3 days trek with Extreme EcoAdventure (Interview)

*Padi: Yeah, we did it! Welcome back to civilization! How does it feel, this first icy beer, after three days in nomansland?
-Anh-Dao: Cool! But I especially appreciate the comfortable chair and the relaxing background-music.

*What is the first deep impression about this trek, that comes up to your mind - can you visualize it?
-I feel the vibrations in my whole body: my legs will remember that hard crossing of a coca-cola coloured, cold river with its strong currents and the slippery stones and mud on the ground. My back will remember sleeping on the hard rock of the natural caverns. My stomach will miss the energetic tapioca-porridge in the early mornings. My nose will identify all kind of smoke in the future. And my eyes will never forget the glowing horizon over the lower plains, and the bird's sensation of hanging over a deep gorge with a bombastic waterfall.


*What other stunning encounters did you experience?
-There are no words to fully describe the experience of pure nature. But the sight of wild orchids is hardly as lasting like my shock in Pipa, when I saw that huge Iguana-Lizard in slow-motion unwillingly slide off the roof of our veranda and drop ten meters.

*Which were the adventurous elements during this trek? Anything extreme about them? Did you expect more?
-You have to be ready for all kinds of surprises. Trekking in general is physical, but I did not expect it to be so mentally demanding: If the goal of the day is not to wet the sneakers, you have to find another way through the wetlands than just follow your guide (who of course has high leather shoes). The most extreme cooling sensation was when I took off my shoes to walk in an irrigation channel still leading water to some ancient mines. I would have loved to do some climbing or abseiling on a virgine rock. Instead, we carried a tent we never used. Ok, we did get some unsecured climbing on wet rocks for reaching a powerfull waterfall called Cachoeirao. The untouched pureness of the nature itself was an extreme experience to me. And what I loved, was to see that the label "extreme" does not forcedly correspond with "expensive": Since we had to carry all our supplies ourselves, and there were no facilities to pay during the trek, our expenses were kept to a minimum - a nice experience of simplicity.

*Are you ok with having missed out staying longer in Capao Valley, or doing the apparently wonderful trek in Vale do Pati?
-The unexpected magic lightshow of thousands of lightning bugs in the energetic Capao Valley rivalized of course with the following two nights of constant moskito attacks in the caves during our trek. If we had visited Vale do Pati, I guess the moskito-situation wouldn't be better - I believe that the native people, that would have hosted us there, don't use any comercial moskito-repellents.
*We were supposed to do an ecologic trek. What was new to you, and what would you improve?
-We were told not leave waste and not to pollute the source water. Quite common sense for us with our alpinistic experience. Moreover, we took our water from the sources, and our food mainly originated from the organic producers in capao valley. In order to minimize our footprint even more, we should consider the "grey energy", which is our effort to get to the place (use egologic transportation) and the green attitude for all sorts of products brought on site (choose eco-friendly, resource-saving products).

*Do you believe such kind of Eco-Tourism could be sustainable?
-Absolutely. This trek forces visitors (most of them Brazilians) to keep their consumption to a minimum, and they are given the chance to learn to enjoy it. On the other hand, it inevitably brings consciousness about waste and pollution, e.g. that our drinking water directly depends on the care of other trekkers. Furthermore, impact on the park could be kept to a minimum, if the number of visitors does not exceed certain limits, and the trails are not further developed (better to just maintain the old trails of the miners). Many parks in Brazil offer educational pamphlets, but it takes a lot more to put into practice, first during such holidays, and then also as a driving attitude in every day's rhythm!

*A few words about the teamspirit, and about our guides?
-Our guides were champs. They knew the best places for a good swim, for a shady lunchbreak, for a fantastic lookout. They prepared fantastic vegetarian meals. We believe that in order to maintain some kind of extreme attitude, they constantly pushed their own limits of weed consumption (carrying most of our food supplies was not hard enough). We trekking tourist tried to rival with organic Cachaça but we soon discovered we had not brought enough along. Anyway, on the first day, after dozens of smoking breaks, we managed to reach our nightcamp only after nightfall. Everybody was wonderful and all this ecologic stuff had a pretty good effect.

*Last question - Would you like another beer, or would you prefer to go back to nature right now?
-Let's grab a few more beers (estupidamente geladas) and then go back to nature together...

Many thanks to our dear backpacker friends from Holland, Hanneke and Merjin, who initially discovered the agency and asked us to join in with them for this wonderful trek with the guide Marcos.

Links:
Marcos' Agency: Extreme EcoAdventure
Hanneke's and Merjin's Blog