Brazil – Xavier Cugat and his Orchestra
Around ten years ago Ed and I saw an extraordinary Brazilian movie called “The House of Sand”. It is set in a landscape of endless, blindingly white sand dunes. So unusual and otherworldly the film seemed to be taking place on another planet.
Turns out The House of Sand is set and was filmed in the Lençóis Maranhenses, the “Bedsheets” of the State of Maranhão. The Lençóis is a nearly 600 square mile region of white dunes and blue lagoons. It looks like a white desert, but it wouldn’t be right to call it that. More accurate would be calling it the biggest whitest beach on the planet (Further down this post I share the what and why of this unique environment).
Ever since seeing “The House of Sand” I have wanted to explore this fantastical landscape in person. And this August we did it. It required flying into São Luís, the capitol of Maranhão, then taking a 4.5 hour bus to Barreirinhas, the largest town near the Lençóis Maranhenses, from where most tour excursions originate. But even once in Barreirinhas, most routes into the “Bedsheets” require a long, bumpy trek over sandy roads. On the map below, only the black dotted line represents an asphalted road. The red dotted lines are deeply sandy paths over which four wheel drives slosh and jump and jostle their way for at least an hour before you reach the white dunes. It’s like riding a bucking kangaroo.
Among many musical bonbons I will share two Brazilian musical tracks with Lençóis in their title. The first one, a jazz instrumental, definitely refers to the region, since it is called Lençóis de Areia (Bedsheets of Sand). The second one, simply called Lençóis, which I will share at the end, may just be about actual bedsheets, as it clearly describes lovers in bed, but the music and the landscape still go well together.
Lençóis de Areia – Leonardo E. M. Cioglia
We will be exploring the Lençóis from 5 different approaches, each revealing another distinct side of this incredible world.
Lençóis Approach #1 – from the northern beaches by Atins
After over an hour driving north from Barreirinhas towards Atins, we got our first glimpses of the famous white dunes. But these are still outliers and the full splendor of the Lencois was still to come.
We then drove west along the shore. Near the ocean there are wide expanses of impossibly white sand.
Eventually we left the northern shore area and drove south into the dunes.
Above and beside, these great lily pads are called Victoria Regina. Something tells me it wasn’t a Portuguese gentlemen who coined the name.
Two weeks ago Ed and I flew into Corumba, near Bolivia in Brazil’s southwestern state of Mato Grosso du Sul, the main southern access point to the vast Pantanal region. The Pantanal might be best described, to Americans at least, as Brazil’s version of the Everglades. An immense system of rivers and wetlands, with water levels that rise and inundate the land in the rainy season and fall again in the dry season, releasing some ground from a watery blanket. The Pantanal waters are separate from those that form the Amazonian system.
Harpy eagle.
To the right, that’s Ed and me and our head protection (it’s easy to bump your head making your way through and past the tight corners, low ceilings and odd protrusions of a cave system). Below is the entrance to the Santana cave. It looks rather modest for what would wind up being an elaborate, impressive 12 km cave system. Turns out this entrance was blasted open by dynamite a hundred years ago. Originally the opening was much smaller, just enough for the water to pour out and make a strange grumbling sound, which is why it initially was called the Snoring Cave.
Above and beside you can see some of the walkways we took to get through the cave system. Ed says “I love about Brazil that you can do things here that would be considered totally unsafe for tourists in America”.
There are animals that live exclusively in the caves, like this spider.
Ed is looking at a rock formation which is called the horse’s head for obvious reasons.
Today’s tour through Rio will conclude on Corcovado. And I promise you I will be sharing pictures of Cristo Redentor that are unlike the typical postcard pictures or Google Images you will find of the iconic location. Our visit there turned out to be less than typical, and that will be reflected in my photos.
The second part of this post will take us to the waters of the Urubu River, an Amazon tributary where we spent an “Adventure Weekend” after leaving Manuas (These pictures are from our Brazil trip 4 years ago).
Four years ago Ed and I spent a fantastic August touring Brazil. This month we do it again. Which means Notes from a Composer is going to go all out on a Brazil themed 
