By early Saturday afternoon, Larissa already had about 10
people signed up to venture out into the cerrado, hike to one of the scores of
waterfalls in Minas Gerais, and rappel from the top of the falls to
bottom. With regards to my decision to
go, vacillation was the word of the day.
One part of me wanted to go and experience the rawness and dryness of
the cerrado (this is the driest time of the year in Minas), while another part of me wanted to see the ultimate: Parque
Nacional Serra da Canastra. (This
national park is the nearest to Uberlandia.) After a Skype chat with my wife and daughter (and some gentle encouragement),
I opted to go. As it turns out, it was
the best 330 reais (about $150 US) I could have ever spent.
On Saturday night, Uberlandia
was rockin’. I retired early (10:30PM
BST) because we had a big day ahead of us.
For the next 2 hours, cars, music, people, and the sounds of the city
kept me from falling into a deep sleep.
Finally about 12:30AM, I think I finally dozed off.
Sunday, 9/15, the bus arrived at the hotel at about 8:00AM and by 8:35 we
were off. Our guides were owners of a
local ecotourism company named Trilhas Interpretativas. The falls were about 50 km away, and it took
us about an hour to get there. Surprisingly,
we just parked on the side of the road and walked across the highway to a
gate; which was locked unfortunately. (Edouardo
mentioned the land owner just forgot to open the gate, but they did get permission.) All 12 of us ambled over the gate and we were
on our way!
When the cattle heard our voices, a herd of about 15 – 20
came running up the hill to see what was causing all the commotion. (And quite possibly, they wanted to see if we
had some feed or hay for them to eat.)
We sent them off by raising our voices and clapping our hands. That excitement paled in comparison to what
was yet to come.
A brief 20 minute walk got us to the place where the stream hurtled over the cliff and dropped about 60 meters to the large pool below. Some of the Trilhas team led us to the base
of the falls, while the rest of the Trilhas team stayed at the top and set up
the rappelling ropes. Prior to arriving
at the falls, we could hear the thunderous roar of the water as it pounded the rocks
and pool below. All CSC members quickly
decided to take a dip. The water was
cold, but refreshing. Thiry minutes later our time was up. The guides asked us to get all our backpacks together so we could make the
trek back up to the top of the falls.
Douglas, Edouardo, and the other 3 members of their team
gave us serious instructions on what / what not to do when rappelling. In about 20 minutes, we had our helmets on
and our harnesses in position. Everyone had also practiced the techniques they taught us while tethered to a tree. Douglas conveyed last minute detailed instructions in Portuguese and
Edouardo translated them.
I volunteered to be the first person. Interestingly (to me anyway), I was very
calm. The Trilhas team has rappelled
hundreds (if not thousands) of times, and the CSC members all had confidence in
them. The 1st steps and
minutes are the most challenging. To get
over the side, you had to duck under a tree limb, spread your feet wider than your
shoulders, and slowly take baby steps down the cliff face. What Edouardo & Douglas didn’t tell
us?!?! The wall only went for about 15 –
20 feet. After that, you were dangling
in the air like a spider floating on his gossamer web. The left hand really doesn’t do anything when
rappelling. It is the right hand that is
positioned in the right hand side of your lower back (at the belt line) feeding
the rope as you make your way down. (Our
2 rules that should never, never be broken:
(1.) Don’t put your left hand near the rappel device. (See NOTE: below.) (2.) Don’t remove your right hand from the
small of your back.)
Everyone else took their turn, while those that had
completed the rappel waited at the bottom of the falls craning their necks to
see who was next. With the cool mist and
the strong wind, it was actually chilly down near the base of the falls.
A full day of ecotourism builds up an appetite. On the way back to Uberlandia, the entire team and the guides stopped at a traditional “fogoes” (stoves) eatery.
For the next 3 weeks, the IBM CSC Team will be heads down
working to create and share deliverables with our respective NGOs. There is a chance that this might be our only
excursion opportunity because the remaining 2 weekends will be chocked full of
work being done on behalf of our assigned NGOs. If
it is our last opportunity to venture out into the cerrado and Minas Gerais,
the memories of seeing the falls, swimming in the spring fed pool, and
rappelling down a drop of 190 feet will stay with me for the rest of my
life.
NOTE: The "rappel
device" is a key component of rappelling.
It is a metal device that is attached to the harness. The climbing rope is threaded through
the device and through a locking carabener on the harness, allowing the climber
to make a controlled sliding descent, a rappel, down the rope.
Tapas Brasileiras Quatro
(#4):
=> While driving to our destination, it was obvious to me that the cerrado is being seriously threatened by coffee plantations, cattle ranching (although this is more innocuous compared to the other threats), development & sprawl, other crops (e.g., soybeans), and habitat fragmentation. Itamar shared these threats with me during our first week at the Ipe, but this was a chance for me to see it first hand. Many large mammals and predators of this ecosystem are threatened or endangered.
#ibmcsc brazil
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