Lençóis Maranhenses

One of the most marvelous, unique places in the world, the desert known as Lençóis Maranhenses is an area of about 300 square kilometers of blinding white dunes and turquoise lakes...what, water in the desert? Yes. It rains a lot for several months and each depression between dunes becomes a lake of crystal clear water...For Brazilian cinema buffs: Lençóis Maranhenses is where "Casa de Areia" (House of Sand) was filmed.

The ride there - in a 4x4 with a snorkel - through sand, mangroves, lakes, and streams, is quite an experience, too! In fact, the whole thing is so incredible, I'm afraid to advertise it for fear too many people will want to head that way...The first palms are babassu, the others are buritis. I used the outhouse behind the bar with the dish antenna on the way to the little town of Barreirinhas...high and low technology coexist peacefully, as far as I could tell. The Pousada dos Buritis is a brand new inn in Barreirinhas. The car with the loudspeakers I found extremely annoying, but no one else seemed to mind the very in-your-face brand of street advertising...

babassu1.jpg (136721 bytes) babassu2.jpg (122044 bytes) beiradoriopreguicas.jpg (89741 bytes) balsa1.jpg (84065 bytes) balsa2.jpg (81960 bytes)
balsa3.jpg (69120 bytes) walkingashore.jpg (110813 bytes) highlowtech.jpg (65587 bytes) buritihouse.jpg (76926 bytes) buritiouthouse1.jpg (83687 bytes)
buritiouthouse2.jpg (104940 bytes) buritis1.jpg (82655 bytes) buritis2.jpg (96681 bytes) rowingacross.jpg (108274 bytes) voadeiras.jpg (75022 bytes)
ecodunastoyota.jpg (78416 bytes) pousadadosburitis.jpg (79584 bytes) carrocomaltofalantes.jpg (72517 bytes) lencois19.jpg (58442 bytes) lencois20.jpg (74249 bytes)
lencois21.jpg (53806 bytes) lencois18.jpg (55243 bytes) lencois1.jpg (59832 bytes) lencois5.jpg (64483 bytes) lencois7.jpg (43977 bytes)
lencois8.jpg (55882 bytes) lencois9.jpg (48177 bytes) lencois10.jpg (46407 bytes) lencois3.jpg (49099 bytes) lencois12.jpg (44815 bytes)
lencois14.jpg (59253 bytes) lencois15.jpg (52145 bytes) lencois17.jpg (38055 bytes)    

Favorite Places