Pictures from the second week of sailing

The first shot is from the first day in Salvador, when the two groups arrived together and went for a city tour. Here they are posing by the lighthouse that protected the city in colonial days.

Below are shots of the second week of sailing on the Tocorime. Lots of smiles and great tans! The scenery was breathtaking and the crew gave the boys the experience of a lifetime.

Here is Mark chilling on the bow ropes with Jonny resting beside him after hauling up the anchor.

Together Again!

All three groups travelled safely to meet in Rio De Janeiro yesterday, one via the Tocorime and two flew in from Salvador. We got to know this city in the first few days of the trip and coming back to the same hostel almost feels like coming home!

You have received updates over the last week from Mark's group hiking and Danielle/Rob's group at the community service project, but Sandi/Gary and the boys sailing haven't had access to the internet to share tales of the sea...

They set sail in Paraty and enjoyed making their way back to Rio hitting many of the same landmarks as the previous group only in reverse order. There were grueling hikes on Ilha Grande, early mornings spent hoisting anchor and setting the sails, and lots of time to swim and make impressive jumps from the crow's nest into the ocean.

Sifting through hundreds of photos has been a wonderful opportunity for reflection this evening, but the process of uploading is quite slow right now. So, here is one shot of the group that just finished sailing and there are more to come tomorrow.

Missing Pictures!

The group without pictures has met up with the others in Rio and have a cord to upload!

Here are a few pics from our time on the ship sailing (2 weeks ago) as well as a group shot from our community service project (last week)... Notice Anthony's prized Nutella, some pics of the Tocorime to give you a sense of our home for the week, and great shots of the boys working on the ship and enjoying free time both on the ship and on shore.

Day Seven - Hiking Trip

Our final day in Chapada involved visits to two separate caves, both of them containing pools of water. The first pool was called Poco Encantado, or the Enchanted Pool. It was first discovered in 1945, and at the time it was believed to contain magical powers due to the blueish tinge of the water. The pool is almost 70 metres deep at the centre, but the water is so clear that you can see right to the bottom. The blue arc that you can see in the photo to the left is actually created by the sun's rays as they enter the cavern. Swimming is not permitted in this pool, but even to see the mystical sight of the transparent blue water in such a peaceful cavern was an amazing opportunity. All of us were intrigued by the beautiful reflections and surrounding rock formations. It reminded us of a scene you might expect to see in a movie.

Our second stop took us to the Poco Azul, or Blue Pool. This time we were permitted to swim, and we were even provided with masks and snorkels. Again, the water was incredibly clear, but this time we were able to see it from within. It's amazing the kind of effect that the reflection of light into such caverns can have on the colouring and clarity of the water.

After our swim we had lunch in the Poco Azul restaurant before heading back to Lencois. We are now relaxing at a Pousada just outside of town as we wait for our overnight bus back to Salvador. By tomorrow morning we will be joining up with Danielle Richer, Rob Giel and the rest of their group. I'm sure the boys look forward to seeing some of their other friends again.

Day Six - Hiking Trip

The Duke of Edinburgh's award portion of our trip ended with the completion of the hike on Saturday, but there was still plenty planned for our final two days in Chapada Diamantina. Yesterday we travelled about two hours from Mucuge to visit the Buracao Waterfall. A 3 km walk to get to the falls was well worth the effort. As you can see from the photo to the right, it was quite an incredible sight. We were able to climb down into the canyon a few hundred metres away from the spot you can see at the bottom left of this photo. We spent some time there jumping into the water from a 3-4 metre high platform, before swimming along a narrow channel to get within sight of the waterfall. The photo below shows Greg Vandemark and Wes Tiller jumping off this platform, but all of the guys made the same jump more than once.

Once in the main canyon and in sight of the falls, we were told that we could swim right over to the actual waterfall. From there our guide showed the boys how to climb up to a rock ledge from which you could shimmy out behind the waterfall. The boys were able to jump out through the falling water and back into the pool below. They say it stung a bit as they penetrated the falling water, but this was to be expected considering the fact that the water falls from a height of almost 75 metres. It was definitely an interesting experience for everyone. The photo below shows a number of the boys as they're making their way in behind the falls.

