My Waterfall Rappelling trip in Itirapina and Brotas, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Nothing went as planned on this trip, but in the end, I think it couldn’t be better.
We left my city on Friday night with only one purpose: to do rappel at the Saltão Waterfall, and to make as many of the trails as we could get in at the park. And it was with this plan in mind that we woke up Saturday morning and went to Parque do Saltão to make our first rappelling. But our joy did not last long, in fact, it lasted only the one way, because as soon as we stopped at the entrance of the park and asked about the rappelling, we were informed that the waterfalls were dry and it won’t be possible to do the rappel, we could do the trails, but the activity was out.

After a brief argument between us on what to do, we decided to go to Brotas and try the luck there, after all, the goal was still rappelling at a waterfall.
And we were able to, we arrange to go to a waterfall with an agency by 2:00 PM on the same day. At that time we get out of the agency, it was still morning, so we quickly re-enact our script and decided on the following, we would first give our attention to an establishment of honor: the cachaçaria (liquor store) of the city, I consider almost as an obligatory stop, after all, I’m a person with priorities. Then we will go to the Parque dos Saltos and then, join with a agency.

So, liquor shop.

After we went to Parque dos Saltos, that one is right in the middle of our path to the waterfalls, and the references we heard about it were great. Just at the beginning of the rout, there is a little waterfall for you to take a swim and spend some time before returning to the trek, after that there are a lot of falls. Not to mention that the photos taken in the place are very beautiful.
You doing the whole tour quite calmly will take maximum, maximum two hours.

Finished this trek, let’s go to the waterfall. So, we have a map, considering our majore talent to read it I’m assuming that we will arrive at the in…. two years! Naaaa, Indiana Jones would be proud of us. We arrived in time to the 7 falls Waterfalls. Even having 7 falls, out Rappelling just includes 3. And the preparation for sport it’s on a farm, where the instructors give you all the information and equip you, and after some simulations we are ready to go on the trail.

The first waterfall you encounter is one of a maximum of 3 meters, and it is more a little jump than a rappel, but just after that there is a 22 meter waterfall, and that is where the thing’s get cool, and no matter how much you are bound to the ropes and cables you will have a delicious cold in your belly when you approach the edge, but don’t worry, your belly will get back to normal temperature after the first 3 steps down, because you’ll need to pay attention to the complex movements at your hand, which includes, open and closed. I think we can do that, even with the amazing and invigorating waterfall bath.

But don’t hush, the best part is the last one. The last waterfall is 47 meter high. First we were bound by a steel cable and order to wait in the middle of the river while the instructors prepare evertying, And it was in this expectation that we had two dropouts, which by a mere coincidence of fate were the first in line, so it was those who had a more privileged vision of the height that had dropouts. Ignorance is a blessing, right ?! The people who did not have this contemplation were happy to go down at the abyss.

The first part they put a ladder to help you, but is just for a few steps, and then you will have to go managing your jumps with the rocks behind the water. The nice thing is while you lean back and forth, you can feel the weight of the waterfall beating on your helmet. A delight? Yeah, until you remember that you have to make a bigger jump because there is no rock behind the water. And you have to do that big jump and manage to land on a rock, Wolverine sort of thing.

But relax, as long as you relax, there is an instructor at the bottom who is also holding your rope, he will make sure that you survive and and safe. After that jump, he will pull you to the river.

I would like to highlight a part of this history, did you notice the wonderful, three times my size, red jacket? So it’s not optional, so if you think it’s funny, know that you’ll have to use it too if you do not want to die of cold.

Continuing, after being “down” you wait in a corner while the rest of the people come down. There you’ll have time enough to think if you also look like a mistreated duck while you where making your rappelling. And then when you are content to realize that everybody is as bad as you about the exercise, the last instructor come down and oh, little darlings, we were beautifully humiliated.

But wait, still not over, when the whole group came together we were tragically informed that the 3 + 22 + 47 = 72 meters we went down, would be compensated by a beautiful way back up. so now there are 72 meters of climbing trail , with you wet and hungry. Well, I’m kind always hungry, so we can consider this information irrelevant. But joking aside, it was a delight trail.

The next day we wake up to face a super rainy weather, and as rain and trail are two things that do not agree with each other, we decide to go to the reservoir of the Itirapina dam.
Arriving there we were informed that we ~~would be robbed~~ would have to pay R$ 15.00 per person to enter. You know, I am not against paying to enter some places because the money is always reverted for the preservation of the environment, but looking at the entrance we could see there was nothing “natural” in that place, it was full of shops, the floor was cemented and it clearly looked like a comercial place, not natural.

So we decided to come back and look for a new place to go. Our first idea was to stop and buy beer, as always. And talking to the staff guy at the store, we discovered a secret entrance, just at the road turn to the dam.

And that’s how we spent the rest of our day: drinking and hunting bugs with the binoculars. Everything we that we can do with real mastery.