July 4th -Sao Francisco Canyons

On Saturday, July 4th, we woke left the hotel a bit after 6 a.m. for the 4-hour drive to the San Fransisco river cruise that our coordinator arranged for us. My alarm was only set for weekdays, so I got a call to my room at 6:13 that said, Hey are you awake? Luckily I had packed a lot the night before so I just jumped up and threw some things together and left! We had 12 people on the trip: The 9 people on the team, the team coordinator at the school, Francis; her 17-year-old son Christian (Chris); and her intern, Fernanda, who is 22 and will graduate from the University in Maceio in December, if the professors ever stop striking. We also had a different driver than usual for our van, because he had to stay with us the whole weekend. So, off we go!

We drove through several climate zones, apparently. Off of the coast, it became very hilly, almost mountainous, with goats, cows, horses, and donkeys/mules scattered about. These were never in a herd of cattle like we would see on a drive to Colorado, with a few thousand heads; it was never more than 100, and they were very spread out and chewing on grassy fields, not in feed lots. There were giant boulders scattered everywhere, and I had to wonder how that happened. Where there glacier drifts this close to the Equator, that dragged boulders along and deposited them as it melted?

Next was the sertão, which is a sort of deserty-region in the northeast of Brazil that was caused by the over-use of the land in sugarcane plantations by the Dutch and Portuguese from like 1500-1850. There had been a lot of rain, so it didn't look so much like a desert except for all the cacti. There were many kinds, from the flat round prickly-pear type to tall ones with arms like a Saguaro cactus.

We stopped a couple times at convenience stores for snacks/water. There were like hundreds of flies every where we stopped, and a dozen or so got in the van whenever the doors were open. I don't know if it was the weather lately or what. Luckily, they weren't biting flies.

We finally got to the place and had a minute to change before we got on the boat. This was a big, flat-bottomed river cruiser that could hold 100 people! Our cruise wasn't that full though, only about 60. We drove for about 45 minutes, cruising down the river. It was a really wide river. .

After a while, we came to the actual canyons that are famous. The area had red stone, very Grand Canyone-esque. In Portuguese, the word for fresh water is "agua dulce" which in English is "sweet water." This water was amazingly sweet. It was a bit colder than the ocean but so fresh and clear! No seaweed or trash, no sand getting in your business, no salt burning your eyes and nose, no waves either. Just amazing clear water in the best landscape. We got to swim for a while, then we paid some extra money to go on a canoe back into the canyons. The rower took us right up to the canyon walls, we could touch them. We saw lizards and and a few fish and really just savored it. Definitely worth a little extra.

When our canoe ride finished it was time to get back in the big boat and head to lunch. It started to rain as we returned, so the timing was great...however, the rain was very cold and in our face and the boat raced along. A few of us huddled together under a towel to block the cold rain that was battering us. When we got to the lunch spot, the rain had become a downpour. Luckily, the lunch area was covered with a palm-thatched roof. I'm constantly impressed with the ability of these palm roofs to block the rain so well.

I ate beets for the first time since I was a child, an I am in love.

There was a regional archeology museum that we tried to see, but it was closed due to rain. That is how serious the rain is here, people. Museums close and kids don't come to school.

Then, we drove to Piranhas (Piranhas, like the fish with big teeth). This is the town where we stayed the night.