Day Five - Hiking Trip

Wake up this morning was at 7:00 a.m. We needed to get up and have breakfast so that we could be on our way at a decent time for the 18 km trek planned for the day.

We started the trek with almost an hour of uphill terrain as we made our way out of the Pati Valley. Once we were back on the plateau, the landscape was relatively flat and the hiking was much less strenuous. The photo to the left shows us just after we ascended out of the valley and started across the plateau toward the Cachoeirao, a 300 m height waterfall.

The photo to the right shows Mike Mildon, Jon Cannon, and Brennan de Langley as they ate their lunch from a lookout above the waterfall. Again, the views were incredible, but even more so when we walked around to the other side of the canyon after lunch. We had a perfect view of the waterfall from that side. It wasn´t a high volume waterfall, but the height was dizzying.

From there we retraced our steps back to the point where we first came up out of the Pati Valley. The designated meeting spot with the trucks was another 8 km in the opposite direction. Afternoon trekking was tough with the sun bearing down on us, but we were used to it by that point. We were also very much looking forward to the prospect of hot showers that evening. That opportunity alone drove us onward toward the trucks. The photo below shows us at the edge of a cliff marking the end of the plateau. From there we had a 30 minute descent along a swtch-back trail to more of a low-land region. It was only a short distance further to the trucks. Our pousada for the evening was in a small town called Mucuge. We had a great dinner at a local restaurant and enjoyed the comforts of much higher-end accommodations than those of the previous two nights.

The Festival of the Sisterhood of Our Lady of Good Death!

A mouthful to say, the festival we attended today has quite an interesting history.

While slavery was still present in Brazil, an organization of black women was created called "The Sisterhood of Our Lady of Good Death." These women were essentially a secret society, fronting as a Catholic organization raising money for the church. Instead, they used funds to buy the freedom of their enslaved sons and brothers.

The African descendants in Brazil blended their religious beliefs with Catholic beliefs. In the heart of slavery, death was considered a blessing, as the people believed in reincarnation and saw death as freedom from life. The name "Sisterhood of Our Lady of Good Death" refers to Mary, to whom they prayed for the blessing of death.

The festival is celebrated by many Afro-Brazilians as well as feminist groups, as this secret society is considered the first women's movement in the country and commemorates the liberation of the slaves. Attending the festival were 30 women dressed in white thought of as "sisters" because they are descendants of the original group.

We were truly lucky to participate in today's events. A two-hour bus ride brought us inland to Cachoeira where the streets were full of music, food and art. We spent the day enjoying the festival and sampling some of the local delicacies.

Day Four - Hiking Trip

Day Four of our Chapada trek started a little more slowly than the previous day. None of us seemed to be in much of a hurry to get moving, so we didn´t end up leaving our pousada until a little past 10:30 a.m. Our guides were actually worried that we wouldn´t be able to make it to both destinations scheduled for that day, but we convinced them to proceed with the plan. We set out to climb Castelo Hill, one of the highest in the park. The photo to the left shows us decending into a large cave near the top of Castelo Hill. Shortly after this photo was taken we had to pull out our flashlights and headlamps to navigate through the length of the cave.

At the far end of the cave we climbed up through an opening and then continued on to the lookout point near the peak of Castelo Hill. As you can see to the right, the views were spectacular. We spent about twenty minutes admiring the scenery before the guides started encouraging us to be on the move again. We needed to get back down the hill, a 3 km trek, with enough time to make it to our second destination for the day, the Funil Waterfall. We stopped at the bottom of the hill for lunch and some sun bathing by the river before continuing on our way.

