Len-Soy-SS

Photo by Judy McLeod

I’m sure I will get asked a lot which was my favorite town that I visited. I think the answer will have to be hands down Lencois. I have never laughed so hard or been so inspired by natural beauty as I was in this small town hidden 400 km inland of Salvador, Brazil.

Swimming in the Poco Azul

Judy, Louise, Sarah, and I chose to visit this town based on a picture in a guidebook and it did not disappoint.

The picture in the guide book looked a lot like this one of the Poco Encantando

To get there, it required a plane ride from Rio to Salvador, two taxis, and an eight-hour bus ride into the pitch-black countryside.

To add to the adventure, no one in Lencois, or in Salvador for that matter, speaks English. Only Portuguese--a language that none in our group speaks. This led to some interesting mishaps on our journey that I'll save for another day.

Louise, Julie, Judy, and Sarah

This gem of a town, which I can only now pronounce after four days of solid practicing (it’s pronounced Len-Soy-SS), consists of Pousadas (small bed and breakfasts), restaurants, and gift shops. All of which are unpretentious and humble.

My favorite jewelry store

Walk to the market

View down a side street

We stayed in a Pousada owned by a married couple—Talida & Florestano—who work 23 out of 24 hours of the day.

Talida and Florestano working the front desk. Picture by Judy.

On top of managing the hotel, they cook for guests. I had one of the best pizzas on the whole voyage cooked by Florestano that first night. Each morning, we had complementary breakfast, which contained no less than three cakes freshly baked by Talida.

Our guide for the two days of touring was Dodo—a 4’6’’ young man (finally someone shorter than me!) packed with energy and a childlike enthusiasm for life. 

Dodo and Sarah

Mustafa

He, with our driver Mustafa, took us to some of the most beautiful landscapes I’ve ever seen. Pools deep in the bottom of caves, crystal clear lakes, and waterfalls.

The hike down to our first cave in the Poco Encantado

Poco Encantando

Poco Azul

Swimming in the Poco Azul

Photo by Louise Harmon

All of this was visited by hurling through the countryside in a windowless jeep at speeds that are usually only reserved for the Indie 500 (there were moments where I was transported back to driving in India and feared death was imminent several times as we played chicken with the oncoming trucks).

We also had time to sample the local food (all restaurants served Italian),

Lunch was usually beans and rice, fresh vegetables, fruit, cactus, and pumpkin.

walk the streets, and visit a local market.

                                   (A machine the presses sugar cane and make juice. This was at the market.)


Each night we were serenaded by live bands of varying quality.

Photo by Judy

The first night there was a Pearl Jam-inspired rock band and a Rockabilly group ready for DelFest. On the last night (a Sunday), I’m pretty sure they let a group of local high schoolers perform, who were night quite ready for prime time. 

We also spent a considerable amount of time looking for diamonds. Lencois was once a diamond mining town and Judy wanted desperately to find one. By the end of the trip we all had our heads to the group looking--but sadly we left empty handed on that front. 

At the end of the four days I was sunburned, full of juice,

Madelin and a local pineapple from the farmers market

Fresh made lemonade

Fresh watermelon juice

fluent enough in Portuguese to order ice cream and cheese sandwiches, and ready to go back to the ship and look at my pictures. I only wish they could have captured the full beauty of everything we saw!

Rio--The City of Views

For me, Rio De Janeiro was a city of views. I spent two days traveling to the best viewpoints the city had to offer.

On the first day, I took a tram up to the Christ the Redeemer statue.

This was an amazing introduction to the city.





















 From the statue, I could see all of the beaches—Ipanema, Copacabana, and many more (and yes, The Girl from Ipanema was in my head the entire time).

That evening, I took a cable car up to the top of Sugar Loaf Mountain with Louise, Judy, and the Boyer family to watch the sunset.











I was more excited by the marmosets that were there begging for food, but the sunset was spectacular as well.

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Christ the Redeemer statue in the distance

The second day came with the best views. I hiked in the Tijuncta Rainforest (thank you Chiappelli family!), which allowed me to see the city from the best viewpoint.

Along the way, visited a Chinese gazebo and a waterfall.

Rimo and me by the waterfall

From here the tour guide gave us a quick history lesson regarding Rio from the side of our bus. Apparently soap operas caused many from the countryside to migrate to the flavellas (slums) of the city. 

Here's a view from the top of our hike:

While in Rio, I took the opportunity to enjoy all of the fresh fruits and vegetables that the city had to offer.

This is a heart of palm

I tried juice every chance I could. The Acai is the local juice that I'd highly recommend. It is a little purpler than this juice.

One thing that was difficult about being in Rio was the crime. At one point some friends and I tried to go to the beach and were warned by a guide that we should stay away because there was a mass mugging only moments ago and the police were sorting it out. Apparently this happens often. I found myself clutching my bag everywhere we walked and always keeping an eye on my surroundings. It made it difficult to relax and enjoy Rio’s beauty.

Here's a few quick views of the beach:

Patagonia—Penguins and Pastries

Being in a bustling city like Buenos Aires was fun for a while, but I’m glad that I got out of the city and visited another part of Argentina for three days. 

When I was planning the SAS programs that I would sign-up for, the trip to Patagonia was the first one that caught my eye. Penguins and seeing Patagonia! It was too good to be true. Never in my life did I think I would have a chance to say I had been to Patagonia

The landscape here is not what I expected. Patagonia is actually quite a big region of Argentina and the part we were in looked at times like a series of beach towns and at times like open prairie (someone on the trip said that it reminded him of west Texas). 

Because we were below the equator the seasons are reversed so it was mid-spring for this region when we visited. For most of the trip, we drove around the Valdes Peninsula and visited the wildlife. We saw:

Magellan penguins

Cathy, our Academic Dean and former astronaut said that the landscape looked like landing on the moon, but with penguins!

The penguins were taking turns sitting on eggs when we were there. Their eggs will hatch in a couple of weeks.

Southern Right Whales

We spent a couple hours following a mama and baby whale who swam right along side the boat.

And Southern Elephant Seals

Those blobs behind me are elephant seals

The Elephant Seals mostly slept and occasionally got up to bark and then flop back down on the ground. I’ve never seen such listless creatures! But, they had their reason. Apparently these were all females who had just finished nursing. They where now in the process of molting--a painful experience that left tufts of fur all over the beach.

When not viewing animals, we had free time to wander Puerto Madryn, a small beach town not yet in season. Here I found one of the best bakeries I’ve ever been too. 

At first I only ordered one small pastry filled with dulce de leche and drizzled with chocolate. After I ate it (I was already outside of the store at the time), I had to go back in and risk embarrassment as I said, “Tres mas, por favor.”

Argentina was one of the first countries that I visited where I really felt a language barrier. “Agua con gas” and “pepino” only got me so far. In the back of my head I had so many other phrases to say, but they never came out at the right time (Emily, Suzanne, and Cathy, I wish you were there to help!).

On the last day I met a very nice yarn store owner (Patagonia used to be a major merino wool supplier until Polar Fleece became so popular). She and I spent about twenty minutes trying to discuss yarn in pantomime with minimal success. I know that the yarn I bought should be washed in cold water, it came from a sheep, and I should use size ocho needles, but there was so much more she was trying to tell me that was just lost. 

I hope next time I can visit her and converse in Spanish. Also, next time I would like to travel more south and see the glaciers. 

For the time being, however, penguins and pastries will have to be enough--and amazing landscapes!