We had only bought our backpacks with a change of clothes and our toothbrushes. Good thing.
The boat put is down on the beach and we were met by about 1/2 dozen people and a Land Cruiser from the smartest (and most expensive) pousada around. We declined in part because it was a long way out of the settlement of Atins.
On the boat we had met a Dutch girl (in her mid 40s) who had been in Brazil for 3 months. She had a deep tan and dreads. She had signed up for the day trip but as we talked she decided that she would stay overnight as she could get a cheap room (within her budget) and a different experience. She had no change of clothes or toothbrush but managed anyway and was delightful company. She stayed in the same pousada as we did. "Pousada da Rita" is very clean, very simple and cheap at $19 per person per night with "Caffe de Mananha"
Atins does not have any paved streets but has some street lights and payphones. Once we were settled in we took a walk down what was in reality "Main St" and just wandered around. A small boy came out of a house and asked that we take his picture.
We discovered that he had 7 brothers and (mostly) sisters, so a photo session ensued. Just before we thought we were done one of the younger girls appeared. She had changed her dress and put on her shoes, and had all the attributes of a princess! She was lovely. We promised to send copies of the pictures back to them via Dona Rita. There is no mail in Atins so we will send to a family member in Barreirinhas and trust it will get there. I think it will. We kind of wandered aimlessly understanding that it would be tough to get lost while in sight of houses. We came across some boys playing futbol (soccer) and one of them (about 6 years old) had a whistle and was the trainer and the referee!. More pictures ensued.
We wandered back as it was starting to get dark. We were close to the equator (about 3 deg South) so sun up around 6 and sun down around 6.
There were a couple of places where there were concrete light poles (durable and not subject to insect infestation I suspect is the main reason for concrete) were literally in the middle of the "road" such as it was.
Again no pavement and just beach type sand for the trails. Really cool.
Dinner was not at all exciting. Limited choices in places (maybe 2) and menu choices. It was pretty bland and unexciting but the beer was cold and we had good company.
We met up also with 2 German girls who were in the pousada and then four Israeli guys who had recently finished their mandatory military service (3 years) and were having fun. After some difficulty and frustration we put together a short tour to the dunes for the next morning for 7 of us (the German girls were undecided at this point) and negotiated a reasonable rate for the trip for the next morning.
A quiet night and a good breakfast "Caffe de Mananha" and we were ready for the ride on the Toyota Land Cruiser. It is an old style Cruiser labeled a Bandeirante. Built in Brazil but like the Cruisers we had in Africa 20 years ago. Tough as all get out and a high torque diesel engine. Ideal for what we were going to do.
We headed out of the settlement (not quite sure what to call it) and followed some sandy trails and through some water in several places sometimes as deep as 70cm and some soft sand and it was apparent that despite his youth our driver was experienced as we did not get stuck until much later!.
We were required to have a registered guide with us and the vehicle was not allowed on the dunes, just close enough for us to walk in.
Our guide told us that he did one to three day hikes in the area thru the park where you ended up back in Barreirinhas having walked 60km or so in the dunes. There were also shorter walks available.
The whole area is amazing with over 150 sq kilometers of dunes and fresh water lakes and the ocean close by. The best time to go is between June and August when all the lakes are full. Many of them were almost dry but there were plenty you could swim in.
We drove, or rode for about 40 minutes and at some points were very close to the ocean and would see occasional small huts for fishermen, but you got the complete feeling for how remote this place really is. Eventually we stopped and our guide took us into the dunes and we walked for maybe 20-25 minutes and saw several freshwater lakes along the way.
The guide headed back to the Land Cruiser to tell them something (forgotten what) and said he would be back at 11.30 (in about an hour) He was late getting back and we decided to head back towards the shore line where we had left the vehicle. The interesting thing was that we could all agree on the general direction, but could not agree more specifically than an arc of about 50 degrees. In my mined that is huge when you consider how short a time we had walked. It shows how easy it would to get lost or disoriented in desert conditions.
We eventually met back up with the guide and headed back to Atins as several of us had to meet the boat at 2.00.
We had thought about taking the regular ferry (who's schedule was influenced by the tides) but realized that more than half the journey would be after dark and not a whole lot of fun.
We caught the boat and actually transferred in Carbure to a bigger boat and the journey back was more direct and took about 90 minutes.
More on Grand Lencois in the next post.
The boat put is down on the beach and we were met by about 1/2 dozen people and a Land Cruiser from the smartest (and most expensive) pousada around. We declined in part because it was a long way out of the settlement of Atins.