After lunch we jumped from stone to stone along the river for a distance of almost 2.5 km. At least half the guys slipped in along the way, so there were some wet hiking boots before we reached the waterfall. Along the way we saw a water spider (not poisonous) that was the size of Peter Crossgrove´s hand. Needless to say, we eventually reached the waterfall safely and spent about an hour swimming and jumping in to the pool at the base of the falls. The photo to the left shows Connor Ritchie, Mike Mildon, and Kelsey Boland in the centre of the pool. After about an hour of swimming and rock jumping, we continued on to our next pousada. We spent the evening at the farm of Dona Leia (pictured below). After another round of cold showers and a great meal, we were once again in bed before 9:00 p.m. Although the description above makes this sound like it was a leisurely day, it was exhausting. The climb to the peak of Castelo involved almost 90 minutes straight of uphill trekking, and going back down was even more difficult with the rocky terrain. Jumping from rock to rock along the river was also gruelling. In total we covered 12 km throughout the day, so the early bedtime was very much needed.

Day Three - Hiking Trip

Our longest day of trekking (22 km) started with an hour climb, called the ´Bomba´ climb, along the Gerais do Vieira trail. From there we followed the Preto River trail along a massive plateau for the rest of the day. The landscape was beautiful, with rolling grasslands bordered by low mountains off to the distance on both sides. The sun was hot, though, and it made for a challenging hike. Mikey Mildon, Brennan de Langley, and Jon Cannon proved to be the fastest trekkers of the day as they continuously forged ahead of the group. Every so often they would stop and wait for the rest of us to catch up.

As you can see from the photo to the right, the views from some of the spots where we stopped to break were incredible. Despite the physical challenges of the trek, we were all able to appreciate the scenery.

The pleasant surprise for all of us was that we ended up arriving at our pousada for that night almost an hour earlier than our guides, Jaime and Jean, had predicted. The pousada was really just a farmer´s home converted into simple accommodations. When Chapada was declared a national park in 1995, farming within park boundaries was declared illegal, so many people moved away. A few farmers remained, though, and they now make their living by running these pousadas. We had an excellent dinner there, and we were in bed before 9:00 p.m. The sun and the exercise of the day had us all exhausted. We looked forward to a slightly less challenging day to follow, as well as the opportunity to see an amazing cave, lookout point, and waterfall.

Trip to Diogo

The group in Salvador has the weekend off from the school community service project, so we are spending these two days exploring a few small towns outside of Salvador. Yesterday, we drove about two hours to a small village called Diogo. Despite the beautiful weather, it is considered winter here in Brazil, so this beach town was quite empty!

We woke up early to get there, but found that it was raining, so we delayed our trip until 10am and by then the rain was gone. When we arrived, we spent an hour being shown around a property dedicated to permaculture (sustainable agriculture) which is a passion of our tour leader Angela. She has been working with this permaculture organization for many years. We were shown several plants, a "dry toilet" used for creating soil, and a house slowly being built from reclaimed wood, clay, and even old plastic bottles.

After visiting this land, we went to a local restaurant for lunch. The boys really enjoyed it, especially the small desserts at the end - something like a coconut timbit! From there, we walked for about 20 minutes over sand dunes to arrive at a gorgeous empty beach. The ocean water was the warmest we've found so far on the trip, and had the biggest waves. After a few hours we returned to Salvador for dinner and a bit of exploring in the neighbourhood.

Day Two - Hiking Trip

Much has happened since the last time I was able to update everyone on the progress of the hiking group. Sorry for the delay, but in the last four days we´ve travelled 64 km to some remote areas of Chapada Diamantina National Park with no road access, let alone internet connection.

Our first day of hiking took us along a 6 km trail (mostly uphill) to Fumacao Cachoeira (Smoke Falls), which is the second highest waterfall in Brazil. It received it´s name because with a drop of 400 metres, the water starts to mist up giving it the appearance of smoke. Standing near the edge of a 400 metre vertical drop was a dizzying experience. After having lunch right at the top, we made our way a little further down for a swim in one of the pools leading up to the falls.

From there it was a 6 km downhill hike to another pool for a quick swim before heading to the town of Capao for the night. Capao was an interesting little commune town where most of the people we saw were dredlocked hippies from across South America who somehow managed to congregate in this one location. Unfortunately, we were too tired to enjoy the vibe of this town. Everyone was in bed by 9:30 p.m. in preparation for our longest trek of the trip the following day.

