Sao Bento Waterfall By Chapada dos Veadeiros and Traveling Back to Brasilia

We started earlier this morning, packed up our things, and checked out of the airbnb. We went to the Sao Bento waterfall, which had a total of three waterfalls there, but with different costs. Almecegas 1 and 2 cost 40 reais to enter and Sao Bento was 15 reais, but they all started from the same Pousada area. We started the 300 meter journey to the waterfall and passed by a pretty lake. It was a really short walk there, and we could hear the beginning of the waterfall quickly.
There was a calmer part of the water above the waterfall with a ladder to enter the water, but the water was dark and didn’t look appealing. We continued on and passed by the top of the waterfall and got a view looking down it. Then, we arrived at the bottom of the waterfall, which had steps to enter the open water. It was below the bigger waterfall, but also right next to a smaller stream of ripples and continuing water source.
It took a lot of bravery for me to overcome my fear of that dark water, and not knowing what animals and things might be in there, but I saw the mere 15 feet across one spot of the water to a rock formation that had a great view of the waterfall and wooden boards laid out. Lara and I laid out on the boards and admired the waterfall for an hour. Other people eventually arrived and they were cliff jumping by the waterfall and swimming up to the waterfall, but that was definitely not in my cards for the day.
We started the car ride back to Brasilia, and along the way we stopped for coffee for Lara. The Lanchonete we stopped at was quaint, and the two men working there asked if I wanted anything. I said no thank you, and they prompted on by asking- coffee, salgado, cachaca? I laughed and said it was a bit early for alcohol. We went to pay and they had a sign that said- free coffee if you said good morning and thank you, 50 cents for saying thank you, and one real for just asking for coffee. It was a cute surprise.
When we got closer to Brasilia it got more stressful to drive and navigate through the confusing highways, which are unmarked. For example, I live in Aguas Claras, Brasilia- and the highway divided into two portions. One went to São Paulo and Goiânia, the other went to Brasilia…. And the google maps didn’t say which to take, and only to continue straight- so we veered towards Brasilia, but evidently that was the wrong direction. Brasilia sure does love their Roundabouts, radars, and speed bumps. We made it home safely, cleaned off the car, Lara packed, and she made it to the airport.