Saturday was our day to move on and we packed, walked and eventually headed for the airport around noon. Out flight to Sao Luis involved a stop and plane change in Fortaleza and we arrived in Sao Luis about 8.30. Brazil is a huge country and while I understood this it was difficult to believe that Natal to Sao Luis is about 1500 km or about the same distance as Raleigh to Miami. As we were not staying in Sao Luis more than the one night we did little to research where to stay and like Paraty believed we could get a recommendation from the tourist desk in the airport. We did this and ended up in a place close to the airport. It was filthy, in a very sketchy part of town (if there was a nice part we never saw it), and was located behind a truck stop. To top it off there was a sign outside with a warning to the effect that it was illegal to have or solicit sex with a minor! Great!

A further complication was that we could not get in touch with the bus company that was meant to pick us up in the morning. We survived the night and got up and left really early, as we knew that the first regular bus left at 6am. To minimize the amount we carried we decided to ask if we could leave our two big cases at the hotel and collect on our return. They agreed so we left with one small case and the fervent hope that ours be there upon our return (they were I am pleased to say, all safe and untouched).

Our final destination was Lencois de Maranho, a National Park about 260km away, and a world away from Sao Luis. Our bus journey was about 4.5 hours and started on a four-lane highway and eventually on to a much smaller road with the occasional excursion into a small town to pick up or set down passengers. 

Our bus at a rest stop for the driver. Brazilian coffee (strong and sweet) was 50 cents!

Some people also got the bus to stop basically on the side of the road and were either met by someone or they walked off down a small side road to who knows where!

Barreirinhas is the largest town close to the Lencois Park, population maybe 5000 or so.

We had made a reservation at a pousada based on a Trip Advisor recommendation, and knew that it was about 15 minutes out of town and more easily accessible by boat than by car or bus.

Our host Michael

The walk up to the pousada from the river

We finally were able to make contact with the pousada and Michael; the owner met us with his boat at the dock. He is Swiss and owns the property with his Brazilian wife. It was a wonderful place to stay, and made more so by our previous nights experience!

View up river

They have four or five chalets which are large and spacious with a/c and a nice bathroom and a king size bed. There is a small eating area and a small bar fridge in the room. That seems to be a common feature with drinks that are not outrageously priced.

Our room was called Caju (Cashew) The same name of the place where Candida used to work in Chapel Hill

We had a good lunch and a then a siesta base on our early start. 

The dining area

The unpaved street outside

The pousada has a small dock and kayaks available, and the street side is much less impressive although generally nicer than the other houses on the street. We took a walk and saw a place that was being developed as a pousada, but it looked like there had been little work done on it in quite a while.

Between the bus and being picked up by Michael we had arranged some tours including one night in a remote village near the mouth of the river for our stay and a second place to stay for the last two nights back in Barreirinhas.

Morning view of the peaceful river

We have a river trip, a jeep ride out to the dunes, and a float down a smaller river way out of town as the basic agenda.