Busy Day of Community Service

Today we had an early breakfast and went straight to the school to continue the community service project started last week. Today was a holiday for the students, so we were able to get to work with no children around. By midday, the boys were all exhausted from scraping, plastering and sanding, but it was still tough to pull them away from the project to send them for lunch. A small restaurant down the street made a great meal for us, topped off with some delicious homemade pineapple and passion fruit juices. Before some were even finished eating, the boys hustled back to the school to continue on their project. They even passed on ice cream! Our group leader Angela insisted that the boys try the local ice cream, so we bought 14 scoops and took them back to the school for everyone to try.

After the brief break for dessert, it was right back to work. In the afternoon, some of the local kids found their way to the room we were working in and were excited to join in. At 4pm, Angela insisted that the bus driver had been waiting for us and we had to go, so the boys finally tore themselves away from the project. They immediately asked that we delay the pickup time for tomorrow. Angela is thrilled with the hard work of this group, as are we (Rob and Danielle). We returned to the hostel for another delicious meal from Augusto, and had a low-key night of socializing and card games. Tomorrow we are back at the school for another long day of labour!

Community Service Continues in Salvador

Once leaving the beautiful city of Paraty, we spent Tuesday travelling by bus to Rio, then a short flight to Salvador. Angela and Judy from ProWorld met us at the airport. They are really friendly and gave us a briefing on the week ahead. We arrived at the hostel in Salvador around 7pm and had time to settle in before dinner. The hostel owner Augusto made a wonderful meal and we spent the night recovering at the half-way point of the trip.

Yesterday, we enjoyed a late breakfast and then met up with Angela and Judy for a city tour of Salvador. We saw the beautiful historical area, tried some of the traditional sweets, and learned about some of the culture and history of the city. From there, we went for lunch, walked around some more, and then arrived at the Permaculture Centre where we had a class in Capoeira planned from 4-6pm. The boys had a great time learning the basics, then sparring with the instructors and each other. We returned to the hostel for another great dinner with Augusto.

Today we are off to a school in a poor urban community to continue the community service project started by St. Andrew~s last week.

Day One - Hiking Trip

The hiking group arrived in Lencois, the starting point for our Chapada Diamantina trek, around 2:00 this afternoon after 7 hours on a bus.

Shortly after arriving at our pousada we left for a short hike up to one of the more famous lookout points in Chapada, although we´re told we can definitely expect more beautiful views in the days ahead. We were all impressed with our first glimpse of the park and are very much looking forward to what lies ahead.

We´ve now just finished dinner in Lencois and are about to head back to our pousada to pack and prepare for our first day of trekking. I should have internet access tomorrow to update the blog once more before a three day stretch where we will be out of communication range.

Final Day in Salvador

We just got back from our last dinner in Salvador as a combined group. Tomorrow we divide off; 9 students will be heading to Chapada Diamantina National Park with me, and 12 students are off to Paraty to start their sailing adventure with Sandi Chasson. Today was a relaxing one for the boys with nothing more pressing on the schedule than souvenir shopping, swimming, and tanning. A few of the guys experienced what a jellyfish sting feels like as well. They say it wasn´t much worse than a bee sting, though, so they didn´t have to resort to any natural remedies. It was good for the boys to have this time together before separating tomorrow. We´re only divided into different groups for 7 days, but I suspect this will be difficult for some. The whole group of 22 has bonded really well over the last 10 days. It´s amazing how quickly this happens on trips of this kind.


Future updates will be coming from Sandi Chasson and Gary Godkin for the second sailing group, from Danielle Richer and Rob Giel for the second community service group, and from me for the hiking group.

SASSAW Brazil - signing out...

