My husband and I live in the little interior town of Sobradinho - Bahia. To be quite honest there isn't a whole lot to speak of when it comes to tourism. There's the giant electric dam and its resulting great big reservoir which is supposedly the biggest in Latin America. There's a place way down a dirt road with some cave drawings on a few rocks where if there is a good rainy season you can enjoy a small waterfall. And there are lots of goats and sheep.
My gang wanted to visit Toca da Barriguda and Toca da Boa Vista. Websites say the two are on the same road about a mile apart. We knew we were going to be in a hurry and hence went about the business of finding a guide. I hunted through the maze of limited information on the world wide web until I came across the name of a reputable person. Said person lives in the big city and wasn't very interested in coming all the way out to the boondocks to meet us, but did give me the name of a local yokel.
Mr. Local Yokel was hard to get in touch with at first until I got his WhatsApp number. Alas he didn't understand from whence I was coming and had the strange idea that I would drive right by his house to pick him up in spite of many messages to the contrary. When we arrived at the gate to the first cave (with no sign) alas there was also no guide. To his advantage we were a little late but were within the cultural norms for this part of the country by a long shot.
We all jumped the fence (gate was locked) and looked for the famous hole. No luck.
We decided to try the second gate. Then a couple of kids on a motorcycle passed by looking shrewdly at the fence jumping Gringos. My husband called out to the them and we asked if they knew of Mr. Local Yokel. Alas, they did and said they would tell him that we were at the second gate and waiting and waiting and waiting.
Another kid on a motorcycle came from the direction that the last had gone and had a message! He said that Mr. Local Yokel guide dude was at his house as previously arranged and was awaiting our arrival. Huh? He told us how to find the house.
And so we went down the sandy, rocky dirt road to find the house. It took some more stopping and asking around to finally see that no one was at home. Neighbors weren't sure if the guide was at the river, at work or just out. I encouraged my husband to ask if they weren't any other guides. No such luck. I said offer money to show us where the hole is. No way. Very dangerous was the answer to that one. And we heard the story of three researchers who got lost a few years back for three days. They went in without an official guide.
Now what? We'd driven a good ways, driven more to find the guide's house. We went back to the second gate. It wasn't locked. We were determined to find that hole in the ground. We followed some little trails. We looked and searched. We drove all the way down the biggest path until the road went no more, no more. There was a big farmhouse at the end with an old man sitting on the porch. We asked him. His directions were a little sketchy.
We were about ready to give up when we came upon a man with his family doing some work at a little farm plot. This guy was going to be our last chance. He was friendly. He left his work and rode with us to show us exactly where the place was. And low and behold who did we find there? Mr. Local Yokel. Go figure. He had passed by his house and heard that we'd be by. It was getting close to dark so we officially "hired" him and went about our "tour."
The money we paid our guide was worth it as our time was limited and he definitely knew his way around. The cave is very, very hot. 100 F degrees plus hot! So, it's not a place to play around. We were in the cave for about 45 minutes and dripped sweat all they way (this was actually a good thing to learn and remember when my son went back later with a group of guys and no guide). Once you're in the ceilings are high and the rooms are large. There are no walkways and no lights. I'm a scary girl and didn't find the place overwhelming. There were some bats and a few crickets.
Tourism like this in Bahia could be a boom, but the demand is low. The sights are all around, but few locals have ever been to this amazing cave. If you need to know how to get there, send me a message. I tell you where to find the guide!
 |
| Fazenda Campo Verde |
But not too far from us is the town of Campo Formoso which is full of caves and interesting rock formations. Many of the caves are poorly marked and hardly explored. Websites tell you that it's best to hire a guide. That's very true. You'll need one just to figure out where to turn off the road because of the lack of signs. I think there used to be nice signs, but the local guides took them down to help the industry - their industry. I could be entirely mistaken.
 |
| Sumidouro Cave actually has a small sign. |
Mr. Local Yokel was hard to get in touch with at first until I got his WhatsApp number. Alas he didn't understand from whence I was coming and had the strange idea that I would drive right by his house to pick him up in spite of many messages to the contrary. When we arrived at the gate to the first cave (with no sign) alas there was also no guide. To his advantage we were a little late but were within the cultural norms for this part of the country by a long shot.
We all jumped the fence (gate was locked) and looked for the famous hole. No luck.
We decided to try the second gate. Then a couple of kids on a motorcycle passed by looking shrewdly at the fence jumping Gringos. My husband called out to the them and we asked if they knew of Mr. Local Yokel. Alas, they did and said they would tell him that we were at the second gate and waiting and waiting and waiting.
Another kid on a motorcycle came from the direction that the last had gone and had a message! He said that Mr. Local Yokel guide dude was at his house as previously arranged and was awaiting our arrival. Huh? He told us how to find the house.
And so we went down the sandy, rocky dirt road to find the house. It took some more stopping and asking around to finally see that no one was at home. Neighbors weren't sure if the guide was at the river, at work or just out. I encouraged my husband to ask if they weren't any other guides. No such luck. I said offer money to show us where the hole is. No way. Very dangerous was the answer to that one. And we heard the story of three researchers who got lost a few years back for three days. They went in without an official guide.
Now what? We'd driven a good ways, driven more to find the guide's house. We went back to the second gate. It wasn't locked. We were determined to find that hole in the ground. We followed some little trails. We looked and searched. We drove all the way down the biggest path until the road went no more, no more. There was a big farmhouse at the end with an old man sitting on the porch. We asked him. His directions were a little sketchy.
We were about ready to give up when we came upon a man with his family doing some work at a little farm plot. This guy was going to be our last chance. He was friendly. He left his work and rode with us to show us exactly where the place was. And low and behold who did we find there? Mr. Local Yokel. Go figure. He had passed by his house and heard that we'd be by. It was getting close to dark so we officially "hired" him and went about our "tour."
The money we paid our guide was worth it as our time was limited and he definitely knew his way around. The cave is very, very hot. 100 F degrees plus hot! So, it's not a place to play around. We were in the cave for about 45 minutes and dripped sweat all they way (this was actually a good thing to learn and remember when my son went back later with a group of guys and no guide). Once you're in the ceilings are high and the rooms are large. There are no walkways and no lights. I'm a scary girl and didn't find the place overwhelming. There were some bats and a few crickets.
Tourism like this in Bahia could be a boom, but the demand is low. The sights are all around, but few locals have ever been to this amazing cave. If you need to know how to get there, send me a message. I tell you where to find the guide!
Comments
Post a Comment