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Main | The Report | The Information | The Flowers
Versão em Português
The Report
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| Day 1 - "Considering what we saw on the road, this is going to be a gorgeus trip." |
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It was at the last minute that I decided to go to the Chapada dos Veadeiros (which means deer hunter's plateau). May and June are considered the best months for visiting, as this is the beginning of the dry season, but I wasn't able to travel at that time, as I had planned. But I decided to go in July, when I learnt that there were still many flowers - and the flowers of the cerrado (the Brazilian savannah) are certainly an important attraction of the region.
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When I arrived in Brasília, Luzimar, who would be our guide in Chapada, was waiting for me at the airport, together with the other five travelers, all of them from São Paulo - a women's only group! We crossed the city and headed north for the town of Alto Paraíso, where we stopped for lunch after almost three hours on the road. Then we resumed traveling, now in a Land Rover driven by Jair, along a dirt road to the quiet village of São Jorge, stopping along the way to see the Gardens of Maitréia, a beautiful area in the National Park of fields dotted with murity palms. First stop for photographs.
We stayed at Pousada Ponto Verde, a simple but reasonable inn. It lacks some details, like a bathroom mirror. After we chose our rooms, I left with Darcy to take a look around the village, that has some restaurants and many inns, one of the highlights being the charming Canto das Flores. In the past, the exploitation of crystals brought a lot of money, but today São Jorge lives on tourism, as prospection is forbidden in most of the region. Many prospectors in fact became ecotourism guides.
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| Day 2 - "Water sculpted curious forms, round and undulated." |
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Despite being tired, I woke up early, in expectation for our first walks. A highlight at breakfast for me were the cookies.
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We left at nine, a bit late, with the sun already high. Our first stop, after some kilometers shaking on a road full of holes, was the Vale da Lua (Valley of the Moon), a region where the São Miguel River sculpted strange shapes on the rocks. It is indeed an odd place and one of the Chapada's landmarks. The trail is 1200m long in total, passing through a small tract in the woods, then along the river. On the whole, we spent a little more than one hour, including some stops to enjoy the scenery. The water was cold. Like most of the attractions in Chapada, Vale da Lua is in a private property.
On the way back, we stopped at Aldeia da Lua Inn, in late construction. They have huge chalets in a ranch with trails that go down to the river and waterfalls. It was interesting to know it, but I think we stayed there too long - I wanted to hike! We left it at about noon.
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Next stop, Raizama, another ranch. We walked for about 20 min through fields in blossom, full of everlastings and mimosas. In the end, we went down a steep but short trail to get to a small waterfall of the Raizama river, named "hydromassage". Once again, cold waters that didn't encourage me to enter - but some courageous ones did.
We had our snack there. The trail snack pack each os us was given was very generous: sandwich, cake, cookies, apple, juice - I couldn't even have all. After about half an hour, we resumed our walk, descending along the canyon formed by the erosive action of the river. Further ahead, the river drops 40 meters into the São Miguel river. Then we followed a trail carved in the rocks along the canyon of São Miguel River. It's funny how the river in this portion is so different from the Vale da Lua, which is only a few kilometers from there. We descended to an area where the river flows hidden inside the rocks it carved. The power of the water is huge, I imagine how it must be during the rainy season!
Later we took the trail back, but there were some other natural pools to be visited. The ascent leading out of the canyon is short but steep, then it becomes easier as we cross the fields back to the entrance, where we rested for a while in the shade, recovering our strength.
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We still had one more attraction, the Morada do Sol (Sun's Dwelling). We started walking at around 3pm and it tooks us fifteen minutes to get to the river, walking in the woods. There is a nice pool with a waterfall in the background. Pity that the sun was not hitting the water anymore when we got there. While the others rested and bathed, Darcy, Luiza and I followed Jair along the river - but I gave up at a certain point when we had to jump on slippery rocks. I returned and stayed at the pool, but I only put my legs in the water, massaging them in the cold water.
We were back in São Jorge slightly after 4:30pm and had lunch at Téia. Our package included a snack pack and a meal everyday - an exaggeration! But as soon as we saw the food, we all felt a bit hungry... I had chicken, rice, beans and vegetables. Then we returned to the inn for a nice bath.
Naturally, having had lunch so late, we did not feel hungry at night. I went with Adriana and Ana to Casa das Flores Inn, where I had a por of tea while we chatted. It gets a bit chilly at night, but it is bearable.
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| Day 3 - "Today's hike was a bit exhausting, but the effort was paid back with the view of the falls of Preto River." |
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We left a little bit earlier, in order to start hiking at around nine. It wasn't yet hot, despite the sun, but we were soon sweating. The trail to the so called Windows (because of the view fo the falls of Preto river) begins in a place where a mandala of crystals was built - the place is known as "UFOport" (there are plenty of people who claim to have seen UFOs in the region). The first 20 min were easy, on a trail set by tiny gravel, crossing a forest, so to speak, of canelas-de-ema, a common plant of the cerrado.
Then the tough part begins, mostly a descent, sometimes slippery. Often the trail disappeared in the rocks. Mitiko, Luiza and Darcy followed Luzimar's pace ahead. I, who always slows down in descents, was closer to Adriana and Ana, with Jair closing the line. On the way, a hornet stang Ana, only a few steps behind me.
