O przyrodzie i innych atrakcjach / About nature and other attractions

Ostatni dzien w Salvadorze uplynal pod znakiem zwiedzania Dique de Tororó, sztucznego jeziora na ktorym umieszczono rzezbione w drewnie postacie Orixas, bogow kultu Candomblé. Poniewaz na sama “msze” candomblé isc nie chcielismy (troche to bez sensu taka niby-religijna ceremonia pelna tajemniczosci i mistyki, a wkolo tabuny turystow; autentycznosc jest tu rowna walce wrestlingowej na eurosporcie), obejrzelismy chociaz Orixas. Przeszlismy sie wokolo jeziorka (ok 5 km), ale nie spedzalismy tam duzo czasu, bo tuz obok same favele.. Wieczorem Rogeria niestety nie bylo i nawet nie cyknelismy sobie z nim fotki, szajse! Zlapalismy bus na dworzec i juz o 23.30 zmierzalismy do Lençóis.
Autobus mial byc na miejscu o 5.30, liczylem na tradycyjne opoznienie i na dobry sen. Niestety skurczybyk przyjechal WCZESNIEJ. Juz o 4.50 zbudzil nas i kazal wysiadac. Jakis lokalny busik obwozacy turystow po pensjonatach za darmo na szczescie zaraz nas zabral i pojechalismy na camping (w sumie dosc drogi, ale nic tanszego nie bylo, a chcielismy w koncu wykorzystac namiot). Na kempingu dwa samotne namioty na wielkim polu i wredne mrowy na trawie. Do tego jeszcze ciemno i zaczelo siapic. Szybko rozbilismy namiot mimo protestow Asi, ze “z tymi mrowkami i w tym deszczu to ona...” itp. No i pospalismy sie jak dwa zajace. Az do 10.00. Potem wstalismy i przeszlismy sie po miescie. Okazalo sie, ze do parku narodowego sa rozne wycieczki, 1,2,3 i nawet 5-dniowe, zarowno piesze jak i samochodowe, ale wszystkie wyjezdzaja rano, wiec zostaje nam miasto i atrakcje lokalne. Samo miasto to mala wioseczka, moze wielkosci Kazimierza Dolnego, lezaca w gorach na wys. 1000 m npm. Niby klimat powinien byc wiec umiarkowany, ale slonce niezle walilo. Do zwiedzania na miejscu duzo nie bylo, wiec udalismy sie na spacer do polecanych w przewodniku atrakcji. Byla tam m.in. sala kolorowych piaskow (robia z nich buteleczki z kolorowym piaskiem, takie pamiatki) i jakies dwa wodospady. Po krotkim bladzeniu natrafilismy na jakiegos lokalnego chlopaczka, ktory za drobne zaoferowal sie nas zaprowadzic (oczywiscie zadnych drogowskazow!) i po spacerze ok. 4 km w gore rzeki trafilismy do wspomnianych atrakcji. Bylo fajnie, nawet udalo nam sie wejsc pod jeden fajny maly wodospad i sie ochlodzic. Po powrocie i malym posilku wybralismy sobie jedna z wycieczek na nastepny dzien (jednodniowa samochodem) i oczywiscie znow uderzylismy w kimono.
Nastepnego dnia wstalismy raniutko i pospieszylismy do punktu zbornego przekonani, ze odjada bez nas, ale oczywiscie tu tez nikt sie nigdzie nie spieszy. Minela jeszcze godzina zanim na dobre wyjechalismy. Furgonetka napakowana miedzynarodowym towarzystwem: Izraelczycy (pelno ich tu), Holendrzy, Kenijczyk, Niemka i my szaraki-Polaki. Najpierw obejrzelismy lokalna jaskinie pelna dziwow i cudow natury. Niesamowite formacje skalne, stalaktyty, stalagmity, elektyty, amacostamtyty i pelno innych dziwactw. Ladne to wszystko bylo, tylko ze Brazylijskie jaskinie zbyt chlodne nie sa (22-24 C w tym przypadku) a poniewaz zapakowali nas w kaski (bardzo sie przydaly, bo sufit nisko!) to sie mocno pocilismy. Po dwoch godzinach chodzenia w pozycji quasimodo i podziwiania skalnych naciekow mielismy dosc. Fenomenalny byl natomiast znajdujacy sie na stropie jaskini naciek w ksztalcie glowy Chrystusa (Izraelczycy mowili, ze to Bob Marley), bedzie fotka. Przewodnicy nie mowili po angielsku, ale zyczliwy Holender, ktory urodzil sie w Brazylii i spedzil tu dziecinstwo posluzyl za tlumacza.
