From Parnaiba, an attempt to get to Berreirinhas
We took the tar as far as Paulino Neves. Then, it seemed that all we had to do was drive just 40 kilometres of 4wd track on beach and dunes. So, we set off… It was about 11am and we thought we’d be in Berreirinhas in time for a sunset tour!
However, we didn’t get far before we found ourselves before a dune that Blac couldn’t climb over. H tried it a couple of times, but we couldn’t even get close.
So we turned back. On our return we stopped at another vehicle that was broken down (locals) and we asked if there was another way around. They indicated yes, but you return to town first.
So we continued back to town. In town a tourist tout (who happened to tell us previously that we’d never make it) told us that there was another way and that he could get us a guide, since we wouldn’t find it on any maps, or in a GPS.
Hendrik didn’t want a guide. He zoomed in on the GPS and found another track that would lead us past the waterholes (and therefore past that dune) on the other side. We headed off.
It was slow going. First we took a wrong turn and found ourselves in the town rubbish dump! The right track, through the scrub, was barely wide enough for Blac, in fact he got a few scratches (but what’s a 4×4 without scratches?), it was mostly soft sand with a few hills.
Blac wasn’t liking the hard work in the heat (who does?), and it was about every kilometre that we were adding another 2-3 litres of water to the radiator. This was not good, and I worried that we’d run out of water.
It was always hard to know which path to take, there were many tracks in the sand. We soon left the GPS guiding, because one other track was clearly much more used.
This led us to a small village that wasn’t in the maps or GPS, we asked for water and were directed to the creek. What we found was a beautiful oasis, a clear fresh water creek, a bar, and a little bit of parking space. We decided to stay the night! The place was all the more spectacular because there wasn’t any rubbish in sight! This is rare in Brazil.
We bathed, in the river (as did the townsfolk, and there were more private areas to access), and we filled up our water tanks and Blac’s radiator. It was also good to know we had a suitable camp (we couldn’t really stop overnight on a road barely wide enough for one vehicle), and could travel at a cooler time, in the morning).
Of course, we still hadn’t made it to Barreirinhas, but we were enjoying our adventure so much that it didn’t matter.
If you want to find the oasis (the town had a name, but I don’t know it), here are the coordinates:
S02•49.457′
W042•32.733′
(I can’t find a degree symbol on my device, so I hope this makes sense.)
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