TAKE A BREAK IN LENCOIS

Lençóis is a very nice town with two pedestrian shopping streets. From the city, there are a few places to visit, starting with the Parque Municipal da Muritaba. I won’t lie to you that we were a little surprised when they told us that we had to take a guide obligatorily whereas on the blogs it was said that we didn’t need one. Apparently this measure is quite recent. Luckily there were guides waiting at the entrance, but they didn’t necessarily speak English, some a little Spanish. The walk lasts about 1h30 and you go through some very pretty things, such as a beautiful viewpoint of Lençóis. You also pass by some beautiful more or less large waterfalls. I was impressed by this brown and at the same time transparent water color. First time seeing this! There’s also a small passage in the rocks where the guide shows us small colored rocks embedded in the ground, which have white and blue tones. Looked like it was man made. He also shows us sands of different colors that they use to make handicrafts. The tour’s pretty cool on its own, and right near the city center. Another day we also did another waterfall, Ribeirão do Meio. This one’s free, and it takes about thirty minutes to access it. It’s a big natural slide! Perfect for a relaxing afternoon in the river when the weather’s nice.

Entrance fee to the Parque Municipal da Muritaba: reals 20
Price of the mandatory guide at the Parque Municipal da Muritaba: reals 200 for a group of 3 people
Ribeirão do Meio Waterfall Price: Free

Being 3 travelers, we ordered a taxi to go there and back. Because without a car, it isn’t really possible to go there. It takes around 40 minutes by car to get to the Morro do Pai Inácio car park. After paying the entrance, you have to climb a few steps before arriving at the viewpoint. I was amazed by this magnificent view of the valley! You can see these huge cliffs with the valley below. You can walk a bit on the cliff to see the different views there are. The best time of the day to go there is at sunset because it gives very beautiful colors on the cliffs. Check before what time the entrance closes. The taxi seemed to tell us that after paying the entrance, we could stay as long as we wanted at the top.

Return taxi price: reals 200 for 3 people
Entrance fee to Pai Inácio: reals 12

When we had prepared our trip to Lençóis, we hadn’t planned to do the trek in the Vale do Pati. But it was after speaking with a few locals that we realized it was a must in the Chapada Diamantina area. And now that we did, yes it remains one of my best memories in Brazil. To do the trek, we did it in collaboration with Chapada Backpackers.

Meeting point at 8am in front of the Chapada Backpackers hostel, which is close to downtown Lençois. The hostel offers you a breakfast at their place before the excursion for 20 reals (as we didn’t take it, I can’t tell you more about this option). From there, we get into a Jeep-like car for an hour-long drive to our first stop, Palmeiras. We stop for about fifteen minutes for some shopping if we want, and for the bank to pay for the excursion. Then we hit the road again (with a few holes in it) to reach Guiné, the start of our hike. The guides divide between us the food they’ll prepare for the next 3 days, so plan some space in your bags. Here we go! We climb a good hour on a small hiking trail to reach the plateau. The view up there is just amazing! We begin to see the vastness of Chapada Diamantina (about 28,000 square kilometers). We then walk about an hour on this plateau, without shadows but almost no elevation gain, to arrive at the Mirante do Pati viewpoint. And this view… breathtaking! When we got to the viewpoint, I really had this feeling of “wow this is amazing!” We discover this immense valley in front of us with these red cliffs and its vegetation below! The view’s magnificent! This is where we have lunch at around 1:30 pm, for about forty minutes, to enjoy this beautiful landscape. Then we descend quietly into the valley for a good hour. The descent is a bit steep and not the easiest. In the valley, we continue our way surrounded by these huge cliffs, the vegetation, and the river. At around 3 pm, we stop in the first small village to fill our water bottles and take a break. When I say village, I mean there’s a church and a hostel that sells some stuff. We continue our way for a good hour, before arriving at several waterfalls, including Cachoeira dos Funis and Cachoeira das Bananeiras. There were all different, some wider and some taller. We bathe in the last big waterfall. The water’s quite cold but it feels good to cool off a bit! After this swimming break, we walk along the edge of the river, we cross it several times trying not to fall into it, until we reach our first accommodation. This part of the hike reminded me a lot of the landscapes in Zion, especially The Subway hike. The accommodation is therefore located in the valley, a large and very nice hostel. We sleep in a dorm of 4 with shared bathroom (expect to take a cold shower). We eat together the dinner that our guides have prepared, before meeting around the fire to contemplate the stars for several hours.