Potem popedzilismy na fascynujacy szczyt Pai Inacio, z ktorego rozciaga sie niezla panoramka charakterystycznych dla regionu plaskich szarych szczytow parku Diamantina. 20 minutowy spacer nie wycisnal z nas siodmych potow, ale wycieczka byla typu emeryckiego, wiec trudno sie dziwic.
Trzecia przewidziana atrakcja byl wodospad z jeziorkiem o milej dla ucha nazwie “diabelska studnia” (Poço do Diabo). Nie byl zbyt duzy, jakies 25 m, wiec wszyscy po goracym dniu wskoczyli do jeziorka aby sie ochlodzic. Niektorych, w tym mnie podkusilo, zeby pochlodzic sie pod samym wodospadem. Niestety troche przecenilem swoje umiejetnosci plywackie i po lekkiej szamotaninie w wodzie (nie, nie widzialem swiatelek w tunelu! : ) musialem zostac odholowany do brzegu przez naszego przewodnika i paru chlopakow z grupy. Brzmi to zabawnie, ale mialem niezlego stracha. Kto by pomyslal, ze wodospad lubi wciagac pod wode... przeciez to zupelnie nielogiczne .
Zupelnie wyczerpany wrocilem do samochodu i ostatkiem sil dowloklem sie do namiotu. Nie uzyje okreslenia “spalem jak zabity” bo skojarzenia nie sa najlepsze, ale z pewnoscia nie mialem problemow z zasnieciem.. : )
Nastepnego dnia mielismy wieczorem jechac do Brasilii, wiec postanowilismy w ciagu dnia ochlodzic sie w innych pobliskich jeziorkach. Ok. 4km od miasta znajduje sie uroczy zakatek zwany Meio do Riberão. Jest tam kilka naturalnych basenow (oczek wodnych), maly wodospad i naturalna zjezdzalnia. Jest to cos w rodzaju rowni pochylej o dlugosci ok. 100 m i niewielkim nachyleniu, po ktorej zsuwa sie woda. Taki zlagodzony wodospad. Zjezdza sie po tym swietnie, ale skaly, choc oble, miekkie nie sa, wiec nawet z wodna amortyzacja i po ochlodzeniu sie na koncu zjazdu w jeziorku, nie dalem rady zjechac wiecej niz 3 razy pod rzad. Moja szlachetnia czesc tylna nie chciala juz wspolpracowac, pamietajac zreszta chyba o czekajacej nas 16h podrozy do Brasilii. Moje spodenki kapielowe tez odmowily posluszenstwa, wiec dopoki ktos nie popracuje nad nimi z nitka i igla, nie bede mogl sie pokazac w towarzystwie na szanujacej sie plazy : )
Autobus do Brasilii oczywiscie przyjechal z opoznieniem. Byl dosc wygodny, ale przydzielono nam miejsca nie obok siebie. Kierowca pozwolil nam sie zamienic, ale potem wsiadl gosc, ktorego miejsce zajalem i nie chcial isc na to, ktore bylo poczatkowo mnie przydzielone, bo tam siedzial jakis gadatliwy pijaczek. Koniec koncow usiadl gdzie indziej, bo bylo jeszcze jedno wolne miejsce, ale atmosfera byla nerwowa. W dodatku posadzili nas kolo kibla. Caly czas otwieraly sie drzwi, o zapachu nie wspomne. Zepsute zawieszenie to kolejny z problemow. Byl to zdecydowanie najgorszy autobus w Brazylii, ale gdzie mu do ekwadorskich czy niektorych peruwianskich (cena rowniez bez porownania wyzsza : ). Po wrednym opoznieniu 2h dojechalismy na miejsce o 17.00 nastepnego dnia.
