A Trip to Taquaruçu

I don’t know if I mentioned this but the state of Tocantins has a lot of water. Throughout the state you can find several waterfalls and many large rivers. Close to Palmas is a town called Taquaruçu and there are about 80 identified waterfalls in and nearby the town. Many times people who live in Palmas usually make a day trip to Taquaruçu because it is only 1 hour away by car. When I heard at about this town, off course I wanted to go, just to cool off from the Palmas heat.

When I first met room-mates, they also told me about the town and said they would take me there because now they knew how to get there on their own. The only time we could possibly go was on a Sunday because we all worked during the week. The first weekend came and went, on the second weekend the girl with the car went home to Brasilia. The third weekend, we they had a baby shower. Seeing that my time in Palmas was coming to an end, I decided to visit the town on my own.

After learning a little more Taquaraçu and consulting my guide book, I planned to spend the weekend at a resort that my guide book had recommended. All room-mates were going traveling on one particular weekend, so since I would be by myself, I figured it would be better to spend the weekend in a cooler and more relaxing place. After calling the place and find out about the accommodations, I decided to just do a day trip, on the Sunday.

When I told my room-mates about my plan they were not too happy about me deciding to go on my own. They tried to talk me out of going, saying that it would not be safe and I needed to go with someone. It did not work off course! Palmas is one of the safest cities in Brazil plus I was going to a resort for the day not just some roadside river and waterfall. I did not have any fear for my safety. I did however have one preoccupation. How was I going to get to the resort from the town? My guide mentioned there was no local transportation and the resort was 17.9 Km from the town center where the bus would most likely leave me. Even though I was worried about this situation, I still planned to go. I reasoned in head that there must be moto-taxis because many people visited this resort for the waterfalls and many of them did not have cars. I decided to worry about that situation when I got to Taquaraçu.

Sunday morning I got up early and ventured out. I went to the nearest bus stop and waited for a bus to come. I wasn’t quite sure when the bus would come but I had more or less an idea of the time.I think I waited only 15 minutes for the bus. I took the bus to the bus station and followed all the directions. I was given from the people I had asked. In total I took three buses and the whole trip was a total of 2 hours just to get to the town of Taquaraçu.

As the bus entered the town, I saw signs for the resort and the bus seemed to follow the sign. Then when the bus seemed to go in the opposite direction of the signs for the resort, I descended and walked towards the last sign I had seen pointed to the resort. When I got to the sign, it said the resort was 9km away. I was not prepared to walk 9km to and 9km back. I saw a lady passing by and I asked here about moto-taxis. She told me to go the town center and ask people there. I walked back to the town center and as I was talking there, I noticed four young people who had taken the same 3 buses with me from Palmas walking in the direction of the resort, dressed for swimming. Anyways I continued to walk back to the city to get more information. I found out there was no moto-taxis and there was no way to get up to the resort unless I walked or hitchhiked.

I decided to walk but not to the resort. I figured that there might be some waterfalls or river on the way. I couldn’t have come all the way and not at least see a waterfall. I walked for about a ½ hour and could hear rushing water in the distance but I could see where it was coming from. I was getting really discouraged and upset because it looked like I was really going on a wild goose expedition. I decided to just walk back to the town and call it a day.

As I was walking for about ten minutes back towards the town when I saw two guys dressed like they were going swimming. I asked them whether they were going to the waterfalls. They said they were and asked if I was coming from the waterfalls I told them no and said that I was returning to Palmas because I couldn’t find them. They then invited me to join them as they walked to the waterfalls because they knew more or less how to get there. I thought, “Well what do I have to lose?” So, I decided to go with them.

After walking for about 5 minutes, a truck with a flatbed drove by and one of the guys held out his right hand and thumb and the truck stopped. It had probably four/five guys and they asked us where we were going. We told them to the waterfalls. They said it was up the road and that they would take us. We jumped into the truck around 5 minutes later we got to the waterfalls.

These waterfalls were not the ones I had originally set out for that day but I think the way things turned out better. I spent less money and I had company to visit the waterfalls. Also the waterfalls I visited were the tallest in the area. To actually get to the waterfalls we had to hike 1500 meters almost a mile to get to the first of the two waterfalls. The walk was more of a hike through a forest but it was totally worth it. The waterfalls were beautiful. It was a hot day and the water was just cool and nice. I was able to cool off after that hike.

As a budding outdoor fanatic, I was in heaven with all the beauty. The waterfalls seemed to be hidden in the forest, because it was surrounded by many trees and rocks. The second waterfall called Cachoriera Roncadiera or snoring waterfall was even more beautiful than the first. It was the taller of the two and had a bigger pool at the bottom of the falls for swimming. From the bottom of the waterfall it seemed like I was in a hole in the ground because there were rocks on both sides of the waterfalls.

Another awesome thing about the visit was the fact that the waterfalls were not crowded. We went before the lunch time hours so it was only a few people there. Everybody had enough space to enjoy the water. When we were hiking back to the main road, more people started to come so we definitely missed the Sunday crowd.

Overall it was an awesome day. It didn’t go at all as I had planned it but it was much better. I spent less money, I was able to enjoy nature and I met two awesome Brazilians. These guys were so nice. They were cousins from another area of Tocantins who had recently moved to Palmas for school. Even though they were younger than me, they looked out for me during the entire trip. At one of waterfalls, I lost one of my flip flop in the current and was about to chase after it. One of the guys refused to let me go he said he would and he found it for me. I guess that’s the Latin machismo. In this situation Viva Machismo!

Thanks for reading and stayed tuned for more of my adventures.