I was starting to feel a little beached out and the whole Kindle situation meant that I needed to stay close to Salvador for as long as it took to be reunited with my bestie. A girl I’d met in São Paulo sent me everything I needed to know about Chapada. From what bus to take, the hostel to stay in and the tours to do. With all the hard work basically done for me, time to kill and change of scenery needed, I jumped on the bus from Salvador to the town of Lençóis, (not the same as Lençóis Maranhenses!)…

Firstly, Chapada Backpackers is probably the best hostel I stayed in during my time in Brazil. It’s basic, like most hostels, but it was by far the most social. Everyone, (and I mean literally everyone), was lovely. It’s walkable from town, and the bus stop too but the biggest draw is that it’s a tour agency: they can arrange everything you want to do in Chapada Diamantina.

Everyone had said the Vale do Pati hike was the best thing they’d ever done in their lives but 3-4 days of straight hiking sounds pretty hellish to me, so I opted for Sossengo Waterfall and Ribeirão do Meio on the first day. The latter is absolutely fine to do by yourself but All Trails lied and said Sossengo was moderate when in fact, it’s pretty fucking hard. We didn’t come across anyone else who was without a guide so I probably wouldn’t recommend to do that alone.

The second day, I did the Pantanal Marimbus which is supposed to be like a mini Amazonian Pantanal. I think that claim might be a stretch but it was still really cool. It starts in a Quilombo with a ride down the river through swampy marshland where you can all all kinds of wildlife. Then, a stop at the natural pools for lunch.

On the final day, I did the ‘4P’s’ tour which was Poço Azul, (a natural pool in a cave with some of the most crystal clear water), Vale das Piscinas, (more natural pools but not as impressive as the ones from the Marimbus or the next stop), Poço do Diablo, (even more pools with a waterfall, truly stunning) and finally Pão Inácio for sunset, (iconic view across some of the park and its formations).

Some of my favourite parts of my time in Lençóis/Chapada were the evenings spent with people from the hostel. These are genuinely core memories for me now and, imagine, if I hadn’t forgotten my Kindle in Floripa, I wouldn’t have gone. Everything happens for a reason I guess!

(Update: my bag got stolen in Costa Rica which had my camera in it. I took a look of my pictures from Chapada on my proper camera so all of those are now gone. I’m not sure what the reason is for this particular unfortunate event is soooo maybe not?????).