Czekal juz na nas cierpliwie nasz nowy gospodarz, Ricardo. Juz sie sciemnialo, wiec zabral nas tylko do domu prezydenta (Luli akurat nie bylo : ), a nastepnie do siebie, do domku pod miastem. Tam zostalismy utuleni do snu cieplym obiadkiem i zabawa z labradorem oraz dwoma pudelkami gospodarza.
Nastepnego dnia Ricardo pozyczyl nam rowery, abysmy mogli lepiej zwiedzic miasto, bo odleglosci sa za duze na spacery. Poniewaz wszyscy spotkani dotychczas Brazylijczycy oraz turysci pukali sie w glowe na wiesc, ze chcemy jechac do Brasilii, sami zdazylismy zwatpic w sens tej wizyty, wiec zaskoczenie moglo byc tylko przyjemne. I tak miasto, w ktorym wg przewodnika ludzie mieli byc “rasa podlegla klimatyzatorom i samochodom” okazalo sie calkiem przyjemna, drobiazgowo rozplanowana przestrzenia miejska. Nie betonowa dzungla bynajmniej, ale pelnym zieleni eksperymentem urbanistycznym, zreszta zobaczycie na zdjeciach. Dla tych, ktorzy nie wiedza, miasto zostalo zbudowane od podstaw na pusciutkiej rowninie w centrum kraju w trzy lata (1957-1960). Prezydent Juscelino Kubitschek i lewicujacy architekt Oscar Niemeyer wymarzyli sobie nowa, wolna od brudu i skaz stolice (Rio sie juz przezylo...). Miasto idealne. Zaprojektowano wiec miasto na planie samolotu. Kokpit tworza budynki rzadowe, na skrzydlach znajduja sie dzielnice mieszkalne. Sektory mieszkalne podzielone sa na tzw. superbloki (jest ich kilkaset). Kazdy z nich zawiera kilka rzedow domow, tzw. blokow, centrum handlowe, w ktorym w zalozeniu znajduja sie wszystkie sklepy potrzebne mieszkancom, szkole, kosciol itp. Czyli jest samowystarczalny. Kazdy z kilkuset superblokow jest zaprojektowany IDENTYCZNIE, czyli uklad domow, zieleni itp. Jest wszedzie ten sam. WSZYSTKIE domy mieszkalne maja po 6 pieter. Brzmi to dosc makabrycznie, ale sprawia uporzadkowane wrazenie. Dziala to tak, ze droga prowadzaca do kazdego superbloku jest slepa, wiec trafiaja tam tylko mieszkancy. Jesli chce sie mieszkac I kontaktowac tylko z samymi sasiadami, to jest super. Jesli chce sie wyjsc na miasto, to gorzej, bo wszystkie punkty handlowo-uslugowe sa zorganizowane wewnatrz tych podstawowych jednostek, a w samym centrum (kadlub samolotu) nie ma nic, oprocz budynkow rzadowych.
Budynki trzech wladz (kongres, sad i prezydent) znajduja sie na tzw. Placu Trzech Wladz. Po 50 latach wszystko nie wyglada juz tak nowoczesnie, ale oszczednosc srodkow wyrazu i swoisty porzadek architektoniczny nadal moze sie podobac. Kongres zwiedza sie za darmo (jak i wiekszosc atrakcji w miescie). Ba! Mozna nawet dostac tam pocztowke z wizerunkiem kongresu, ktora na koszt rzadu zostanie dostarczone w dowolne miejsce na swiecie. Podoba mi sie tu! Po odwiedzeniu kilku sal, ruszylismy na niedaleka wieze telewizyjna, skad rozciaga sie swietna panorama miasta, a nastepnie porobilismy troche ciekawych fotek roznych budynkow, z tym slynnej katedry. Niestety, najciekawszy kosciol Dom Bosco, przypominajacy betonowy schron z witrazami, okazal sie zamkniety, wiec fotki sa tylko z zewnatrz. Wieczorem zmachani wrocilismy do domu...
Nasz drugi pelny dzien w Brasilii okazal sie mocno deszczowy, wiec ograniczylismy sie do zwiedzania centrum handlowego, kosciola Dom Bosco wewnatrz (hurra!) i, wieczorem, najstarszego pubu w Brasilii (Beirute, rok otwarcia 1966!) Jutro, jesli pogoda bedzie laskawa, wybieramy sie do parku narodowego Chapada dos Veadeiros na polnoc od miasta. Jesli tym razem sie nie podtopie, postaram sie zdac pelna relacje! Tchao!

