Trancosa and Espelho

Cassio (Elci’s son) and his girl friend “Lou” came to visit us during Carnaval. One day we took a bus to Trancosa, which I had heard so much about. The countryside bordering the road to Trancosa was beautiful and the town is charming. I didn’t think too much of the beach though. The water was shallow and the beach a little muddy but that didn’t stop Cassio and Lou from enjoying themselves as you can see from the first two slides.

The bus ride home on an old comfortable coach was magical. The warm night air washed over my face as I leaned out the window to admire the stars and a crescent moon low in a solid black sky. Because the area we passed through was without electricity, which is only now being installed in some areas of rural Brazil, there was no light pollution to mar the night sky.

Lou stayed with us a week. On her last day we rented a car and went to a beach called Espelho, said to be the third most beautiful beach in Brazil. We retraced the route to Trancosa before turning onto a dirt road that would take us to Espelho. Cassio drove and we followed the windy though graded road through a thick forest up and down hills until we finally descended to a vast valley floor that stretched to our left and right as far as the eye could see. Black cattle belonging to a “fazenda” (ranch) dotted the valley to the horizon. After we crossed the valley we passed through several Indian villages where if we had enough time we could have stopped to buy some unique crafts. Finally we arrived at our destination where a collection of posadas (inns) and private homes snuggled in a hollow between the surrounding cliffs.

It was all breathtakingly beautiful. As soon as we arrived I swam out to the distant reef that can be seen in the third slide, and snorkeled for a while. The sand along the beach is like powder and you can walk for miles at the foot of chalky cliffs. Our base was one of the posadas where we lounged on platforms covered with bamboo mats and colorful cushions.

The day passed slowly but when the light began to dim we had to leave so that we wouldn’t be caught in the dark on the dirt road leading back to the main highway.

Suddenly as we sped along in the darkest part of the forest Cassio shouted, “did you see that spider on the road; it was as big as my fist.” I glanced in my side mirror and saw a large furry black ball fading into the distance. It could have been a bird-eating spider, which is not a serious threat to humans but can be fatal to frogs and small birds.

Again, back on the main highway, where I thought we were past all danger, Cassio cried, “look at that, there’s a coral snake on the road.” A hundred meters past the snake, we decided to turn back to take a picture. As we approached the snake a big truck passed over it. Still we managed to take a picture before more traffic made it look like a deflated balloon. According to Wikipedia “coral snakes are highly venomous, being the only relative of the cobra found in the New World.”