The next day my wife was feeling lethargic and I was feeling adventurous, so I left her to the balcony and the beach to go jungle romping. I had two goals. I wanted to find a waterfall and I wanted to get a look at Praia Lopes Mendes, supposedly one of the most beautiful beaches in Brazil. I took a quick look at my guidebook before heading out to see if they had any recommendations. All it said was, if you head off the beaten track, “poorly marked trails and poisonous snakes can make things challenging.” Well, I didn’t plan to go off the main waterfall and beach paths so no problem. Of course, about 25 minutes out of town, the beaten track starts to look less and less well-trodden. Gradually the edges of the path close in, to points where you have to walk through high grasses and shrubs. Perfect “challenging” poisonous snake territory. I’m not normally one to be easily worried about silly things like The World’s Deadliest Creatures (!) but there I was in middle of nowhere, by myself, no longer entirely sure I was going in the right direction, imagining snakes in every bit of shrubbery, trying to remember what you’re supposed to do in the event of a snake bite. . . When suddenly, a couple bursts from a bush around a corner of the path, wearing nothing but their respective Brazilian swimsuits (read: tiny bikini and not-quite thong-like mankini). If they didn’t die on this path, then I probably wasn’t going to either. Eyes horizontal, I gave them a respectable nod and forged ahead.
I did find the waterfall after a couple of wrong turns, and a helpful park guide. It was small, but a pleasant place to sit for a while and watch more scantily clad survivors struggle down the slick mud slope, so they could splash around in the pool.
I did a bit too much camera experimenting, so most of my photos are either too dark or too bright.
I finally pulled myself away to go and look for this special beach. With some more wrong turns and some more asking fellow trekkers, in my zero-level Portuguese, for directions, I eventually found the wrong beach.
Here it is, as seen through my camera which has no wide-angle or panorama capabilities:
Nice enough to sit for a while but nicest beach in Brazil? I think not.
I prepared myself to try again, but it had started to rain once more and it seemed kind of pointless to try to get a beautiful beach photo in such poor weather. So, I started the trek home.
I did find the waterfall after a couple of wrong turns, and a helpful park guide. It was small, but a pleasant place to sit for a while and watch more scantily clad survivors struggle down the slick mud slope, so they could splash around in the pool.
I did a bit too much camera experimenting, so most of my photos are either too dark or too bright.
I finally pulled myself away to go and look for this special beach. With some more wrong turns and some more asking fellow trekkers, in my zero-level Portuguese, for directions, I eventually found the wrong beach.
Here it is, as seen through my camera which has no wide-angle or panorama capabilities:
Nice enough to sit for a while but nicest beach in Brazil? I think not.
I prepared myself to try again, but it had started to rain once more and it seemed kind of pointless to try to get a beautiful beach photo in such poor weather. So, I started the trek home.
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