Sunday 04.12.2016: Petrópolis - Rio de Janeiro Galeão GIG Airport  - Salvador - Lençóis (alt 425 m):  65 km 406 ? km - 36ºC hot, rainfall at night

We got up earlier this morning and took off at 8 am to the airport GIG in Rio de Janeiro. In 1h15' we managed to return the car at Localiza. We drove a total of 1482 km with the Jeep.

Our flight to Salvador scheduled for 11h55 left already at 11h45 and we arrived in SSA Salvador at 12H35 (-1 hour). Very hot here! We got a rental car from Localiza, a Ford EcoSport and we drove 5 hours on a brand new road to Lençóis with a stop in Itaberaba at a new petrol station where we had a snack. We arrived at 7 pm -one hour after sunset- at our Hotel de Lençóis and first thing we did was to get into the pool and have a caipirinha. We then ordered some finger food and godó, a typical regional dish with green banana and carne de sol, delicious. (Anfangskilometer Ford: 31.561)

Monday 05.12.2016: Lençóis: 33ºC hot, short rainfall in the evening

Hike to Cachoerinha which was the nicest waterfall today. We bathed and had côco gelado before walking to the next waterfall, Cachoeira da Primavera. Then back to the cachoerinha, then to Poço Halley and to Salão de Areias and finally to Cachoeira do Serrano where the families and young people of the village gather to bathe after school and work. The whole tour took about 3 hours, 280m ascent, 7 km long. Back to our hotel we went directly to the pool, had a caipirinha and talked to the very nice couple Daniela and Marco who recommended us the guide Romilson (+55 75 99 80 81952). He came to our hotel and we scheduled an excursion for tomorrow with him. He went with us into town and showed us where to find all the restaurants (there are so many, almost  like the small street in Tavira). We had dinner at Juliana Squipano (R$ 107) after buying a pair of water sandals and shorts for Volker.

Tuesday 06.12.2016: Lençóis - Excursion to Iraquara Cidade das Grutas: 137 km, 33ºC, hot

At 8:30 am we took off to with our guide Romilson (R$ 140 for the whole day, speaks only portuguese , +55 75 99808-1952) Iraquara where there are more than 300 caves. They are all on private land on large fazendas (farms). First we visited the entrance of the Lapa Sol where there are really nice petroglyphs with a guide Raimundo. Entrance fee (R$ 20 pax). Then with a group we entered the Gruta Lapa Doce (R$ 30 pax) which took 1,5 hours. After that we went to Gruta da Pratinha where you can do lots of things like snorkelling, but we just walked down to "Prainha" and had a swim with small fishes who bite you softly. On our way back we climbed the Morro do Pai Inácio (R$ 6 pax) and had fantastic view over the Brazilian "Monument Valley". We decided to call it a day and Julia got a massage at 7 pm with Tony.

Wednesday 07.12.2016: Lençóis: sunny and hot 35ºC

Volker has been unwell during the night and we had to go to the only place in town where there is medical care, at the local tiny Hospital Municipal Sebastião Alves (free of charge, even for turists!). Lunch a peso next to the Dois Irmãos shop and then rest in the hotel room for the whole afternoon. But Rebecca, the owner of our Pousada, insisted on asking a private doctor, so she managed to reach Dr. Inácio on the phone and she was so sweet all the time with us. Dr. Inácio -who was 200 km away from Lençóis- made a phone diagnose and solved everything for us: Rebecca sent someone to get antibiotics at his c and the rest of the medicine at the pharmacy, so Volker could start the treatment right then. And he really got well again. Thank you Rebecca and Dr. Inácio. And Marco got 3 bottles of Gatorade to substitue the traditional caipirinha we all had every afternoon together at the pool ;).

Thursday 08.12.2016: Lençóis: sunny and hot during the day, in the afternoon rain

Volker woke up this morning in much better shape. After breakfast, Rebecca showed our some of the special rooms in the Hotel de Lençóis. Next time we will book room nº 17 with a private heated pool. We had to say goodbye to our friends Daniela and Marco this morning (they live in Minas Gerais). Lunch in our restaurant Roda d'Água (very good). Julia went into town to buy some thing.

Friday 09.12.2016: Lençóis - Excursion to Pantanal de Marimbús: 44,4 km - sunny hot 33ºC

We started at 8 am and drove to Comunidade Quilombola de Remanso. They take you through the swamp area (R$ 65 pax, 1,5 hours one-way) then there is a walk of 20 minutes to the Cachoeira do Roncador where we had a swim (the water is again tinted red from the iron oxid. 200 meters from the waterfall is a very simple restaurant where we had lunch (R$ 50) on a self-service basis directly from the pots. In the evening, when we wanted to make our online check-in for the flight with Avianca, we noticed that they booked us for the next day. After spending an hour trying to find out what happened we learned that Avianca cancelled our flight and put us on the next day without telling us anything. We then booked a flight with GOL as a backup.

Saturday 10.12.2016: Lençóis - Salvador, Flight to Rio de Janeiro: 407 km - in Rio 33ºC very humid

We left at 8:15 am and arrived at 13:25 at the car rental company Localiza. When we arrived at the airport we noticed that we might still get the flight Avianca had suggested us, at 14:22. So, instead of going to GOL, we got the flight that left 2 hours before the one we had booked originally. Taxi to our hotel Palladium Promenade (Rua General Artigas 200, Leblon) for R$ 85 (voucher bought at the airport) In the evening we had dinner at a restaurant near our hotel.