Sousa

We ask people around here how we can get to the "Val dos Dinosaurrus". You do not have to ask the taxi driver, because he says that it is too far so I try some other people but I get the same reaction; a smile! Usually that means that it is far away.

We start to walk – it’s a cloudy day and we’ve got nothing else to do - we first walk to the center because I know it has to be on the other side of the city and then we see a sign. On the other side of the citycenter we arrive at a two-lane road and of course there is no pedestrian or cycle path here, so we are at the mercy of the whimpering drivers and trucks.

The number of cars is getting less and I hope we are heading in the right direction despite the sign we saw before. There are some cows in the meadow and in the distance a hill and some houses but nothing spectacular. After two hours of walking, finally a sign where we end up at an empty ticket box and a large empty parking lot. When we get closer we still see two cars standing and the building has to be like a museum. I think it’s open anyway. 

Inside, a tall man with a bunch of gray hair stands under a cap and an even larger and longer beard behind a somewhat shabby counter. He has long pants and a long-sleeved shirt - something I will only understand later. The man starts a whole story in Portuguese and I wonder what will happen next. First I ask if there is something to drink and enjoy a delicious cold coconut drink I really needed after our long and hot walk.

After that, it is apparently the intention that we walk behind the man outside. Through a small gravel path we walk between the trees a little water and now I also see that the man has a big hump (tumor) on his back and in his neck. The moment I see it I feel the mosquitoes attacking my legs in my shorts - and then the rest. There are millions and I immediately pack my bottle and spray spray everywhere on my whole body. We walk further along a river and via a large wooden platform we see footsteps in the paved mud between the platform and the river. 

My guide climbs over the gate to the footprints and asks me to do the same. Now I see that it is a whole row of large footprints; coming from the land to the water, through the water and there are still dozens of them in the water. Totally overwhelmed, I see that the man with his bare hands empties the footprints that have been for millions of years with his hands. He cleans the sides, pulls out some dry leaves and points to the other prints ahead. There seem to be 50 here and they are actually much smaller than I expected. What did I expect? That you might fit in?

I put my foot next to it and take a picture - maybe my foot is 5x smaller I guess. And you clearly see that the beast has had two toes. When we have seen all the good examples, we walk back to the museum and try to read some information in Portuguese of the signs hanging and standing there. It is much more interesting to see the species that have lived here - I do not really know much about these gigantic animals and I should go deeper into that.

We walk back to the road and do not really feel like walking back again to the centre of town; I use my thumb at the first car that passes and it stops immediately. Two very young boys are in the front seat and they are delighted that we have come all the way from Europe to see their dinosaur-footprints.

Even strangely they find it that we have walked all the way. We are dropped in the centre of Sousa and the boys wave goodbye. On a terrace in the center there is an outside grill on the street and I can smell the delicious grilled meat from afar. A man walks here as soon as the meat is finished on a skewer along the tables and then you can decide for yourself if you want meat and how much. I think I'm the only one who first bought fresh bread and put the meat on the bread and add some mayonaise; it’s delicious. 

All people around us really want only one thing; contact! They smile, wave, blink their eyes and try to communicate with us. After we have drunk two beers and get a "guarana" from the neighbor even more (free) beer is offered. We drink it quickly, order what the neighbors drink in return and wave goodbye now that it is still possible. We thought about the idea of hanging up our hammock at the busstation somewhere to relax but that will look a bit odd. After a while, we become crazy about waiting; it seems to take ages before the night bus arrives.

At one point there are two donkeys walking around the bus station and the village nutcake. We are too tired to pay attention. And yes, finally – our bus arrives. In 15 minutes we are on our way to Recife, the “Dutch” city of Brazil.