More from Chapada Diamantina

Greetings from the lovely land of Brazil
Chapada (plateau) Diamantina is a vast park with a variety of beautiful sites.  We have visted the Poco Azul, a crystal clear pool of water inside a cave.  We snorkeled in the pool where the visibility was perfect.
We also saw the Poco Enchante, which is a clear pool that is a beautiful blue colour when the light shines on it.  It is in another cave and was discovered in 1980.  The water is clear and you can see 40 m to the bottom, but it is full of calcium carbonate which causes the beautiful blue colour when the light shines on it.
We hiked 12 km to day (yes, Dan hiked) to one of the tallest waterfalls in Brazil today, we could not see the bottom from the top.  There were two rainbows and the waterfall was so powerful that the spray could be seen before we reached the waterfall.  The natives call it smoke.  We are quite lucky with the waterfalls, as there has been little rain, so many of the falls have been dry.  Our guide joked about throwing a bottle of water over the edge so there would be a waterfall.  The weather here is very variable, if you don't like the weather wait 5 minutes.  There are 23 microclimates in Bahia.  Yesterday while we were hiking, big black clouds blew by us with rolling thunder which echoed in the canyons, but it was sunny where we were.
Today, we weren't so lucky, we got rained on several times, but the sun came out and the clouds cleared when we reached the waterfall.  When we were trekking to the falls, the hills were shrouded in mist, it did not look like there were any hills around us.  When the clouds cleared, the view was spectacular, many outcroppings of the characteristic rock in the area, and a vista of greens and blues for as far as the eye could see.  It was worth getting soaked to the skin.  At least I think so, don't ask Dan!
The people of Brazil are so friendly and helpful.  It is a lovely country, expensive, but lovely.

Poco Azul

 Poco Enchante

 Waterfall, can't remember the name

the intrepid travelers beside one the really interesting rock formations (notice the pink colour, which is a dominant colour around Bahia

Bye
Kim and Dan