12-16/10/16 | Day 81-85| Excursion to Igatu

ATTENTION: Before you read this article, it will be very long and there will be a lot to see. So take some time to soak up all the impressions ;)

Where should I start ... Oh yeah. We went on a field trip with our Capoeira class and some other classes from UFBA (Gymnastics, Art, Dance, Theater, and Photography and Film) to Igatu. Igatu is located in the Chapada Diamantina. If you ask people in Salvador where they like to go on vacation, they usually say in the Chapada Diamantina. It is a huge natural area that is home to many waterfalls, rivers, and forests and is simply beautiful. And Igatu is one of the diamonds in this area, but let's get back to the point.

We went to Igatu with three small buses and a lot of material. Why? Because we wanted to teach our learned Capoeira skills at the local school and work with the children there. We sports students had a bus to ourselves, which was also very funny and good. During the drive to Igatu, which took several hours, we saw a lot. There was also quickly started animation on the bus and the first drinks were passed around. However, for the first few hours we only drove on the highway. Only shortly before Igatu did the journey continue on bumpy dirt roads, steep cliffs, and narrow canyons. A pure adventure and musical journey, because that's where the Brazilian students started several songs that were accompanied by clapping and tambourine. We also had to get off the bus once so that the bus driver could even make it up the hill, very crazy everything.

In the evening we arrived in Igatu. We had a beautiful accommodation there. It was even more like a small village that the owner, with French roots, had built there.

There were small houses or accommodations scattered everywhere, which were completely booked for our travel group, in other words: the village was taken over by UFBA students. Take a look at the pictures and let yourself be inspired by the jungle village.

This also had access to the nearby river, also had its own pool and a sauna. In addition, a rich breakfast was offered there in the morning. We then had a decent lunch in one of the bars in town, which I will come back to later. But how were the days planned? At the beginning we received a brochure with all the information and overall, every day can be summarized as follows: breakfast, hiking, lunch, tasks to be done in groups or free time, and in the evening everything according to the motto 'Have Fun'. The hikes were very beautiful but also partly interesting. On the first hike, we hiked up a river where we could take a dip in a natural pool at the end.

Already there something caught our eye: the reddish water. The water here is very rich in iron and minerals, but at some places it is also drinkable.

What was also interesting were the small interludes of the artists, which can simply be described as interesting. On the second hike, we first went to an old diamond mine, which is why the name Chapada Diamantina is partly used because diamond mines were abundant in the entire area a long time ago.

There, we were guided through a cave by candlelight. There were tables everywhere with cement-formed figurines lying on them, taking a certain posture.

These figurines represent the miners who worked here last and died in an accident. Very impressive and compassionate, especially in the candlelight. Afterwards, we climbed up a rock where we could enjoy the view and tried cactus.

Then we walked along the river to a waterfall, which was just really cool and very refreshing.

Later, we hiked to the waterfall again on our own. But what did we do after lunch? One time we had the task of distributing some flyers and talking to people in the village. On another day, we really felt like having an ice cream. But who sells it? The shops didn't have any. But after some back and forth, we were sent to a house by some residents. There lived a woman who sold us a delicious homemade chocolate ice cream for 1 real. Really tasty.

On another day, we climbed the lookout point of Igatu with other students. This view was just insane, but it's best if you take a look for yourself:

In the evenings, we usually went to the bar where we also had lunch. There, many beers were drunk and Pitanga was consumed in a funny round and many conversations. Pitanga is a fruit that is common there and is consumed with Cachaca.

On Saturday and also on the last day in Igatu, we conducted the planned class at the local school with our Capoeira class. It was super cool to work with the kids there and to see how school works in the countryside in Brazil and how the kids occupy themselves there.

In the evening, there was a very crazy theater performance by the dance and theater group of UFBA. Finally, the film and photography group presented the final film of the excursion, which was very cool.

On Sunday after breakfast, we went back to Salvador.

In conclusion, you can say: If you are in Salvador for a longer period of time, you should definitely go to Igatu to relax. It's worth it!

P.S.: In the evening, we also had to watch where we stepped in the dark, because there were huge toads everywhere. Eventually I lovingly called them cats, because they were about the same size and were very active.