... but if not tomorrow certainly by the time I reach Rio I will have some up for you.*
The ride was not too long - only 6 hours or so. We arrived late at night, around 11:30 pm and had called ahead so a person from our hostel met us at the station. It would have been impossible for us to find this hostel or pousada (hotel in Portugese) without the staff meeting us. The Pousada dos Duendes is overall very nice. The rooms do not have any AC or a fan. HOTNESS all the time while trying to sleep is not the most fun. It is very rocky in Lençois so the hostel is sort of carved out of the stone. Its brightly colored and has artistic flair all over.
We got up early and booked onto a car tour in Lençois. We had an intimate group of 7: oscar the italian, 2 portugese professers, 2 german gals, oolaf the dutchman, mike, & i. everyone was fantastic fun and we had a really fabulous day with our guide Zeo. After they picked us up in a all terrain truck/car (the roads are impossible around here), we headed out to the national park. zeo led us past a rock slide and onto a waterfall. the waterfall was beautiful and we got in for a swim. it was refreshingly brisk but you could swim all the way to the base of the waterfall and let it rain over you. it was great fun.
we hiked back to the car & took off for our next pictursque spot. we climbed up a hill that overlooked the valley. lucky for us, it was cloudy but not rainy, and windy. i would have hated to do it in the direct sun. we were able to overlook the entire valley and it was green and lush.
we got back into the car (our driver looks like he is related to fidel castro) and headed for another part of the park. we had a delicious hot lunch (i dont really know what any of the food was but i know that i liked it) and climbed down into another cave. the water surrounding this cave was a clear and crisp blue, making for some fab pics which i hope to have up soon.
we went for a swim in part of the pool (part is being preserved for nature which was awesome to know) and relaxed in the cold water. i kept my shirt on, even though i have been obsessively applying sunscreen I have a sunburnt back. My nose is red and my arms are also pink. boo. :( we climbed down another steep hill to a different cave, but this time couldnt go swiming, just admire the formations.
as if that were not enough for our day trek, we got to go to yet another part of the park for a different cave. this cave was amazingly dry with a sandy bottom but filled with stalactites. the formations ranged from an umbrella, a lion, an owl, and more. it was neat to see and also very comfortable in the cave. we had no run ins with bats, which makes me very happy. exhausted, we hiked our way out of the cave and back into the truck for the ride back to town. we got to see the sun set over the hills as we rode back into town.
dinner at the hostel was a buffet of lots of food and was tasty. they must eat rice & beans frequently, as they have been offered at the buffets weve been to. dessert was a wonderfully tasty cake with stawberries (?), chocolate pudding, cool whip, & a graham cracker crust. yummy!!!
friday night we attempted to go to the ATM or cash machino as they are called. the lobby was closed so we werent able to get any money out. we went to the bus station to book our ticket onward, which was tricky with our lack of portugese but ran into Oscar who helped us out immensenly. We then went to the city square (very close to the bus station) to have a beer and ran into Oolaf, the dutchman, and enjoyed the night on the town. Exhausted, Mike & I wandered home a bit later to sleep at the hostel.
http://www.pousadadosduendes.com/
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