On the boat we had met a Dutch girl (in her mid 40s) who had been in Brazil for 3 months. She had a deep tan and dreads. She had signed up for the day trip but as we talked she decided that she would stay overnight as she could get a cheap room (within her budget) and a different experience. She had no change of clothes or toothbrush but managed anyway and was delightful company. She stayed in the same pousada as we did. "Pousada da Rita" is very clean, very simple and cheap at $19 per person per night with "Caffe de Mananha"
 |
| Pousada da Rita |
 |
| Hammocks at the pousada |
 |
| Inside the nice clean kitchen |
 |
| Dona Rita at the pousada |
Atins does not have any paved streets but has some street lights and payphones. Once we were settled in we took a walk down what was in reality "Main St" and just wandered around. A small boy came out of a house and asked that we take his picture.
 |
| Note the pose |
 |
| Note the dress, nice hair do and shoes in the little one |
We discovered that he had 7 brothers and (mostly) sisters, so a photo session ensued. Just before we thought we were done one of the younger girls appeared. She had changed her dress and put on her shoes, and had all the attributes of a princess! She was lovely. We promised to send copies of the pictures back to them via Dona Rita. There is no mail in Atins so we will send to a family member in Barreirinhas and trust it will get there. I think it will. We kind of wandered aimlessly understanding that it would be tough to get lost while in sight of houses. We came across some boys playing futbol (soccer) and one of them (about 6 years old) had a whistle and was the trainer and the referee!. More pictures ensued.
 |
| Atins futbol players. The one in white in the middle was the trainer and referee! |
We wandered back as it was starting to get dark. We were close to the equator (about 3 deg South) so sun up around 6 and sun down around 6.
There were a couple of places where there were concrete light poles (durable and not subject to insect infestation I suspect is the main reason for concrete) were literally in the middle of the "road" such as it was.
 |
| Note light pole |
Again no pavement and just beach type sand for the trails. Really cool.
Dinner was not at all exciting. Limited choices in places (maybe 2) and menu choices. It was pretty bland and unexciting but the beer was cold and we had good company.
We met up also with 2 German girls who were in the pousada and then four Israeli guys who had recently finished their mandatory military service (3 years) and were having fun. After some difficulty and frustration we put together a short tour to the dunes for the next morning for 7 of us (the German girls were undecided at this point) and negotiated a reasonable rate for the trip for the next morning.
A quiet night and a good breakfast "Caffe de Mananha" and we were ready for the ride on the Toyota Land Cruiser. It is an old style Cruiser labeled a Bandeirante. Built in Brazil but like the Cruisers we had in Africa 20 years ago. Tough as all get out and a high torque diesel engine. Ideal for what we were going to do.
We headed out of the settlement (not quite sure what to call it) and followed some sandy trails and through some water in several places sometimes as deep as 70cm and some soft sand and it was apparent that despite his youth our driver was experienced as we did not get stuck until much later!.
We were required to have a registered guide with us and the vehicle was not allowed on the dunes, just close enough for us to walk in.
 |
| Our guide chillin out before we left Atins |
 |
| Our drivers son who is already learning the business |
Our guide told us that he did one to three day hikes in the area thru the park where you ended up back in Barreirinhas having walked 60km or so in the dunes. There were also shorter walks available.
The whole area is amazing with over 150 sq kilometers of dunes and fresh water lakes and the ocean close by. The best time to go is between June and August when all the lakes are full. Many of them were almost dry but there were plenty you could swim in.
We drove, or rode for about 40 minutes and at some points were very close to the ocean and would see occasional small huts for fishermen, but you got the complete feeling for how remote this place really is. Eventually we stopped and our guide took us into the dunes and we walked for maybe 20-25 minutes and saw several freshwater lakes along the way.
 |
| Headed out on the dunes |
 |
| Dorien The Dutch girl and the others getting spread out. |
 |
| Group beside one of the lakes |
The guide headed back to the Land Cruiser to tell them something (forgotten what) and said he would be back at 11.30 (in about an hour) He was late getting back and we decided to head back towards the shore line where we had left the vehicle. The interesting thing was that we could all agree on the general direction, but could not agree more specifically than an arc of about 50 degrees. In my mined that is huge when you consider how short a time we had walked. It shows how easy it would to get lost or disoriented in desert conditions.
We eventually met back up with the guide and headed back to Atins as several of us had to meet the boat at 2.00.
 |
| This si why we had the Israeli Army guys with us |
We had thought about taking the regular ferry (who's schedule was influenced by the tides) but realized that more than half the journey would be after dark and not a whole lot of fun.
 |
| The regular ferry from Atins |
We caught the boat and actually transferred in Carbure to a bigger boat and the journey back was more direct and took about 90 minutes.
More on Grand Lencois in the next post.
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