Day 6 saw us spend time more locally in the town we were staying in São Bras. Our cousin, Norberto had taken us to a nearby lake called Lagoa Sao Bras. The lanscape is unusal, in that you can tell the hand of man intervened here, but attempted to “revert” the landscape back to a natural lanscape. The lake itself have a dreamy quality to it, and there was no sign of rivers, streams, or other flows of water that maintained the waters. What really caught my eye was the forest nearby. It was very green, lush, and there was a lot of moss and lichen growing on the tree trunks.
The locals would use this location as a quick and cheap “getaway”. Not much in the way of facilities, but then, that may be the point. If there is no presence by any park officials, then, there would be no need to collect extra fees to pay for a human presence. Such a setup requires the goodwill of everyone visiting, and so far, it seems to be working.
Later that day, another cousin, José Francisco, tooks us on a fun and windy ride up the peak immediately overlooking Sāo Bras – Monte Escuro (Dark Mountain). This peak certainly earns its name, particularly during overcast skies – the peak looks ominius, and looking into some of the forestry while going up the side of the peak was dark – almost picth black at points.
Once at the top, the area was scrub, and you can see there was a human presence where a pit was being dug – mostly for earth to fulfill demand in construction projects. This earth removal was stopped, and the decision made to preserve Monte Escuro. The area is being allowed to repopulate itself with the existing scub, and there is a particular white most that only grows in the higher latitute has been protected by law. Its nice to see that folks and government are caring about the place where they live, and are imposing limits to development. to what is arguably the best asset the Azores has – its natual beauty.
