I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts...

This is a story that I'd like to tell you that wasn't mentioned in the Rio post (because it hadn't happened yet):

I bought a saxophone here in Brasil. It's made of bamboo and it's already broken into three pieces. But that'll be easily remedied with super glue since it's all broken apart in easily fixable places. I'm really bad at using it so far, and now that it broke apart, I can't practice until I fix it. It broke by being in my bag in the luggage area of the bus. No biggie. I bought it for R$34 (roughly USD$19). That night was nuts. Let me explain. Lena and I were pretty down because we couldn't get a hold of my cousin, Leo, who lives in Rio de Janeiro (the city we were in) and said he could take us in for a couple nights. Note, we never actually met up with him when we were there. But anyway, we were sitting there with our bags, not knowing what to do or where to go and bummed about having to spend a shit load of money on a hotel since we weren't near any hostels we knew of.

This man walked by playing a bamboo sax. So we naturally followed him. He was playing it at people at various restaurants who weren't interested. He was excellent at it though! So we continued to follow. Eventually he noticed us and started playing it at us. We got talking to him. He then began trying to sell the thing to me since I was so interested in it. He proposed R$40. I got him down to R$35, but only had $R34 on me, which he accepted. There was a large group of "mendigos" (portuguese slang for young begger boys) around us, asking for money. I didn't want to do this deal right then and there so I asked Roberto (the name of the man with the bamboo sax) to walk down the street with me. We sat down at a outdoor bar and he got us a beer and I paid up. We talked for a while and he was incredibly interesting. He was Chilean and was a traveler to Brasil as well. He spoke a little English and a little Portuguese, so his spoken words were a garbled mess of Anglo-Porto-Spanish. He told us of this neighborhood called Lapa, which is known for being the artistic part of town. He said that there was a hotel there that we could stay at for only R$25 (USD$14) for the night. This is amazing consideration a super cheap hostel is still about R$25 per person per night, so R$50 for the two of us. Anyway, the three of us hailed a cab and went to Lapa.

We arrived at the "hotel"; a dump of a building in a dump neighborhood, but the price was right! Roberto said he'd wait outside for us and we walked in. On the board they had written R$60 as the cheapest available room. So I investigated and the man agreed that that was their cheapest. I continued proding and said, "I heard I could get a room here for R$25". He grinned and said, "it doesn't have a TV". I grinned back and replied, "I don't need a TV". So there we have it. And boy was it a piece of shit! Let me also explain that this place and another place we had been to early in Rio had rooms available for R$40. Sounds fine, but they were for only 4 hours at a time. Once you decode what that actually means, you realize how disgusting this place was. It was funny too, because in places like these, people even assumed I wanted a four hour room and Lena was my good time. Anyway, enough about the room. We went back out and met Roberto who lead us down the various streets of Lapa. We saw and met some really interesting characters and the street art was excellent here. Music, in the rhythm of samba, on every corner and the smell in the air was either delicious garlic or the vague scent of urine.

We were lead to this large staircase

that lead to a different part of Lapa. The entire thing was designed in tiles from all over the world and was slowly put together over 10 years by an artist from Chile named Selarón, who we met at that exact location the next day. But that night we sat there with Roberto and played with his djembe which I had been carrying most of the night. Two other street vendors and friends of his joined us and we were also joined by a group of 3 girls and a guy from New York City. A joint was rolled, passed around, and one of the street vendors and I provided the rhythm.

Later, Roberto, Lena and I went to a small restaurant to eat. Roberto had been drinking all night and continued to do so. He was gone at this point! We continued to talk and his speech became nearly impossible to understand with the slurring. At one point I was staring off and he asked if I was an architect (implying that I was staring in amazement at the buildings around me, which I partially was) and began laughing. I jokingly said, "yes, I am". Well, he didn't take kindly to this thinking that I was insulting him with a lie. Later in the conversation he asked Lena where we were from, a question that had been answered within our first 5 minutes of meeting him. "Boston", she answered. He didn't like this either. He didn't believe her for some reason. He stood up, grabbed his djembe and stormed off. Though, he was kind enough to leave money for the beer he had been drinking. It was so strange though. And we felt awful. Here, we had just met this man who showed us such an amazing night and it all ended so bittersweet.

Hey folks, Lener here!

