Parque National de Itatiaia

After Rio, we headed toward Sao Paulo, but the only thing in between the two cities is Brazil's first National Park in Itatiaia. The park actually ended up being one our our favorite stops during the trip. At times, it felt like we had the whole park to ourselves.

We only had three hours at the park, but we maximized our time by hiring a cabby to take us to the top waterfall in the park. Over three hours, we walked down the mountain and met our cabby at the park museum at the bottom.

We found a 1/2 km side trail that took us to a secluded waterfall. We swam in the brisk water at the base of the main fall, and did cannonballs into the natural pool.

We could have spent a full day at the park, maybe two, but we didn't have the time. The park closed at 5pm and the next day we needed to be in Sao Paulo.