Smart Fit subscribers in São Paulo know: it’s perfectly normal to enter and exit the gym without looking at anyone’s face.

For those who come from a small town, I understand that at first, it can be liberating not to share equipment with the son-of-the-bakery-owner-who-betrayed-your-cousin, but after about 2 years it becomes embarrassing not to have anyone to gossip with between repetitions.

On the other hand, we know who the smart fitters from our social networks are.

They are from other units, but they are one of us, even more one of us than those who actually sweat it out on the elliptical next to us, religiously at 17:45 in front of the TV showing “Life is rad” on the off channel.

In the capital, where there is a higher concentration of people per square meter, it seems to require more willingness to interact with those who are in the same space-time as us.

The other day I watched the Argentine film “The Delinquents”, there’s a scene where the people are at a waterfall, a guy passes by them and the crowd starts a conversation. They watch him pass and exchange words. They talk to a stranger, just because he is in the same place.

It didn’t occur to anyone that it would be kind of strange to start a conversation out of the blue. They had something in common: the willingness to go there and enjoy that waterfall, which is a coincidence (!), it’s natural to talk to someone who has something in common. Why can’t it be like this at Smart Fit?

At first, I thought it was a 90s thing – the time when the film is set – there were no cell phones, or AirPods, the way was to be present. But we know that this is a myth:

I think the problem is the big city itself, a different rhythm.

The urbe is f*cked, you see someone with a cool outfit and you don’t stop to talk to the person, but you go on tiktok to search for the trend “Street Style NYC”, check the brands and trends.

In the movie, for example, they exchange information about the bus schedule, which is normal here in the interior of Bahia where I am, but in São Paulo it was easier to check on the cell phone.

Now I was reminded that it’s not a movie thing, but completely common to put into practice this ancestral communication technique: say anything to meet someone, especially if they have things in common with you like frequenting the same places.

There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s not rude and much less inconvenient, I’m here mourning all the friends I didn’t make at Smart Fit. Or not.

Logbook

Finally, let me tell you what I did in this first month of travel.

First, I drove from Sampa to here, me, Gabi, Lua, and Jupiter – Gabi’s two dogs. We made two stops, Montes Claros in Minas Gerais, nothing special, and Candiba, the highlight, we stayed in an incredible Airbnb:

We made a classic “southeasterner” mistake when the host offered to prepare dinner. She asked what we wanted, and we said that any “mineirinha” food would be great – turns out Candiba is already in Bahia, lol.

We should have realized this from the road. In Minas, the reputation matches the reality, the roads are terrible, full of potholes, and poorly signposted…

Once you cross the border into Bahia, the asphalt is good, it’s amazing. But here in the Vale do Capão, where I am in the Chapada, it’s all dirt roads. The EcoSport does the job, but it seems that the Uninho is the local preference, the most appropriate car for the situation.

Our current airbnb is perfect, absolutely beautiful, we even closed for another month right in the alice’s cat scheme: for those who don’t know where they are going, any place will do.

The three main trails we went to here in the Caeté-Açu region were:

• Smoke Waterfall (Cachoeira da Fumaça)
• Fairy and Gnome Waterfall (Cachoeira Fadas e Doendes)
• Clear Waters Trail (Águas Claras)

We did each twice, because now at the end of the month we had visitors – my brother, a great friend of mine, and a friend of Gabi’s – and we wanted to show them the ones we liked the most.

Some sections of difficult trails, group travel logistics, people who don’t know each other, me and Gabi also getting to know each other again after years… There were some tensions, but we all came out unscathed, the greatness of nature is too striking, the biggest memory of all. It was great to be away from home, but to have people around who give me the feeling of home.

Now a review of the waterfalls:

Cachoeira da Fumaça

Easy level – 2 and a half hours of trail – Strava flat part – Strava descent

A hell of a climb. At least an hour of intense climbing and then an open plain. There’s no cool place to swim, just some points of the river, but it’s after such an intense climb, any water there is great.

At the top we see the waterfall fall, they say it’s the second largest in Brazil and it’s very worth going even when it’s dry, because, if you’re brave, you can walk where the water flows and enjoy a completely different view:

But the real highlight is when it’s full:

Cachoeira Fadas e Doendes

Medium/difficult level – 2 and a half hours of trail – Strava go – Strava return

Closed trail, without that big sun in the face. On the way we pass by the Angelica and Purification waterfalls, which are the most visited. Fairy and Gnome is a bit more complicated to get to, but it’s a very cute pool.

On the way back, instead of taking the same path, we climbed up to Gerais, which is a part of the Paty trail – until there, there are a lot of stone jumps along the river, some pools to swim, a natural stone slide and the view is very cool.

Águas Claras

Easy level – 2 and a half hours of trail – Strava

My favorite so far, the trail has a beautiful view and is generally flat. The so-called “clear waters” are natural pools, it looks like a little magic garden.

The other day Gabi and I camped there for two days with the dogs and it was really nice, we want to do it again to go up and down the hill anytime.

---

All these that I mentioned have variations and other sub-trails along the way. In addition to them, we did other smaller ones in the region, also others more distant from caeté-açu/capão, but for today’s newsletter you already got a taste of what it’s like around here 🙂

Especially since I love touring big cities, seeing tall buildings… I’m amazed at the immensity of the natural paradise, it’s been a while since I allowed myself that.

In the delinquents movie, it shows some very cool takes that also portray this smallness of the human being in contrast to the city and nature, very good 10/10, I really recommend it.

Cool Stuff

• This wonderful extension of stremio has all kinds of movies – including those from MUBI and Los Delinquentes 😉

• I’m reading the book “The Art of Producing Effect Without Cause” by Lourenço Mutarelli – the first one I’ve picked up by him, I’m loving the writing.
• In a random conversation with my friend here I remembered this wonderful performance of “Aline!” at the Paramore show – I love the energy of this video. https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/RCu-BaKpjmg?rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0

And that’s all for today!

Thank you for reading and see you later 🙂