Waiting to climb down to see the pools

I had interrupted writing about my travels with Erica in Chapada Diamantina National Park to share a little about Sean's arrival and our time in Rio.  Now that things have fallen into a pretty normal routine here in Ilhéus, I'm going to write a little more about the final days of my time with Erica.

Getting ready to snorkel in the Blue Pool

On day three of our adventure in Chapada Diamantina National Park, Erica and I spent all day visiting the "Blue Pool" and the "Enchanted Pool" (Poço Azul e Poço Encantado).  The park is famous for pools such as these because of their incredible colors and clarity.  According to our guide, the translucent blues and greens in the water form because of the way the light hits the minerals present.



I knew that the views were going to be cool but I wasn't prepared for what it actually looked like; the intensity of the colors and the light in the water were like nothing I had ever seen before.  Erica and I kept saying to each other that we felt like we were in some National Geographic Special and also that we wished we had better cameras to capture the moment.

Our hiking group for the day

The Enchanted Pool

Surprisingly, we were able to snorkel in one of the pools and even though the cavern was super deep, we could see all the way down.  It was a little eerie at times but we were calmed by the fact that the only creatures living were tiny blind cavefish. Though visiting the two pools in one day involved a lot of time in a van traveling over unpaved and bumpy roads, it was definitely worth it.

An iguana hanging out by the entrance of one of the pools

1 Comment

1. Linde on October 8, 2013 at 1:06 PM

   That is breath-taking! So I can only imagine how much more so in person ;)