Lençois Road Trip

So I arrived in Salvador on February 17. This was right in the middle of Carnaval, but I had decided to skip the festivities and take a little trip to Lençois instead. Lençois is a small former diamond-mining town in the mountains about 6 hours west of Salvador. My plan was to stay with Fausto -- a very friendly Salvador native I met through an online travel forum -- for one night, then take off for Lençois by bus the next day. Fausto was also hosting a gay German/American couple in his apartment for Carnaval, so I definitely didn't want to overstay my welcome and crowd his apartment.

When I arrived at the Salvador Airport on Saturday afternoon, Fausto was there with his houseguests to pick me up. The four of us then went to the bus station to get my ticket to Lençois, but the bus I was planning to take was sold out. Then first Fausto, and then Kristian and Beau all decided they would go to Lençois for a few days as well. And thus a road trip was born.

Since we weren't leaving until the next day, I got a chance to pop over to the parade route on Saturday night to check out Carnaval. And it was definitely a lot of fun. I don't have any photos, partly because everyone impressed upon me how incredibly dangerous Carnaval was, and that I shouldn't even wear my cheap Swatch, no less bring a camera with me; and partly because I wore shorts with no pockets and didn't want to carry around the camera. Sorry about that. But it was definitely fun, and I definitely had a good time, and I definitely didn't need to do it for more than an evening, so I was very happy I had decided to go to Lençois instead. :-)

On the road, headed to Lençois.

The outside of our pousada ("Pousada d'Angela") in Lençois.

Praça Horacio de Mattos

Street in Lençois

This is why you shouldn't taunt a street dog.

The day after we arrived in Lençois we made a long excursion into the huge Parque Nacional da Chapada Diamantina, which surrounds Lençois. We started with a hike up Morro do Pai Inacio, a 1,120 meter peak giving some stunning views of the park.

Approaching Morro do Pai Inacio