02/02/2020 – Morro de Pai Inacio, Lencois, Brasil

We got up and went to Joe and Hennas where Josh and I made breakfasts and packed lunches whilst Joe and Henna packed, they are getting the night bus tonight! We were met by Felipe and our driver at around 10:30 and drove a couple of hours to the Lapa Doce Cave, a huge cave in the Chapada Diamantina national park - I read somewhere it is the 9th largest cave in the world! When we got there we were told we were only allowed in wearing closed shoes. Josh ended up swapping his running sandals with the drivers trainers, and the driver kept pointing to his feet in the sandals and saying Jesus, which made us all giggle! After their shoe and sock swap, we were handed torches and introduced to our local guide. He picked some exotic fruit from a tree on the way down to the cave and we all tried the juicy white fruit - I have no idea what it was but it was very tasty! He also pointed out some trap door spiders in the ground, the houses looked like mushrooms from above, and felt almost shell like to touch. We saw loads of different tree types, one of which had a bulging bottle shaped trunk full of water, a silk floss tree. It had conical spikes on the trunk that deters animals from climbing it. We walked down a load of steps and went into the cave. There were loads of stalactites and stalacmites, and our guide played with his torch and the shadows to create animal shapes, which really brought the cave to life. We took some shadow and silhouette photos, and did a group ‘the evolution of woman’ shot. It was so vast and dark. At one point we all turned our torches off and stood in the silence, stillness and darkness for a few minutes. Once we were up and out of the cave a good hour or two later, we bought some cocunuts and sat in some plastic chairs. The lady cut them open for us once we had finished and we ate the coconut flesh too, very hydrating! Our driver gave us handfuls of other delicious tropical fruit, which I really couldn’t tell you what it was, all I know is it was very tasty! We drove to a spot with tables and chairs under a beautiful tree, and sat and ate our packed lunch. Then we drove to Pai Inacio, a rock formation in the national park. We climbed the steep incline up to the top, which gave us a beautiful 360° view of the Chapada Diamantina national park. We sat and soaked the view up before taking a good few photos. After spending a good amount of time up there we worked our way back down the steps. We used the shack of a toilet, and I bought some local honeycomb from the little shop at the bottom of the steps to take home for Granny. We drove home trying to soak in all the views, our last excursion of our year away! We went home, showered and got our things organised a little bit, we are leaving in the morning. Joe and Henna brought their bags to ours and dumped them in our room. We walked into town together and did some last minute souvenir shopping before sitting down at a table on the street for our final meal. We had pizzas and red wine and enjoyed debriefing together over the past couple of weeks that the four of us have spent together. Such an incredible time! Feels weird to be leaving tomorrow and to be facing reality again. We picked up Joe and Hennas bags and all walked to the bus station together, where we said our final goodbyes. Josh and I walked home through the town trying to believe that we will be in freezing cold England very soon! We got home, showered and in to bed.