18-Oct-2003 -- We got some information and maps from our friend Sadahaki Uyeno, who knows the region very well, and left Sao Jose dos Campos by the Alto da Ponte district early in the morning, following the route to Bonsucesso.

From Bonsucesso, a small village close to the Jaguari dam, we went toward Guirra Farm, the place where we first thought the confluence point was located. Several times along the way, we had the company of yellow woodpeeckers flying around the car.

When we arrived, we realized that the point was actually inside Lavras Farm, owned by the Suzano Group. They grow eucalyptus trees in this huge farm, but there is also some few remaining portions of the Atlantic rain forest. The point is located 250 meters from the internal maintenance road, up to the top of a hill. There is a fountain at the point where we left the farm internal road downhill and opened a trail, climbing in a path parallel to the small creek that feeds the fountain. We started from the hill's North face.

On this spot, we saw a specimen of a brazilian type of squirrel (caxinguele). Unfortunately, it went away too fast for us to take pictures. Just in the confluence point neighborhood, the woods are more dense and the terrain is steeper.

About 220 meters from the point, we lost the GPS signal from the satelites, probably because of trees and rocks all over. Since it did not come back, we made the remaining part of the navigation by estimation. It was about 09:20, we took the additional four pictures and we went back to Sao Jose through Sao Francisco Xavier, a nice mountain resort.

I was a little disapointed because we could not have the satelite signal exactly on the confluence point then I went back next day (19-Oct) and tried to approach the hill by its East side, in order to stay in higher grounds and keep the satelite signal up. Nevertheless, the hill is still steeper on this side and I did not have the right equipment to climb it up to the top. Probably the best way is to start the climb from the hill's South side, even though it is farther from the road.