As we were heading to Salvador for a meeting that Ana had to attend today, we decided to pass through the town of Canudos, the sight of the war of canudos also known as Antonio Conselheiro's rebellion. The original site has been flooded due to a dam project on the river and the new town is about 3-4 km away.

We took the bus from Juazeiro - which was an agonizing 6 1/2 hours (5 of which were on dirt roads averaging about 30kph) - arriving in Canudos at almost 10pm. We'd made a reservation at a pousada in the Rough guide, but no one seemed to know it or where it might be. When Ana asked about the address, one guy said that the praça she was asking about was in another town. Luckily there was a pousada in town and it was a short walk from the bus office. The new Canudos was probably a town of about 5 thousand people, but that's just a guess. When we got to the pousada, we lucked out because there was another set of travellers who were hiring a guide to drive them out to the state park and battlesite and they offered to let us in on their tour if we split the cost. The people who owned the pousada were really interesting too, they were telling stories that their parents and grandparents had told them about Antonio Conselheiro and Canudos. It was interesting for there to be a sort of living memory of the city and the ideals that Canudos held for the people who trekked from all over the Sertão to be part of the city. They even had a cannon ball from the siege.

The park itself is mostly the battle site. There is one area called the Vale do Morte (valley of death) where most of the massacre took place. The 4th expedition of about 9,000 troops finally broke Canudos, though at the loss of half the expedition. There are still trenches dug in the hilltops where the Conselherenses defended the city from the soldiers. One of the plants that grows in the area is called the Favela tree, its leaves are thorned to protect it from being eaten, and it grows to be about 10-15 feet in height. I'm not sure, but I think the word favela for the brazilian slums of displaced people comes from Canudos and the favela tree…