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!