So I guess I'll begin by giving you a little background on Vale do Capão. Capão is a teeny-weeny village on the western side of the immense mountain range that is the Parque Nacional da Chapada Diamantina, which is in the interior of the state of Bahia. The town seems to be pretty much built by and for a very earthy, hippie crowd of people from many different parts of the world. It's a very pleasant, friendly place with a very warm community of people. However, the setting is totally the most attractive part. The Parque Nacional da Chapada Diamantina, which was named for it's abundance of diamonds and precious gems found in the rocks and riverbeds, is an amazing mass of mountains, valleys, rivers, platueas and waterfalls. It is absolutely gorgeous. The tropical vegetation is lush and abundant with many different species of monkeys, birds, and some ridiculously terrifying insects. On of first day there, we heard fireworks go off somewhere in the town and the resonance it made was totally unique as you could hear the echo moving swiftly through the whole valley.

We came to Capão specifically on a recommendation from Guru João, which was excellent advice. We ended up spending our first five nights there camping at a small campground with kitchen use, which ended up being a huge money saver. There is no ATM in Capão, and we came there with little cash, so we worked pretty hard at making it last until we reached another ATM. While we were staying at the campground, we spent our time cooking with delicious organic fruits and vegetables, practicing yoga with the beautiful mountain range view, and taking some short excursions into the mountains. The first excursion we took, and one of the most noteworthy, was up to the top of the Cachoiera da Fumaça (smoke waterfall) which gets it name because it's more than 420 meters high, so the water becomes mist before it hits the grounds. The actual waterfall is pretty puny though, but the view is absolutely amazing. Another excursion we took was to the very picturesque Purificação waterfall. This was a bit difficult to find though, since we had basic directions. We followed along the river, hopping from rock to rock most of the way there. When we finally did arrive we were facing the front of the waterfall and decided to climb up the rocks. I climbed up first and Tiago was coming up after me with the camera hanging around his neck. He was close to the top when he slipped and ended up falling head first, about ten feet, back down into the water onto the rocks. Thankfully, he managed to land himself well enough to only end up with a few cuts and scrapes. The water at the bottom wasn't very deep. Unfortunately though, the camera got wet and is no longer with us. We got some great pictures of Capão and the park before that happened, but there was a good amount that was missed. We have another camera here in Valadares though, so the very end of our trip will still be able to be photographed.

One of the most incredible parts of our trip to Capão was meeting a very interesting Austrian woman named Dula. Dula works as a ayurvedic massage therapist as well as with some interesting meditation techniques like the practice of re-birthing. Re-birthing is basically a form of very deep meditation where, with the help and guidance of a teacher, as well as deep breathing techniques, you are able to leave your body on a trip to the astral plane. She explained this when we met and we told her that we were very interested in trying the technique. So we went with her to her temple where she led us through the whole process. It began with the two of us looking intently into each other's eyes (specifically the left eye, which is the gateway to one's intuition, she told us) while we practiced what she called "circular breathing". Our breathing got strong and louder and everything got more and more intense. She laid us down and continued to guide us, telling us where to breath from, how to breath and when to relax. I felt hypnotized by the rhythm of our heavy breathing noises. All of the sudden, after a short while, my body started to tingle and numbness enveloped me. I then realized that I couldn't feel by body anymore. I still knew where I was and I could feel the room around me, but my body didn't exist to me. And then at that point, I realized that I couldn't hear myself breathing anymore. Everything from there on felt like a whirlwind of thoughts, images, dreams, and emotions all dancing around me way too fast for me catch anything. I was then left with brief foggy non-memories, like when you wake up from a dream and you know lots of things happened but you can't manage to hold on to them. At that point I was very much aware of the room around me, I could even hear a fly buzzing around. I was trying to make sense of all of this, and I could still not feel my body or hear my own breath. Then Dula gently asked for us to slowly move our fingers, then hands and legs, and feel our bodies coming back to us... and very slowly, we did. She asked us afterward to share our experiences. Tiago too had left his body, stopped breathing, and experienced the same strange awakening to reality. The whole thing had lasted two hours, though it felt to us very brief and very long at the same time. Dula had been making observations the whole time and jotting them down. She used a pendulum to keep track of our chakras. I really don't know how she did it, but she managed to find that we both had all of the same chakras open and in harmony with each other. She said she found this interesting since it is a bit uncommon for a couples chakras to be in harmony when they are no longer awake or looking at each other. We spoke to her afterwards for a while on the subject and a bit about some other types of meditation. She told us that our memories being foggy was quite a normal experience for the first time. When people do this more often, they get more comfortable and are eventually able to explore and remember a lot more during their trip. She encouraged us to try to find this same technique in America, and I totally would love to do it again. You really can't do it on your own without a lot more practice, since it can be dangerous. Dula actually said that she had to call me back, I apparently wasn't coming out on my own. She told us that a warning sign for this is when the person's lips turn blue, which is what happened to me. It was an incredibly interesting experience.

