April 29 – Lençóis Maranhenses

Today is pretty much a repeat of yesterday.  Another ferry ride (different crossing) 

and a swim in another lagoon.

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Video of one of the lagoons we swam in
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We then hiked up some dunes to a viewpoint overlooking the park.  The views were stunning.  We could see many lagoons from this high up. 

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Video of the dunes and lagoons
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There were also great views of what Oscar called the Green Ocean.  The area behind this set of dunes is covered with trees and vegetation as far as the eye could see…the Green Ocean.  Most of this area is still on sand but the trees and brush have taken over.  So the dunes lie between the Blue Ocean (the Atlantic Ocean) and the Green Ocean.

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Video of the Green Ocean
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The viewpoint had a long set of stairs leading up from the back side. 

There was a postcard perfect view of the small shops below.

Then it was time for lunch.  This restaurant had a lot of plant “pots” made of recycled plastic bottles and aluminum cans. 

There was also a walkway to the bathrooms that was made with waterfilled plastic bottles…felt funny and unstable to walk on them.

Then it was time to hit the hammocks.  They has seven hammocks occupied at one time.  Unfortunately, the place was rather noisy (a lot of people were there) so neither of us napped much.

Making another water crossing.

Footprints in the sand. 

More dunes and lagoons.

And a swim in another lagoon.  We swam in five lagoons.  In four of them we were the only people there.  Partly because there were probably only a few hundred people in the park, and partly because there are 55,000 lagoons to choose from.  and Then off again for swims in two more lagoons.

At the last lagoon we had a view of the viewing platform that we had visited in the morning.  We started seeing a lot of people there.  This is a major holiday weekend in Brazil, Labor Day (May 1) so everyone is on holiday visiting the park.  The crowds just seemed to keep coming.  There must have been several hundred people scattered about the dunes.  These were the first people we had seen during our visit here, other than those that joined us at the first lagoon.

We eventually relocated to the highest dune in the area to enjoy the sunset.  

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More Lençóis Maranhenses
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More Lençóis Maranhenses Wetlands
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It didn’t look like it was going to amount to much, so Oscar suggested we head out a bit early to beat the backup to cross the ferry.  Seemed like it was a good idea so we headed out for the hour plus drive to the ferry and then to the hotel.  Great day.