We get up quietly to have a good breakfast at around 8 am. Unfortunately that day, the weather isn’t with us. The guides tell us that we’ll have to wait a while to see if the weather improves or if it’ll be impossible for us to do what we had planned. And good news! The sky’s starting to clear, we leave around 10 am without our big bags (fortunately), for a worthy view! Because we do about 1h30 of rather intense climb in the forest, with some muddy passages and humidity. Once up there, we cross a huge cave, the gruta do Morro do Castelo, for about 5 minutes (remember to take a headlamp this day). We continue our way through the rocks, pass under an arch, to arrive at one of my favorite viewpoints of the trek, the Mirante do Mifezinho! A breathtaking view of the Vale do Pati! It’s super beautiful! I didn’t think the views would be so different every day, and this one’s amazing! These cliffs on the left and on the right which draw this valley with a river in the middle. Words are insufficient to describe the beauty of the place. We then turn around for a few meters to go to another viewpoint, the Mirante da Daçizinha, where we stay for a good hour for lunch. The view of the valley is also super nice, we see a waterfall in the distance and part of the valley. I loved it! Then, we return quietly to our accommodation for 1h45 because the descent is composed of some rocks and a little mud. Next to the accommodation, the guide leaves us about thirty minutes to swim in a natural pool. Quite refreshing, it feels good. Towards the end of the day, before the sun goes down, we return to our first accommodation to take our big bags and leave for another accommodation located about ten minutes away. I must admit that I preferred the second accommodation because the view from it is magnificent! As it’s a bit high, there’s a beautiful view of the valley! The accommodation’s similar to the first, we sleep in a dormitory with shared bathroom. They sell a few drinks at the hostel if you wish. After dinner, we had a good atmosphere with the people who were staying there, and we danced a bit. The place is also perfect for stargazing with the valley.

We have breakfast a little earlier to leave around 8:30 am because a big day awaits us. Being the last day, we leave with our big bags on our backs, but lighter because there’s only one meal left in terms of food. For 45 minutes we walk in the valley, surrounded by vegetation. This part is quite flat. Then, we engage in a climb for 1h30. We arrive at a still incredibly beautiful point of view! We have the impression that the cliffs are really close to us. That’s wonderful! But this isn’t the last point of view that we’ll have during the day. After a few photo breaks, we continue to advance on the plateau to arrive at the most beautiful point of view of the day on the Cachoeirão. The hike to get to this waterfall has still very different landscapes than the other days, a smaller vegetation, very pretty. The Cachoeirão’s one of the biggest in the valley! It’s impressive to see! Very fine, we see it pouring from the top of a cliff to the bottom of the valley. We go to another viewpoint not far to see the small lake which is at the bottom of the cliff. But to see it, you have to look at it while lying down. Being scared of heights, I didn’t force myself to stay long looking down haha. We continue the hike a little bit to have lunch near a natural swimming pool. Swimming after lunch is above all transformed into a collective nap. But after a 1h15 break, we leave in good shape for the last part of the hike. The pace is accelerating because we want to avoid the rain which is coming soon. We walk on the plateau we were on the first day before going back down to the car. We arrive around 6 pm at the car, with the legs tired and full of good memories in the head, to then take the road back to Lençóis.

It was one of my most beautiful hikes of several days with guides. The Vale do Pati has incredible views all the way. I found that the hike wasn’t the easiest because the elevations gain were quite significant over short periods of time, but nothing you can’t do! The humidity makes the hike a little harder. You still need to be in good physical condition to do it. For people who might be scared of heights, there are some passages that can be difficult, but these passages are short or not necessarily mandatory to continue the hike. The accommodations and meals were very good! And the two guides we had were great. The guides didn’t necessarily speak English, they often answered us in Spanish or Portuguese. We still managed to understand each other quite well. They made the rhythm according to the level of the group. Honestly, I was very happy to go with this agency, I recommend without hesitation!

Price of the 3-day excursion in the Vale do Pati with guides, food (2 breakfasts, 3 lunches, 2 dinners, accommodation, transport: reals 1000

BUENA VIBE GHEST HOUSE
Rua do Ciríaco 1, S N centro.,
Lençóis, CEP 46960-000, Brazil
Price: €7 / night / person in a 3-person dormitory.
Click here to book it.

A great host who welcomed us very well and advised us on the region. It’s like a house with several rooms so nice to meet people even if it isn’t very big.