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Along the way, we had many views of the valley and the canyon. We were stimulated with the first view, even if limited, of the waterfalls of Preto River, Falls 1 and 2, more known as Falls of 80 and of 120 - in a reference to their heights in meters (although they don't look so high). Both are inside the Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park, created in 1961 and today having only 10% of the original assigned area. The trail we hiked was outside the park, but there is another inside, which goes to the Falls of 120 and then to the pool formed by the Falls of 80. It must also be a great walk.
After about one hour and a half walking, we got to the main viewpoint, with a full view of the Falls of 120 and the pool of Falls of 80. We rested and had our snack packs there. I waited for the sun to be in a more favourable position to take photos. The Falls of 80 was out of view - it seems that we would be able to see it if we would go further ahead on the trail.
We stayed there for almost 2h, then we started our way back, now mostly going up. Exhausting, but actually easier for me, except at the moments where we missed the trail in the rocks. Adriana, due to the heat and the effort, suffered of a drop of blood pressure. In the end, it took us 2h to reach the trailhead, where we rested a while under the shade, before returning to the village by jeep.
We had lunch at Nenzinha restaurant, another home-cooked buffet. I had salad, rice, beans, browned flour and sundried meat. At 4pm we left for a relaxing trip: bathing in hot water pools. There is more than one place offering this, but we went to a ranch called Morro Vermelho, 12km from São Jorge, already in the district of Colinas. The pools are artificial, but built on natural hot water springs - we could even see the water bubbling. It was too late to catch the sunset at the "UFOport"
At night we all went to Casa das Flores Inn. Their restaurant is very pleasing, full of charming decorative details and an ample menu. Taking advantage of the chilly weather, I shared a cheese fondue with Ana. We were all startled with Mitiko - she may be small, but she has the appetite of a truck driver!
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| Day 4 - "The view is great, with the water falling in a pool that flows into a narrow canyon." |
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We left at nine for our only hike inside Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park. The access to the park is controlled, only allowed in the company of an authorized guide. There are basically two trails open to the public: one leading to the falls of Preto river and another leading to the canyons and the Cachoeira das Cariocas (Waterfall of the Cariocas) - we took the latter.
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The hike is long (12km round trip) but is mostly easy. It's flat most of the way, passing by fields of canelas-de-ema, candombás, everlastings and many other flowers. We crossed brooks of clear potable water. It was sunny, but the wind relieved us from the heat.
I think our stops were a bit long, considering that our pace wasn't strong - Luiza and I, especially, stopped often to photograph the flowers. If it wasn't for that, or maybe if we had begun earlier, maybe it would have been possible to go to Canyon 1 like other groups we met there, but we went to Canyon 2, more easily reached.
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After a little more than one and a half hours and a climb on the rocks, we could see the falls that come from Canyon 1 and drop around 15 meters on a pool which in turn feeds Canyon 2. The canyon is very narrow and the water flows violently.
I was fascinated by this place, imagining how it would be during the rainy season, when the rivers in the region become much stronger. By the way, summer rainfall is especially dangerous in the area, as it can cause flash floods. Sometimes it rains at the riverhead and tourists can be caught by surprise - one of the reasons why it is important to have a guide at Chapada, for they know the climate. In some points of the park alarms have been installed, to alert people when park rangers are informed about strong showers on the riverhead.
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We spent about 15 min there, then we walked over the rocks until we reached a pool at the end of Canyon 2. As usual, the water was extremely cold, but this time I got the courage to enter. At least there was a lot of sun to warm me up afterwards! The water was transparent and teeming with tiny fish.
Soon other groups of tourists arrived, demonstrating the popularity of the park's trails - it was the place where we met more people in our hikes. We had our snacks and rested for long, enjoying the beauty of the place, until we resumed our walk soon after 12:30pm.
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I think it took us around half an hour to reach the Cachoeira das Cariocas (Waterfall of the Cariocas). At the end there is a very steep descent that requires caution - I even put my camera back into my knapsack to avoid damage. The falls are beautiful, pity it wasn't possible to take a picture of all of it, as a large wall and some rocks partially obstruct the view. There are many spots for a hydromassage. Don't even dream of a shade - at least not close to the water. We stayed there for around one and a half hours, also having a bit more of our bountiful snack packs. The place also got crowded with tourists.
It took us another one and a half hours to return. Sometimes, during a rest stop, I went ahead to be able to take my photos of flowers. There were many new ones, like the pretty flower of the candombá and the everlastings pali-palã and princesa do cerrado.
Back in São Jorge, we had lunch again at Nenzinha. I wanted to see the sunset, but I lost the poll - the other wanted to shop for crystals. We saw some other inns and I found one called Trilha Violeta very pleasing.
At night we went once again to Casa das Flores Inn. We bought t-shirts at a very good price that Luiza negotiated. The hardest part was finding the print each of us wanted - we made a mess there! We were going to watch a video called "3 Chapadas and a balloon", but they couldn't find the tape, so we watched others, with complimentary popcorn offered by the inn's manager. Afterwards the others went to have pizza - one gotta be hungry! Adriana, with a cold, had already returned to our inn.
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Continues...
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Main | The Report | The Information | The Flowers
Versão em Português
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