The highlight of our vacation was visiting Lençois Maranhenses National Park in the neighboring state of Maranhão. The name of the park refers to its immense expanses of dunes which look kind of like bedsheets (the word lençois in Portuguese means "sheets"). The park is huge (580 sq miles) and is known for being particularly spectacular between the months of March and September when rain that has filtered through the sand forms crystal-clear pools and lakes between the dunes. The landscape is surreal because it appears to be a vast dessert spotted with occasional paradises of oasis and lagoons. I've never seen anything like it and couldn't stop staring and taking pictures.
Sean and I did two different tours in the dunes: one during the day to hike and go swimming and another in the evening to watch the sunset. Both tours visited different places in the park and involved long bone-jarring jeep/dune buggy rides to the trail heads. While we were in the park we met people from all over the world and all of us couldn't believe that we hadn't heard much of this incredible destination before. One tourist remarked that he thinks Brazil is trying to keep it hush hush so it isn't overrun with herds of foreigners. For me, up until now, Lençois Maranhenses was definitely Brazil's best kept secret.
How very strange/interesting and beautiful!