Coloured houses in the Paraiba, mocos (Kerodon rupestris!) under giant boulders, discovering what Niemeyer did, getting just a little wet in the amazonian rainforest and white sheets at sunrise! There are certainly more than fifty shades of Brazil!
Road trip in the Paraiba
For 4 days we go around the state of Paraiba (bigger than Switzerland!) in a rented car, discovering this beautiful region. Our trip brings us through varied landscapes: from sugar cane and corn plantation to secondary rainforest covered hills, a step-like plateau where it clearly rains less and that leads us to amazing rock formations. All this is occasionally interrupted by a huge ranch dotted with white cattle and horses as well as colourful villages each with their own cachaça (a type of rhum) factory. Cachaça – cocktail amateurs know this – belongs to the original recipe of Caipirinha!
A world of sugarcane
We visit the multicoloured town of Areia on top of a region covered with vast tropical vegetation growing on red soil and lots of sugarcane plantations. We stay in an unexpectedly pleasant pousada and have a tour and tasting in the picturesque Cachaçaria of Triunfo. The boys had their share of sugar cane sirup and juices. On top of that, the plantation also produces chocolate…
The little lake at the village-like Cachaçaria of Triunfo; every little house has it’s purpose: besides the actual factory there’s a restaurant, souvenir shops, chocolaterie, and even… 
… a “petrol” station 😉 
Sugar cane gets chopped and pressed 
And after the sugar cane juice has gone through the fermentation process, it gets distillated in these copper stills 
The restaurant of our Pousada in Areia 
To our surprise there was even a swimming pool. Unfortunately the weather was not nice enough. 
The old theatre “Minerva” in Areia was worth the visit 
We went for a stroll in the village, hoping to visit the church, which was unfortunately closed 
Amazed by the colours in all the villages in the Paraiba 
The fifty shades of Brazil – all kinds of landscapes throughout the state of Paraiba 
By coincidence we see the action from the road and stop our car amongst horse trailers and big 4x4s to find the Bolero arena. The aim is for the two riders to make the cow to fall before a line at the other end of the arena. 
In the middle of now-where: the modern town of Campina Grande
Brazil’s Devil’s Marbles
Driving south we come across more and more arid areas, staying at altitudes over 400 m, which is rather surprising for the Nordeste of Brazil, which is otherwise rather flat and mostly rain forest and mangroves. What you visit in this region are the different rock formations, one of which is exceptional: the site of Pai Mateus, a geological top site, similar to the Devil’s Marbles in Australia. Gradual removal of the soft sand and clay by erosion has exposed the round boulders, allowing them to be perched on top of one another. As we visit the site at the end of the afternoon, we are spoilt with spectacular colours at sunset.
Mocos and more rocks
We see more rocks the next day, as well as native Indian rock carvings called Pedra d’Inga. Throughout the day, we have our eyes open to see more mocos (rock cavy), fairly large rodents living all over that region. We had seen some the previous day and are eager to see some of these shy animals close up. We do, but unfortunately, despite all efforts we don’t get a good shot. To give you a better idea: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_cavy
The uninterrupted rain on the 4th day makes us drive back to Jacaré Marina quicker than planned, as sightseeing of coasts and beaches are not exactly enjoyable when it’s raining. Hello rainy season!
After long bumpy and potholed earth tracks we come to the Pai Mateus site, which is on a private property. All explanations are obviously in Portuguese… But what we see is anyhow very beautiful. 
The evening sun enlighted the stones. We were lucky with the weather, too. There had been alot of rain the day before and after. 
The wind and rain have formed the rocks, some of which were used as shelter and housing. 
Boys on boulder, Brazil 
Sunset in Paraibas Pai Mateus site, Brazil 
Rain water collects and allows some vegetation. 
Another “rock”-site in the region, Saca de Lá with the proud and enthusiastic owner of the property 
Every time we’re amazed to see Iguanas obliviously making their way past us, as though we don’t exist. 