A day in Paraty

Today the boys had a day to explore the city of Paraty. They were up and exploring by about 9am, and divided into smaller groups for touring. The historical district of the city is gorgeous and has plenty of great shopping. The boys shopped till they dropped, and also found time to walk up to an old fort which has been here since some of the first European settlers. A highlight was running into three of the crew members of the Tocorime while walking the cobblestone streets! We felt like locals, since the crew had told us while on the ship that Paraty is so small that it is impossible to walk down the street without running into someone you know.

We will be up early tomorrow to drive into Rio for our flight to Salvador.

PS The reason there are no photos attached to our group's entries is that no one remembered to bring a cord for uploading! But Mr Giel alone has taken over 500 so we will have lots to share!

The sailing group has arrived!

Last night, the boys managed to tear themselves away from the boat and crew they came to love over the past week. They had an incredible time, but are already thrilled with all that the beautiful city of Paraty has to offer.

In the last update, I mentioned that we were anchored at Ilha Grande where around 3000 locals live and there is a small tourist town. I will resume from there...

Thursday morning, we woke up on the boat still anchored at Ilha Grande. After breakfast, we went to shore again, but this time to see some of the beautiful scenery that the island has to offer. The boys did a long hike (4 hours) through the island, while the few crew members who stayed behind sailed around the island to meet us. The hike was quite steep, but the boys managed it easily. While hiking we saw a beautiful waterfall and stopped to swim. The fresh water was much colder than the ocean, but this didn't stop them from jumping in and spending a few minutes standing right under the falls! Once finished the hike, we spent some time on a beach on the island, and returned to the boat when it was time for a late lunch. The afternoon we relaxed on the boat, enjoyed some delicious popcorn snack and a great dinner. In the evening, the crew got the boys to try out some Brazillian dance moves. Before bed, the boys decided to go for one final swim to see the plankton (fluorescent organisms in the water). From on deck, we could see them making "plankton angels" in the water. Opportunity of a lifetime!

Friday morning we were up early to sail to a new island of Mamangua. The boys hauled up the anchor and set the sails, and the voyage took about 6 hours from 7am until 1pm. Once landed, we did another great hike. Although the islands are nowhere near the Amazon river, they are considered part of the rain forest, so you can imagine the density of the forests and beauty of the scenery. This hike took us to a great pool of fresh water. The boys were excited to go in, until they realized the temperature! With the group reminding themselves that this is once in a lifetime, they took the plunge. A conveniently located vine gave the boys a chance to swing and splash until they were ready to head back for dinner and relaxing on the boat.

Saturday we sailed do another point on Mamangua which has a mountain named Sugar Loaf. The crew were excited to show the boys the incredible view from the top. A hike that should have taken 2 hours had some of the boys at the peak in under 30 minutes. At the top of the mountain, the boys took in the view and even sang O Canada! That definitely got the boys hungry, so they returned to the boat soon after for lunch. In the afternoon, we sailed to a beautiful cove for an incredibly peaceful last night. For our final dinner, the crew threw us a Brazillian bbq on deck and the boys enjoyed the delicious meat for hours. The boys took one last swim with the plankton and were off to bed.

We woke up Sunday and set sail to Paraty. The trip took about 1.5 hours, but we were in no hurry to leave the boat. The captain held a meeting with the boys once we arrived to discuss the trip. He told the boys that this was one of the best trips he has ever taken and was so pleased with their participation, enthusiasm, friendliness and teamwork. Each one of the boys shared their thoughts on the trip, the crew and the boat itself. The boys repeated over and over that this had been one of the best weeks of their lives, that they loved the food, the crew and the boat, and that they can't wait to return! We packed ourselves and our bags onto a boat taxi which took us to the shore of Paraty. We checked into our hostel here and began exploring. The city is truly spectacular, and will soon be classified as a UNESCO world heritage site for the unbelievable preservation of architecture in the Historical District. The boys split up, some to the beach to swim and kayak, some to walk the historical district. We met at 7pm and were thrilled that the entire crew of the Tocorime accepted our invitation to meet for dinner. They recommended that we try an Arabic restaurant, and what a hit! The boys loved the food and the extra time they had to spend with the incredible crew.

