March 20, 2007
Day 538
Chapada Diamantina Trek Day 3
Looking over the edge.
The crew looked pretty exhausted again this morning. This was the last day of our trek and I think most were glad it was almost over.
We started going uphill as soon as we left camp. Everyone saw how high that waterfall was yesterday, so we all knew we'd have to climb a long time to get to the top. Luckily we were surrounded by beautiful hilly forests the whole way.
When we got to the top, the view was incredible. My brain knew how high we were, but when I shimmied out to the edge and looked over, the bottom seemed like a painting, impossibly far away. I was angled slightly downward, and when a gust of wind hit me, it felt like I had already fallen off and was slowly floating toward the bottom. I eased my way back and didn't dare go too close to the edge again.
We had lunch on top of the waterfall and began our long descent to the bottom. From Capao, at the bottom of the valley, we all took a van to Palmeiras, the next town over. Finally, we caught a bus back to Lencois to end the trek. Everyone was tired and filthy, and most of us had gotten sunburned, but we were in good spirits in the end. Brazil is mainly about beaches and cities, but Chapada Diamantina was a great diversion from all of that stuff. And the trek helped me conditioned for my future adventures, something I had been worried about after spending so much time in cities.
