Barra Da Estiva To Chapada Diamantina National Park

Escaping Barra Da Estiva (nothing to show) we headed for the park along the big straights then we took a shortcut gravel road that turned into single track sand at one point, serious bright red dirt again in patches then back to sand as quick as that and the sand changed from bright yellows to dull browns, although it was not a hard road it made for interesting travelling because of the vast changes in colour.

From this

P1190687 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

To this

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We did however have two minor tank slappers in the sandpits which filled the gruds, this part testing my skills

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More sandpits

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Crossing an array of dry riverbeds, small bridges and sandpits (as above) we made it to Caete Acu or Vale do Capão (lots of places here in Brasil have different names, makes it harder to find on the map), soon to be home for three nights as we enjoyed the national parks offerings, as luck would have it in true tradition of us going to a tourist place the weather caved in.

Home for 3 nights, private bathroom and a kitchen to cook, undercover parking for the Mayan

IMG_1314 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

We did a walk to the worlds 2nd highest waterfall (yes …another one!!!!) called Trilha Da Fumuça.

The weather was shit, cold and foggy, given the day before was 45 degrees C we left in shorts and t shirts only to find when we got to the plato at the top the rain was coming in sideways propelled by the wind which was cool enough.

We made it to the waterfall but no epic views as it was foggy and raining, the waterfall not doing much either from the previous dry spell, can’t win them all unfortunately, the highlight talking with a dude from Salvador (the town) who owns a BMW 1200 GS which was parked at the bottom of the hill.

See down in the pic the waterfall

IMG_1319 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

This is what we should have seen

Fumaça by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

It did not feel scary cos we could not see over the side so it was safe

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Coming back into town some,linemen were cutting trees away from the powerlines and they had some Jackfruit from the trees cut, they cut a chunk off with a machete and gave us some, I love the stuff but it has a very latex style glue inside which a lot of people can't be bothered with.

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Spider man Kiwi style

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Trying our luck the next day Maya took us 6 km to the head of the valley which lead us to two waterfalls, not very big but very nice place to sit and relax in the sun/cloud and a very popular spot indeed.

Ellen snuck in a quick skinny dip (called Purificaçao waterfall ) just before the masses arrived, hereya Trevor Ellen topless for you mate!!!

IMG_1341 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

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Some of the abrupt valley walls, mind boggling standing there feeling very insignificant

IMG_1363 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

With this side of the park done what we wanted to see our next move was to Lencios, only 11 km as the crow flies, 76 km by moto.