We spent the last day in Salvador visiting Dique de Tororó, an artificial lake on which wooden sculptures of Orixas were placed. Orixas are Candomblé gods. Because we didn’t want to go the candomblé service” (kinda pointless, a religious ceremony with a lot of tourists around; some mysticism, I would say), we at least took a look at Orixas. We walked around the lake (5 km) but we didn’t spend a lot of time there, because there were favelas all over the place. Unfortunately, at night Rogerio was out so we didn’t even take a photo with him. Shit! We caught a bus to the station and by 11.30 pm were already riding to Lençóis.
The bus was supposed to arrive at 5.30 and I hoped it would be late, as always, letting us sleep longer. Unfortunately, the bastard came EARLIER! Woke us up at 4.50 and told us to get off. A local bus touring local bed and breakfasts took us for free and left us at a local campground (a little expensive, but the cheapest that there was). At the campground there were only two single tents on a big field on nasty ants in the grass. We quickly set up the tent despite Asia’s objections that “she won’t be putting up with those ants and that rain...” And we slept immediately. Until 10am. Then we woke up and took a walk around town. Turned out there were different tours around the national park. 1-day, 2-day, 3-day and even 5-day outings, both hiking and by car, but they all leave in the morning, so we can only see the city and local attractions. The city is a small village in the mountains, 1000 m above sea level. The climate should be moderate but the sun was beating like crazy. Not much too see there so we went hiking out of town a little bit. We wanted to visit a colored sands area (they use them to make souvenirs) and two waterfalls. After getting lost for a while we met a local boy who took us there for some spare change (of course no signs there!) and after 4km walk upriver we found the attractions. It was nice, we even managed to get under one tiny waterfall to cool down. After getting back and having a dinner, we picked one of the tours (a day trip by car) and of course went to sleep again.
Next day we woke up early and went to the meeting point. We were sure they would leave without us but it turned out no one was in hurry : ) It was another hour before we really left. The van was packed with international people: Israelis (a lot of them here!), Dutchmen, a Kenyan guy, a German girl and us. First we saw a local cave full of wonders and freaks of nature. Amazing rock formations, stalactites, stalagmites, electites, amasomethingtites and other stuff. It was great, but Brazilian caves are not too cold (22-24C in this case) and we had to wear helmets (very useful too, because the ceiling was pretty low) and we sweated like pigs. After too hours of walking like Quasimodo and admiring rocks we had had it. One thing was amazing: a dripping in the shape of Christ’s head (the Israeli said it was more like Bob Marley). See the photo. The guides did not speak English, a but a good-natured Dutch guy who was born in Brazil and spent his childhood here was our translator. Then we went to see the fascinating Pai Inacio peak, from which there is a great panorama of flat mountains typical of the Diamantina region. 20-minute walk was not very tiresome, but people of all ages took part in the trip so no wonder it was easy.
A third attraction on our itinerary was a waterfall and a lake with a nice sounding name “devil’s well” (Poço do Diabo). It was not a big fall, 25 m maybe, so everybody jumped into the lake to cool down a bit. Some of us were even tempted to cool down under the fall, myself included. Unfortunately, I overestimated my swimming abilities a bit and after struggling in the water a bit (no, I did not see lights at the end of the tunnel! : ) I had to be escorted to the shore by our guide and some of the people from our group. This sounds funny but I was really frightened now. Who would have thought waterfalls have a funny way of pulling people under... does that make sense to you?
