Lençois Maranhenses, the flash-drive incident, Sete Cidades, Jericoacoara

Where we last left off, Lena and I were perusing São Luis and its sights.  Having moved on from this quaint, little historical city, we ended up in Barreirinhas.  This small village took us no longer than an hour to fully explore.  Its build along the Rio Preguiça (Lazy River), which empties into the Atlantic ocean only a couple hours north.  Our only real purpose here was to visit Parque Nacional dos Lençóis Maranhenses.  This park stretches itself across a thousand square kilometers.  A magnificent sight to see, as it is very much surreal.  Soft white sand dunes lay out as far as the eye can see.  Small, shallow pockets of fresh water are dispersed by the rain in the valleys between the dunes, making this not actually a desert though it appears that way at first glance.  Lena and I wandered around, aimlessly, until sunset, admiring this very bizarre landscape.

We returned to Barreirinhas, stayed another night, and then began a long series of trips to Parnaíba.  Since Barreirinhas is very much in the middle of nowhere, the only way in and out requires you to take an uncomfortable trip on a 4x4 truck, fitting about 15 passengers, through the woods via unpaved roads made of sand.  The truck brought us to the nearby city (an hour away) of Paulino Neves, and then from there we went to Tutoia (two and half hours).  From there we took a bus to Parnaíba, which also takes about two and half hours.  Immediately upon arriving to Parnaíba, we bought tickets for a bus leaving in about 3 hours to Piripiri, which would be our next destination.  We went to a nearby internet café to kill some time.  I was about to begin moving pictures from the camera to the flashdrive when it hit me like four tons of bricks.  I forgot the flashdrive inside of the computer we used in Barreirinhas.  Lena immediately looked up internet cafés in the city, luckily there was only one, and the phone number was available online.  I called up and they confirmed that they did still have it there.  The next day, Lena waited in Parnaíba, and I took a ridiculous series of buses, trucks, and hitching rides, back to Barreirinhas.  I left at 5:30am, the first bus to leave to Tutoia.  From there I caught a bus to Paulino Neves and arrived at about 11am.  I was told that all 4x4 passenger trucks to Barreirinhas had already gone for the day - devistating news.  I started talking to this couple who said that some trucks delivering goods would drive by the city we were standing next to.  Sure enough, about a half hour later, a truck filled with sacks of straw hats was driving by and we waved him down.  He agreed to take me for a little money and I climbed on the back and sprawled out on the hats.  There was a woman in the passenger seat with a little girl and holding a baby, and in the back of the trucks was I, the hats, and an old hick man who I couldn't even slightly understand.  But, I made it.  I grabbed the flashdrive and nonstop thanked and thanked Paulo, the guy who held onto the flashdrive for me that worked at the café.  I started asking around for any trucks leaving to Paulino Neves, and found one even better that was going to Tutoia.  Once I made it there however, I was stuck.  No trucks, buses or anything would be leaving for Parnaíba until 3:30am the next morning, and unfortunately it was only about 6pm.  So I waited all night, slept in the bus station, and made it back to Parnaíba about 6am, with Lena waiting for me at the bus station.  We got the flashdrive, and all of our pictures!

After this huge fiasco, we continued the plan we had before, and took a bus to Piripiri, a town just outside of Parque Nacional Sete Cidades (Seven Cities).  We camped in the park for one night and got to observe the outstanding, and rather strange, rock formations that can be seen there.  People believe that these weird formations were cities created by ancient civilizations, or aliens.  Admittedly, there are some rather deliberate looking designs and carvings that point to a conscious being having created them.  Throughout these "cities" are ancient rock paintings whose people or significance has been entirely shrouded in history.


I am now writing to you from the small beach village of Jericoacoara.  Though I imagine all coastal beach towns claim this, it is said that this village hosts one of the world's best beaches.  The water is turquoise and gorgeous, but I haven't seen all of the world's beaches, so I'll have to get back to you on this one.  This afternoon, Lena and I plan on horseback riding along some of the nearby dunes.  Wish me luck.



With love,
Tiago and the Len-ster