\n<\/em><\/p>\n
The second is the fishing village of Raposa<\/strong>, which is known for its access to wandering rivers, islands, and eventually the Atlantic Ocean.\u00a0 Raposa<\/strong> is also known for its local artisans who are specialized in making nets and in a specialized fabric form known as \u201crenda de bilro<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 Renda<\/strong> is a form of of knitting or crocheting that is done with threads stretched over a large stuffed ball that is like a round pillow.\u00a0 Each string is connected to a stick with a ball at the end that artisans cross over again and again to form lace and fabric. The design is formed around pins stuck into the ball that are guides for the yarn. \u00a0<\/p>\n Len\u00e7ois<\/strong><\/p>\n The north coast of the Brazilian state of Maranh\u00e3o has a huge expanse of dunes that reach along the Atlantic for miles.\u00a0 During the rainy season (roughly December to May) fresh water fills small lakes and lagoons along the dunes.\u00a0 The water gives the park its name of Len\u00e7ois, which means \u201csheets,\u201d since the lakes look like sheets spread out across the desert landscape.<\/p>\n The first photo set is of the Len\u00e7\u00f3is Ecological Park (also called Len\u00e7\u00f3is Maranhenses) is <\/em>a protected national park that is reached from the small town of Barreirinhas<\/em>.\u00a0 The town itself lies on the Rio Pregui\u00e7a<\/em> the \u201clazy river.\u201d<\/p>\n The river winds lazily through the north Maranh\u00e3o landscape toward the Atlantic Ocean.\u00a0 Along the way it forms the barrier (the root of the name Barreirinhas<\/em>) which is a huge sand dune at the edge of town.\u00a0 The river moves slowly toward the ocean, becoming more brackish along the way.\u00a0 It is home to and vast stretches of mangrove trees that drop long air roots into the brackish water.\u00a0\u00a0 As the water become more salty near the ocean, the palm trees and mangroves disappear in favor of a forested area \u2014 which itself gives way to the dunes and the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Len\u00e7\u00f3is<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Raposa<\/strong><\/p>\n The fishing village of Raposa has developed a route for visitors.\u00a0 It includes little boats that take you among the wandering harbor and the mangroves to the fishing island of Curupuru.\u00a0 There is a street of renda<\/em> and net makers as well.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This post describes two areas in the north of Maranh\u00e3o \u2014 the first is the vast stretch of dunes of the Len\u00e7\u00f3is Ecological Park.\u00a0 The Len\u00e7ois Park encompasses just under 600 square miles.\u00a0 The 2005 Brazilian film House of Sand was filmed in the park. The second is the fishing village of Raposa, which is … Continue reading North Maranh\u00e3o Dunes: Len\u00e7ois (Barreirinhas) and Raposa (April 2016)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-images-of-sao-luis-and-maranhao"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2283"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2831,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283\/revisions\/2831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/em><\/p>\n![\"IMG_6313\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/IMG_6313.jpg\")
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