As we move on from the Tocorime, the boys have not only taken with them an experience of a lifetime, but a nickname assigned by Nika and Laila on the ship:
Nick - Harry Potter
Alex - Roberto (pronounced hoberto)
Kyle - Caio (pronounced Caillou)
Zach - Jet Lee
Pranav - Piranha
Austin - Henrique (pronounced en-hicky)
Shawn - Shaããawn
Ethan - Paolaun (truck)
Mike - Safadon (heartbreaker)
Andrew - Andreas
Rob - Moihando (mohawk)
Anthony - Osus (bones)

The first leg of this trip has been an unbelievable experience and from reading Mark's blog entries about the community service, I think we will continue to have the time of our lives when we arrive in Salvador tomorrow. We are off to spend a day exploring Paraty!

Trip to Diogo

Today started off with the first rain we´ve seen since arriving in Brazil. It wasn´t a promising start considering the plan for the day involved an outdoor project in a rural community called Diogo. We were meant to be bagging sand and making adobe walls for a permaculture compound, but this was impossible to do with wet sand. We still decided to go to Diogo, though, and it turned out to be the most incredible and memorable day of our trip so far. Upon arrival we had a great lunch of chicken, fish, and a variety of vegetables and sauces in a small local restaurant. From there we visited the OPA compound (Organization for Permaculture and Art) and learned about their water cachement system, dry toilet, composting and fertilization, and various gardening techniques. It was a brief, but interesting introduction to bio-construction and permaculture.

After leaving the OPA compound we walked a short distance down to a river crossing and took some time to swim and jump off the bridge. At that point we had no idea how beautiful the beach we were heading to would prove to be. It was about a 10 minute walk over sand dunes and a lightly forested area before we reached the top of a dune and saw a sprawling, pristine, and empty beach. It was the kind of beach you would expect to see in commercials, but with no buildings or huts in sight. There were no people around either; it was just our group on a massive beach with perfect sand, rolling waves, and palm trees in the background. We spent almost two hours swimming and running around on the beach (by the way, the rain stopped while we were on the bus to Diogo and it turned out to be a gorgeous afternoon).

There´s a line up for the computer right now, so I´ll have to keep this brief. Suffice it to say that it was an amazing day. We´re now back in Salvador and have just finished a great meal. The guys are now getting ready to head out for some site-seeing for the evening.

Day Four of Community Service

This morning we had a slightly earlier departure with Jon Knowles, Mark Denton and I heading to a sports camp for children in a favella about 15 minutes away. We brought all of the soccer uniforms and equipment to donate to this organization which focuses on teaching underprivileged teenagers the benefits of positive participation in sport. They focus on the importance of good values and sportmanship in addition to promoting the enjoyment of sport. The also encourage the participation of girls, which is unusual in Brazil where few opportunities are availabe for girls to get involved in any kind of organized sports programs. The organization operates in three different communities and depends entirely on support from corporate and individual sponsors. Mark and Jon were able to play with the teens for well over an hour in a series of short scrimmage matches.

The rest of the group left shortly after us for a morning capoeira class in the auditorium at the school we´ve been working at. Capoeira was described to the boys as a form of martial arts hidden within a dance. It was developed by slaves in Brazil at a time when fighting was strictly forbidden. Apparently the boys were taught a variety of moves starting from simple ones and gradually progressing in complexity. I´m told that Wes Tiller and Greg Vandemark (the Old Boy chaperones), as well as Aidan Romeril proved to be the most skilled capoeira dancers/fighters by the end of the class. The three of them took on the instructor in a final demonstration.

Jon, Mark and I arrived back at the school shortly
after the capoeira class was finished and we spent most of the rest of the day scraping and plastering. We only managed to get one wall of the auditorium painted, but the rest is all set to go. A few of us may head back to the school on our free day Monday morning to get a bit more painting finished. We figure that in three hours we can get a good chunk done now that everything is ready to go. Whatever we don´t get to can be completed by the other group when they arrive.

Tonight we´re heading out to a local restaurant for a traditional fish dish called moqueca.

That´s all for today. Take care!