Our friendly guide and owner Amilton shows us many survival tricks and medicinal virtues of plants. Here a cactus, which, after peeling it, you can eat the cucumber-like flesh. 
The site of Saca de Là – these rocks were NOT put onto each other, errosion, wind and rain, formed the stones! 
Again, our pousada had a little pool – luxoury! 
We also saw them in the wild, the red-footed tortoises. 
At another signpost leading to rocks, we found another site owned by locals. It didn’t look like a “real” tourist attractions, but after paying a few reais, … 
… we were accompanied by an elderly gentleman along this path with his dogs following us 
… up a steep ladder, onto rocks overlooking the whole region. Stunning view! 
And after that, we were seated for a typical lunch, which was fine until… 
… the meat dishes were served: chicken with its foot and in another dish, chicken liver… Bon appetit! 
At Pedra de Inga, ingraved symbols on these huge rocks on the side of a river bed, show animals, fruits and star constillations. They can’t exactly date the carvings, but guess they must be about 5000 years old. 
Out in the now-where, the modern town of Campina Grande 
Dams are important, even if the rainy season brings alot of water, the dry seasons
Brazils capital
A few days after Alexander’s birthday, which we celebrate in a nice restaurant with a “buffet à discretion” in Joao Pessoa, we take a plane to Brasilia. The chosen pousada (little guesthouse) is very pretty and, at an altitude of 1000 m above sea level, we also enjoy the slightly cooler temperatures! We just have 1 day to see Brazil’s capital and we start with the high TV-antenna which gives us an overview of the town’s impressive structure. We had gotten an idea of the airplane shaped layout when landing the night before… wow!
Brasilias day and night
Where there was nothing at all, Brazil’s capital was planned by several architects and built in less than 4 years. Oscar Niemeyer was the designer of the most oustanding buildings in the city. We are fascinated by the architecture, the design of the city and how fluid the traffic runs through the well thought street plan, that doesn’t allow two-directional roads. But the best thing comes later that day: we drive through the whole city centre by taxi at night. The illuminated buildings are just fabulous!
Our pousada in Brasilia. We actually only very quickly saw it in daylight before leaving on our full-day trip around the city 
View from the TV antenna over Brasilia’s Eixo Monumental 
Cliché photos are very popular in Brasil. Every town has it’s “I love”-photo shooting place 
Central avenue park, where they are still planting lots of trees 
The crowded central bus station of Brasilia 
The ministries esplanade along the Eixo Monumental, the same setting on either side of the central road 
Impressive Ministry of foreign affairs 
The national congress, also designed by Oscar Niemeyer and a UNESCO world heritage site 
The art museum is part of the cultural complex, yet again signed Niemeyer 
Brasilia’s cathedral designed by Niemeyer 
Inside the cathedral 
Some of Brasilia’s supermarkets look like made to impress. Alot of exclusive products are sold, like Swiss chocolate, Champagne, lemons from Sicily… 
The stunning “blue church”, the santuary Dom Bosco, designed by a Brazilian architect called Naves 
At night the buildings looked even more amazing 
Change of scenery!
Equipped with hiking shoes, long trousers and light shirts, we fly from Brasilia to Santarem, which is in the Para Region and part of the Amazonian rain forest. We are welcomed in Janicke’s private pousada – a place you want to stay forever. On stilts, the cosy 2-story mini-house has all you need, including its own tarantula or maybe two, monkeys and from time-to-time sloths.
We have nice exchanges with our friendly Norwegian host, who’s been in Brazil for quite a few years. She even shows us how to make her beautiful dreamcatcher mandalas.
Hippy-beaches
First thing we need to do is buy hammocks because we plan to sleep in the jungle and take the riverboat for 3 nights down to Belém (yes, you need to bring your own hammock!). We take the bus to Santarem and realize that the small village of Alter-do-Chao is really the best place to be when visiting that region. Santarem is a big town, and we didn’t feel the same spirit like in Alter-do-Chao. The village has kind of a hippy-atmosphere with a cute central market place and white sand beaches all around. Before seeing this, I didn’t dream of finding beaches in the middle of the amazon!
