That day, I had a blond moment. Sorry to all blond readers, this is a figure of speech.

Sick and tired of beautiful tropical beaches (as if!), we decided to take a trip to the forest nearby Paraty. The owner of the hostel had mentioned the Cachoeira Do Tobogã was a very beautiful place, so we jumped on a local bus and headed for it.

Now, as I said before, I do not speak Portuguese. Cachoeira sounded like cascada in Spanish, so I was pretty sure we were going to see waterfalls. I didn’t give much thought to the Tobogã part of the story.

The bus dropped us off by a little trail. We hiked a bit, crossed a suspension bridge and arrived near a large smooth rock—the waterfalls. Locals had gathered on the side and were sliding down the slippy rock and crashing below in a natural pool. Like on a… toboggan. Ah, ah! Tobogã… Toboggan… Got it.

It was raining pretty hard—the water level was very high, and the flow rate was quite impressive. Of course, I chickened out and did not slide (the official excuse was I did not take my swimsuit). Honestly, the idea of crashing down the rock below was not too appealing, but the local guys were having a blast.

Little did we know that another adventure was waiting for us in Paraty!

Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
ParaCachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil – Tobogao (31)
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Paraty – Tobogao (3)
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Paraty – Tobogao (15)
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Paraty – Tobogao (19)
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Paraty – Tobogao
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil
Cachoeira Do Tobogã, Paraty, Brazil

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10 Comments

  1. Shantanu March 7, 2009 at 2:11 pm

    Looks very interesting. Very cool! That had to be fun. 🙂

    Reply
  2. Sidney March 8, 2009 at 1:56 am

    Wow ! that looks spectacular and fun !
    Never saw something like that before !

    Reply
  3. Tulsa Gentleman March 8, 2009 at 3:43 am

    What you needed was an innertube, preferably a tractor tube. Then, Bombs Away! Anyway that’s what us good ol’ boys from Oklahoma would do. That looks like fun. Did Feng slide?

    Reply
  4. Scarlet March 8, 2009 at 9:24 am

    I would’ve been sliding down the rock and crashing into the pool with all the locals. The photos look like they were having a blast!!

    The suspension bridge on the other hand…hmm…I’d have to see how high it was (fear of heights). You look great up there!

    Reply
  5. Kirsten March 8, 2009 at 3:19 pm

    That place reminds me of a place in New Hampshire that I used to go to as a kid – The Basin. The water was ice cold, but the rocks were so smooth that it was like sliding down a waterslide!

    Reply
  6. Bluefish March 9, 2009 at 4:59 am

    Wow…that looks crazy! I don’t think I have enough guts to do that.

    Reply
  7. Linguist-in-Waiting March 9, 2009 at 7:32 am

    Wow. You guys should have sturdy swimwear, otherwise who knows when you slide down that thing you might have holes on your butts.

    Reply
  8. Zhu March 9, 2009 at 6:04 pm

    @Shantanu – The guys were having a blast!

    @Sidney – Me neither to be honest. I´m sure it would be seen as too risky in most countries.

    @Tulsa Gentleman – See, I woldn´t have mind with a tube. Just something underneath would have helped!

    @Scarlet – I´m used to suspension bridges, there are quite a few in Latn America. But the slide… nope, I was scared, really!

    @Kirsten – The water was quite cold here too actually. I took a dip in the pool below.

    @Bluefish – I didn´t! 😉

    @Linguist-in-Waiting – Actually, the rock was very smooth. A took the pictures standing on the side and I almost fell!

    Reply
  9. Max Coutinho March 10, 2009 at 11:43 am

    Oi Zhu!

    Que lindo!!! 😀

    I loved the photos! What a gorgeous place, girl! It was a great decision to go there!
    I am not much of a forest girl, however I fell in love with these pictures…I really did!

    How hot is there?

    So you thought about me, eh? 🙂

    I am off to your next post!

    Keep having fun!

    Reply
  10. Liz March 17, 2009 at 6:13 am

    That looks like so much fun! I would have tried, if I had my swimsuit of course 🙂 Gorgeous photos (in all the other posts as well)!

    Reply

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