To get there we drove north in the direction of Salvador, the capital of the Brazilian state of Bahia. For about four hours we followed Federal highway 101 across a lush and hilly landscape. We came to an area that had once flourished with cocoa plantations, which are now mostly shut down. Large sprawling homes for the owners and rows of small cottages for the workers now sat empty.
When we turned off the main highway we continued through a rolling countryside with scattered farms and clusters of small cottages. In the window of one house I saw a young black woman leaning on her window sill watching the world go by, just like the wooden carvings I h
ad seen in some of the craft shops in Porto Seguro.We arrived in Camamu around five and took a launch across a bay to get to the town of Barra Grande before dark. The next morning we rode on a truck with benches in the truck bed over a pot-holed sandy road to the Atlantic side of the peninsula where I was told I would be able to snorkel. When we arrived at the waterside I felt as though I had arrived in paradise. The water was clear and blue and the beaches stretched for miles. The reefs where I could snorkel were only fifty meters from shore. I asked Elci if she knew of a place where we could stay. She said there was a nice hotel down the beach. It was beautiful so we reserved two rooms for the rest of our stay.
After we settled in I went snorkeling. I had my best day of snorkeling in Brazil. Unfortunately, the first day was the best as there were a lot of clouds and some rain on the following four days.
On the third day, February 18th which was Elci’s birthday, we hired a schooner to do a little exploring. For about five hours the schooner, with a crew of two, took us wherever we wanted to go. Our first stop was a small island where Elci and Cassio went ashore while I snorkeled around the island in search of marine life.
Next we stopped at a small settlement where everyone is employed in building wooden ships. Some of them were enormous schooners destined for the tourist trade.
We made another stop in a blue lagoon, where Cassio and I dove into the water from the stern of the schooner. After that we docked and went ashore to a restaurant that served boiled langoustines on picnic benches. Cassio and I only ate the tails, leaving the head and spiny legs for Elci, who devoured every morsel. We watched in awe as the carcasses piled up; Cassio laughed and told his mother she was a cannibal.
That night we celebrated Elci’s birthday with a chocolate cake prepared by the staff. We took most of the cake back with us to Porto Seguro, where it took us another two days to finish it.
Before we left Elci took pictures of the lobby and some of the crafts that decorated the hotel. The hotel is filled with beautiful artifacts and crafts from Bahia. If you are ever in the area be sure to stay at the Pousada Taipu de Fora. Here’s their website http://www.taipudefora.com.br/
