I loved my first hike in Chapada Diamantina so much that I decided to do another with another AMAZING guide, Marquinhos, who shares my love of rock climbing (I met him while exploring some boulders on a waterfall outside of Lencois). I didn’t quite understand where we were going, so I was thrilled when after two days on the trail, we hiked right into the remote village of Igatu, on top of a mountain.
We started in the little town of Andarai, which is similar to Lencois, except it has much fewer tourists. Like most of the towns in Chapada Diamantina, it used to be a center for diamond mining and trading.
A church on the edge of the river that runs through Andarai
A perfect little waterfall in the hills of Andarai
Feeling awesome in the canyon of the Paraguacu River
We spent a couple hours walking across gorgeous smooth river rocks in shades of rose and tan
The valley is full of amazing hidden shelters, once used by diamond miners. We set up camp in this one, and I enjoyed the canyon view with my breakfast tea.
We climbed a steep ramp out of the canyon to reach this view!
While crossing the table top of the mountain, Marquinhos spotted these “potatoes of the mountain” growing wild in a stream. They are a bit like jicama, and made for a tasty and crunchy salad with our dinner.
I could hardly believe it, when I spotted these soccer goal posts. I thought we were miles from civlization, but we had hiked right into a little remote village on top of a mountain. Here is their soccer field.
The village is surrounded by ruins of old stone houses from the diamond mining years.
The famous church of São Sebastão in Igatu, like most of the houses in the village, is made from beautiful rose-colored rock.
The Byzantine style cemetary of the church of São Sebastão
The “California Waterfall” in the Vale de California, heading back down the mountain
The Vale da California is a rock climbers paradise, with tons of bolted routes and bouldering possibilities. We ran into some climbers from Switzerland and England on our way down.
Go climber grrrrls!
Marquinhos, who is an incredibly talented climber, demonstrates some of the possibilities offered by the visually stunning conglomerate, made from thousands of smooth round, fist-sized rocks of rose and turquoise quartz cemented together in sedimentary rock.
We hiked down along gorgeous water carved rocks, speckled with perfect pools for swimming and relaxing. We drank our water straight from the river the whole time!
Surfer Grrrls Brazil! 