As I had mentioned earlier, there is no ATM in Capão. We were running very low on cash and needed to find a way to Lençois, which is a larger town outside the eastern side of the park that mainly thrives on the parks tourism, and has an ATM. You can take a bus there from Capão, but it has to go all the way around the mountain range, and it costs money which we didn't have. So the other option was to hike directly through the mountain range for 18 kilometers to Lençois... so that's what we did! We picked up a cheap pan as well as some oatmeal, tea, rice, noodles and other vaious things and began our trek with everything we had on our backs. I must say that the two of us have become pretty damn good campers over the course of this trip. Between our excursion to the Purificação waterfall and our trek to Lençois we ended up spending three days and three nights living, hiking, climbing, and cooking in the mountainous tropical jungle of Bahia. We picked up some innovative techniques from our guide while camping in the Amazon, including a "small tree for shoes", which is a small branch planted in the ground that you hang your shoes from to avoid getting tarantulas and other frightful bugs in them. Speaking of tarantulas, we actually saw one walk directly past our tent! Our life in the jungle was a very crazy experience, but one that we actually had a pretty good grasp on.

We made it to Lençois mid-morning filthy, sweaty and probably looking like hell, but we felt very accomplished. It's an attractive, pleasant place so we stayed there for a few days to see what the city might have to offer. This really wasn't much for us since it's filled with tourist agencies who want to take people on treks through the park, and charge a lot of money for it. Since we didn't need, want or have the money for this, we basically decided to mosey our way back to Valadares. Surprisingly enough, we found a bus that went to Valadares directly, so we hopped on it. And after a 13 hour ride, we were home..sort of, or at least back where we began, and it felt wonderful. We did almost miss our stop, not even realizing that we were in the city until the bus was ready to drive off again!

We surprised Tiago's Vovo (grandmother), Aunt Bia and little cousin Amanda (who we visit daily in Valadares. They all live together) with our homecoming. We spent the past 6 days here relaxing, sleeping, reading or hanging out with them. Valadares is Tiago's first home, and has become one to me as well. We've spent so much time here with the above mentioned family members. Much of it playing donkey kong and mario, drawing and making crafts with Tiago's 8 year old cousin Amanda. I've found her to be an excellent portuguese teacher and I've grown very fond of her. They are kind and generous people who have all welcomed me very sincerely, and I am going to be very sad when we leave them tomorrow morning.

Today was the most eventful day we've had in the past week. This afternoon we went up to the top of Mt. Ibituruna and went paragliding off of it. We flew separately, each of us attached to a pilot. Our flights were about 20 minutes long, comfortably floating in a harness in the sky above the mountain and city with a cool breeze and an incredible view. We weren't frightened at all, it felt very safe, though I did get a bit nauseated at one point. It was an amazing feeling, and we're both dying to learn how to do it on our own!

Lastly I have an important part of our trip that deserves mention. On the day we arrived to Valadares, Tiago's vovo gave us an abacate (avocado) and told us to blend it with milk and sugar. We tried it, and immediately fell in love. We've been making it or ordering it consistently throughout our trip. Now I know that this is unheard of in America, and probably thought to be "icky", but please give it a chance. It's worth it.

We're leaving tomorrow afternoon for Belo Horizonte, the city that we are flying home from. We plan to spend our last few days visiting Ouro Preto, a beautiful and historically rich colonial village, a large modern art museum, and some other sites around the city. We leave for America on Tuesday the 19th and will be arriving the next day. We're very happy and excited to come home and see everyone again, though it's very sad to see this adventure come to an end. But I am happy to be able to truly call it an adventure, an experience that we can both grow from in many ways.

With much love,

Lena and Tiago

Vale do Capão