Totally exhausted, I returned to the car and got to the tent. I sure didn’t have any problems sleeping that night : )
Next day we were going to go to Brasilia, so we decided to cool down in other, nearby lakes. Approx. 4 km out of town there is a lovely spot called Meio do Riberão. It has several natural swimming pools (water pools), a small waterfall and a natural slide. It is more like a slope maybe 100 m long, not very steep, with water sliding off it. A soft version of a waterfall. The experience is great, but the rocks, although they’re round, are not very soft so even in the water I couldn’t slide down more than 3 times in a row. My ass just wouldn’t cooperate anymore, maybe it knew the 16h bus trip to Brasilia was coming soon.. : ) My swimming shorts unfortunately gave way too so before somebody works on them with needle and thread, I won’t show my ass around on respectable beaches : )
The bus to Brasilia of course came late. It was comfortable, but we had been assigned seats away from each other. The driver let us swap, but then a guy came whose seat I had taken and didn’t want to take my assigned seat, because there was a loud drunk sitting next to it. Finally, he took another seat, because luckily there was one more left, but we were quite nervous. Also, they placed us right in front of the toilet. The door would open by itself every now and then and the smell I won’t even start to describe. Broken suspension is another thing. This was our worst bus in Brazil. After being 2h late, we reached the place at 5pm next day.
Our host, Ricardo, was waiting for us patiently there. It was getting late, so he just took us to see the president’s house (Lula was out, unfortunately : ) and then to his place, outside of town. There we were lulled to sleep with a warm dinner after playing with the host’s Labrador retriever and two poodles.
Next day Ricardo lent us two bikes so we could visit the city better because distances are huge. Because every Brazilian and tourist we had met until then was really surprise we wanted to see Brasilia, we had already been uncertain whether it made any sense to go there, so we could be only pleasantly surprised. And so the city, in which according to the guidebook people are “slaves to cars and air conditioners” proved to be a pleasant, meticulously planned out urban space. It was not a concrete jungle – by no means – but rather a city planning experiment full of green areas. See the photos. The city was built from scratch on a plateau in the center of the country in three years (1957-1960). The president Juscelino Kubitschek and a leftist architect Oscar Niemeyer dreamt they would built a new, dirt-free and crime-free capital (Rio was passe by then :) The perfect city. So they designed it to look like an airplane. The cockpit are government buildings and residential, hotel and business areas are on the wings. Residential areas are divided into so-called superblocks (several hundreds of them). Each of them has several rows of houses, so-called blocks, a shopping center, a school, most of them also a church so they are pretty much self-reliant. Each of the several hundred superblocks are IDENTICAL, i.e. has an identical layout of houses, green areas etc. Everything is the same. ALL apartment houses have six floors. It sound terrible but looks nice and orderly. Roads leading to each superblock are always dead ends, so only the residents or visitors are supposed to get there. If you want to live there and stay around your neighbors only, it’s fine. If you want to go out, it’s not as good, because 90% of all shops and stuff like that are inside the superblocks, and the center has few things aside from the government sector.
Buildings of the three powers (congress, supreme court and president) are located on the Three Powers Square. After 50 years it doesn’t look so modern anymore, but undertone design and architectural order can be perceived as advantages. A guided tour of the congress (in Portuguese!!!) is free (like most landmarks here!) You can even get a free postcard with the congress, which the government will deliver to any place in the world for you, naturally also for free. I like it here! After visiting a few rooms, we moved to the nearby TV tower, which offers a stunning view of the city, and then took some photos of the buildings here, including the cathedral. Unfortunately, the most interesting church here, Dom Bosco, looking a bit like a huge bomb shelter (but bomb shelters don’t have massive stained-glass windows) was closed. At night we came home, quite tired.
On a side note: Ricardo told us that zoning plans in Brasilia didn’t quite go as expected. It turned out that bureaucracy was so rampant here that people would be waiting for months on end to get a building permit. So seeing as the settlement was quite huge, some people started zoning their own land and selling lots illegally. And the government did nothing about it. Neither legalized it nor prevented it. Strange. The city is full of such “semilegal” losts and buildings on them, some quite nice and big, like Ricardo’s house (yes!) Some even went as far as selling the government’s land, claiming it was theirs, and houses were built there too. Adding the ramshackle houses of people who came to build the city and lived in temporary shacks, but never left after construction ended, we get a different view at the orderly urban space Kubitschek and Niemeyer dreamt of but never quite achieved...
Our second day in Brasilia proved really rainy so we just visited a shopping mall, Dom Bosco church inside (yes!) and at night, Brasilia’s oldest pub (Beirute, since 1966!) Tomorrow, if the weather is nice, we will go to the National Park Chapada dos Veadeiros north of Brasilia. If I don’t drown this time, I’ll try to give you full coerage. Tchao!