Cachoeira do Palmital

The girls and I were excited to hike to a nearby waterfall after Ted arrived. We had seen pictures of this beautiful little site tucked away in the jungle, but we felt safer hiking through the jungle with two adults, and we were glad in the end that we’d waited to experience it as a family.

The hike was five miles roundtrip, starting through the ‘condominium community’ of Porto Frade, then heading up a narrow, rutted red dirt road into the jungle. We stumbled upon the Piscina Natural (natural swimming pool) – the path wasn’t marked but luckily we found it by hearing the stream off of the main path. We channeled our inner Indiana Jones amidst the dense growth and boulders.

As we continued the hike, we kept our eyes out for wildlife – signs indicated that we might see macaws, kingfishers, and even jaguars… although we didn’t see any of those, we saw HUGE Brazilian army ant colonies.

By the time we reached the waterfall, the sun was getting intense and the girls and I were itching to jump in. The cool water was refreshing after the long uphill trek, and we enjoyed this isolated treasure immensely.