The Precious is gone! Where's a fortuitous fish when you need one?

After Rio we flew to Salvador to stay with Kat and Bruno in Camaçari. Camaçari is different again from the other places we've been in Brazil - a sort of dirty little town which definitely doesn't expect tourists. Maybe it seemed like that because it was raining. We met their cats, and their house, and then went for dinner (a saga in itself involving getting very lost in traffic. Enough said. Things are very far apart in Brazil). Next day we were to get up early (well, try - very difficult to fit to any time scheme when there's 6 of you) and head to Chapada - an area 6 hours drive inland full of mountains, rivers and caves. It's an ex-diamond region, and the landscape again grew very different from what we'd seen in Brazil so far as we approached. We'd hired a car, and I think it's safe to say that Bruno drives like a maniac. Or perhaps that's just the roads. They're very bumpy and full of potholes so that he does these sudden stomach-lurching swerves at 100mph to avoid them. Then there are the trucks. They drive very slowly, and there are lots of them. So cars are obliged to do mental feats of overtaking, playing chicken with the things coming the other way. There don't appear to be any road rules that people obey at any rate.

We were staying in a pretty little town called Lençóis - which means laundry or sheets or linen or something. Bruno kicked us out of the car so he could find a place for us to stay without them ripping us off. He did well. After we had settled ourselves in, disaster struck. We didn't have time to do anything substantial, so we went on a little walk (for walk, read drive) to the river. The river bed would have been full during rainy season, but now just a small stream ran and landed in smooth pools at intervals as it travelled down the hill. The riverbed itself was made of a rainbow of smooth oval rocks embedded in overall hard rock surface. Deep round pools sunk in here and there, so that the water collected into dark bottomless baths. Some were empty too - just smooth round tubs. Anyway, it was beautiful and weird-looking.

Paul, Bruno and Kat jumped in one of the pools for a swim - it looked like a very cold brown watered jacuzzi. I think people normally wash their clothes in them. I turned round for a few minutes and when I turned back, worried expressions. Paul had lost his wedding ring in the murky depth. What was going to be a nice splashy afternoon in the sunshine turned into a panicked race against the setting sun full of diving in impossible conditions. There was no way they could have found the ring in there. The water was too murky to see in and too cold to stay under for any length of time. The Precious was lost! Bruno leapt from rock to rock like Gollum, before, like a hero, he scuttled off in just his speedos to find some goggles in town in the vain hope we still had a chance of finding the ring. The sun had just disappeared behind the hills when he reappeared with two lads in tow, one sporting some scuba goggles. They tried diving too, asking how much the ring was worth - hoping for a substantial reward or to sell it if they found it. For all we know they lied to us and did find it in the end. We never got it back. Paul was devastated, but coming to accept the loss by this point.

Now, by rights, what should happen next is that the ring will be swallowed by a fortuitous fish, which will be caught by a humble fisherman, sold at a faraway market, bought by the chef at the seafood restaurant in Camacari we're going to, and end up on Paul's plate complete with the ring inside its stomach. If this was a proper story. For now we've just got a Gollum interpretation. Some hapless swimmer will come across it and be transformed by the magical engraving inside, revealed by the fire they'll use to try and melt it down to sell ('Charlotte, 6/9/8') and cursed by the immortal lines: One ring to marry them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. We all tried our best to cheer Paul up and I think we succeeded. After all, it's of these little incidents a round the world trip is made (*For Scott*). His losing things record is getting pretty impressive!

That evening we had a go at some Brazilian street food - Acarajé, which consisted of a deep fried bean bun with chili oil (v powerful), bean paste, some salad, okra stew and shrimps. Really good. Followed it with some variously fruited caipirinhas and tapioca pancakes (surprisingly stretchy). The stalls were in a covered market which was strangely empty of most market-related things, except for a guy sitting at a table with his guinea-pig. He looked a little embarrassed as we all crowded round him making squeaking noises.

Next day we hired a guide - something very new to me, and he took us on a botanical trek past the accursed river bed and up a hill. We swam in pools under waterfalls, and in the afternoon we went for a swim in a part of the river where big pools had gathered, and the rock was worn smooth by the water. One part of it formed a giant water slide, which I found traumatic and painful, but everyone seemed to think was amazing. One guy was even running down it. I think he was showing off to Kat because she could speak Portuguese. Place was worth it after the trek in the heat. The day after we graciously employed the same guide (Bruno had beaten him down to a good price - not physically of course. Although we weren't there so we're only assuming that.) who took us away in the car to see further away things. More waterfalls (complete with monkeys who always gather where there is human food to be had), up a big rock with a view over other big rocks and desert-like landscape for miles around, and finally some caves where, at a particular time of day, chemicals in the water made it spakle blue

On the way home today Bruno decided to stop in a town which seemed to exist only to sell stolen goods, and risk our own car being nicked by having lunch there. People shouted stuff at us as we went past, and we knew it wasn't complimentary because I could pick out the word 'gringo'. At the cafe, on the other hand, the staff seemed delighted to see us and offered us loads of food for very little money. A feast of rice, spaghetti, salad, meat (BBQ of course) and a manioc flour thing with beans in was laid out before us. All very good. We weren't sure why they were so keen to be nice to us - it was the most friendly reception we've had yet in an eating establishment! We had Mexican last night and Bruno says the waiter was being very rude to us in Portuguese. No tip for him. Bruno is very good at refusing to pay the service charge :)

This evening we went to a big sprawling fruit market which was great, and Bruno let us buy some weird-looking fruits to try. There was probably more to say, but I've forgotten it now. [Insert local colour and witty observations here.]