The Road From Rio

Hip beaches, red-rock canyons, thumping street parties and caipirinhas galore Nicola Moyne heads to north-eastern Brazil for a thrill-filled adventure.

- Nicola Moyne

I'm sitting at the top of a steep, rippling rock face, trying to slowly manoeuvre myself into a torrent of water, Swept Away playing on loop in my head. It’s all in the launch, apparently: get it right, and I’ll glide into the vast pool below with Tom Daley-esque grace; put a foot wrong and I’ll have a bruised backside and, worse, injured pride.

The Ribeirão do Meio natural rockslide is a popular weekend haunt near Lençóis, packed with ever-stylish locals – and as the only bikini-clad English girl in sight, my tentative climb to its top hasn’t gone unnoticed. Accompanying me is a park guide, Tiago de Jesus, who is an all-action Adonis. Forget Myleene Klass, this guy knows how to work a waterfall. And although I’m pretty sure I’m going to lose my bikini top mid-plunge, his enthusiasm for the landscape is infectious. ‘Tis is a gift from Mother Nature,’ he raves, before giving himself a wedgie and plummeting into the aqua rapids. And he’s right. Bikini (and backside) intact, I emerge from the drop exhilarated, refreshed and ready to resume our three-hour trek.