Not enough rain
A short but steep hike brings un onto a little hill overlooking the green lake and the Tapajos river, tributary of the Amazon. We’re lucky to see the beaches. Normally, in the rainy season, the water level is supposed to be higher, covering most of the beaches. Deregulated climate…
Flying over the Para-Amazone region 
The guesthouse Recanto Shanti (Shanti also happens to be the name of our sailing boat in Switzerland!) couldn’t be better adapted to our needs. We’re glad that the terrace is covered as it rains several times a day, in buckets! 
She didn’t mind our company. She always stayed nicely up side down on the ceiling above our terrace table. 
Alexander and my production after a couple of hours with our lovely host Janicke 
The boys room under the roof of the little house also had a covered balcony, where the boy sometimes slept. 
Native indian handycraft, known for the colours and patterns. 
The view over the Tapajo river from the top of the little hill in Alter-do-Chao 
Hawai 11200 km… quite a way to go! 
When it rains, it rains. After a hike we found a shelter in a beach hut 
And these are the beaches in the Amazone! Sweet water and golden beaches in Alter-do-Chao
Night in the jungle
After struggling through the Paraiba and Brasilia with our miserable knowledge in Portuguese (hardly anybody speaks any other language), we’re fixed on having a guide who speaks either English or French or at least Spanish. We finally make a 2-day-tour with 2 guides: a Brasilian and a… Swiss-Brasilian! With several stops, they bring us by boat over the beautiful green lake to the “Forestal Encantada” (Enchanted Forest) and, with a short walk, to the shelter where we hang up the hammocks for the night.
Taking in the jungle-feeling, we make a camp-fire, grill our veggies and sausages and drink the … cupuaçu wine we bought off a German, who built his house remotely in the jungle. We discover the next day that he sells other of his own produce like “cupulate chocolate”, sirups, jams and juices. More about cupuaçu via this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theobroma_grandiflorum
Considering mosquitos as wildlife
The sounds of the night are amazing. Lots of sounds of animals you never see: howler monkeys, frogs, owls… During the night we luckily don’t have much rain, but we have unsuccessful fights against mosquitos at the beginning of the night, then we give up! Eating our picknick breakfast, the guides tell us that they have never had so many mosquitos and such a bad night…
During the morning, we stroll to an iguarapé (a small creek or river) where we can swim and rub our skin with the fine river sand, before clearing the camp and heading back.
Jungle hike
Another day, we take a Norwegian-Brazilian guide for a day tour. Boat trip, 4-hour hike at the national parc of Jamaraqua, through the rain forest… And rainy it is! In buckets! Despite walking under trees and wearing rain jackets, with no shelter to stop, we get intensely washed for about 1 hour and just as we get dry, we get showered again! Who cares, temperatures are so high…
On our walk we see several poisonous frogs as well as hundreds of butterflies, birds and some monkeys. We again are lucky to swim in a crystal clear iguarapé. Back at the starting point, we have a typical meal based on the river fish, probably tilapia. Then we get back into the boat and get very wet again, going against the wind, waves and stream for over 2 hours…
Petrol station on the water. Before starting our 2-day tour, the guide fills up the tanks at this charming and well served floating station. 
The scenery is beautiful all around 
In the Enchanted Forest the water is so still and our “driver” tries not to make any waves or noise. Luckily no engines allowed. 
We stop for letting the boys climb into a fallen tree. They come back quickly as it’s full of biting ants! 
Our two guides with their cat 
Our Swiss-Brazilian guide Kadu was able to explain everything in a language we could understand: pure Bernese Swiss-German 
The little boat that brought us over the Green Lake 
Where the German wine producer has his house, the river runs through it. 
Our night shelter where we hung our hammocks and made a camp fire 
No jaguar will come close to the camp fire. Nor does any other animal, except the mosquitos around the hammocks! 
Alot of small animals can be seen when walking with open eyes 
A refreshing dip in the iguarapé close to the camp. After that you make sure to put mosquito repellant! 
The view from one of the hikes looking over the Amazonian rain forest 
They call these vines “monkey ladders” 
He doesn’t need a ladder. We’re not sure of the type though… if anybody can tell us, thank you 
A tiny poisonous frog, that Oliver nearly accidently squashed when climbing on a vine dangling next to the tree…. 
Many butterflies 
The tresors of the jungle, made of simple fresh palm leaves by our local guide.
No river cruise
Finally, our hammocks never served on the 3-day journey down the Amazon and Para rivers to Belém. We decided that our experience on rivers and boats can’t be improved by a slow, uncomfortable river cruise with bad food and loud engine noise or alternatively loud music… And the Amazon is so huge, you hardly see either shore!
We sail on
Back in Jacaré marina, we have a few days more to get ready to sail. The fridge guy must come back because the freezer again stopped working during our absence. Which means we have to throw away quite a bit of food… once again!
We plan to stop after a few days on the north coast in a river entrance, but arriving there at low tide and dawn, we consider it unsafe to enter. So, we sail on and don’t stop before arriving on the island of Lençois, after 7 unplanned days.
Lençois, “the sheets”
We approach early in the morning and make our way to the anchorage between the islands with the rising tide which can be up to 3 metres there. The name comes from the white sand dunes, Lençois meaning “sheets” in Portuguese. They are very beautiful and walking across them, you feel alone in this world. The silence is pure, if you listen carefully, you can even hear the sand moving with the wind.
A few cows graze at the bottom of the last dune, where, in the rainy season, fresh water collects and allows a meadow to grow on the muddy soil. Red ibis’ gather in that area and bring some extra colour to the white and blue-green contrast of sea and dunes.
While sailing, we normally don’t have the possibility to swim. Except when the wind drops, which doesn’t mean that the boat doesn’t move. That’s why we always hold onto a rope and someone always stays on the boat. 
At sunrise we arrive at the anchorage behind the island of Lençois 
Beautiful setting for Illika 
Footprints of climbing the dunes 
Brazil has so many faces. Dunes with sweat water puddles on a tiny island where fishermen live and cows graze 
With Touka’s crew we, yet again, jet into some small rivers with our dinghies. This time looking for the “Ibis tree”, that we never found. As you see Christophe is standing in very shallow water, meaning the dinghy was stuck in the mud! 
We see the ibises in front of the village. Amazing colour! 
The fishermen “beach” their boats at lowering tide and wait for the tide to rise again for going out to fish. 
We went to see the village at high tide. With the tidal range we need to drag the heavy dingies over the sand back into the water. 
We marked Alexanders pain zone, to know if it’s spreading. Finally it turned out to be a skin abscess due to an infected bite.
Next stop: hospital
The village consists of a few houses, where a few fishermen’s families live. It’s not where we’ll find a supermarket… Unfortunately, we also never could try their delicious shrimps, as they were not going to arrive before a few days. In fact, we were forced to leave and get closer to civilisation and a hospital, because another infection developed on Alexander’s leg. So, we left after 2 days in order to get closer to Belém. We arrived in Soure (about 40 miles from Belém) on the Para river, after 2 days of sailing and went straight to the little hospital in this main town of Marajo island …
To be continued…
great stories.
hope Alexander is better
Alexander is fine again, we’ll go more into details in our next article xxx
So Many adventures!
Wonderful. What a country.
Not to mention its capital!
Is that the famous wooden yellow cathedral? Or was that later in Paramaribo?
Had to smile at the ‘petrol station’ remembering the one in the hills of Cyprus!
Wooden cathedral is in Paramaribo/Surinam. Amazing building! Let you know more soon 😀