Escorrega falls
Slide into a pool.
Eduardo Miyake — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Eduardo Miyake — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Eduardo Miyake — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Eduardo Miyake — CC BY-SA 4.0
Visconde de Mauá is the name for three mountain villages, Mauá, Maringá and Maromba, and their valleys in the Mantiqueira range at about 1,200 metres, inside an environmental protection area shared by Resende, Itatiaia and Bocaina de Minas. About 6,000 people live there; tourism is the mainstay, with more than a hundred inns and dozens of restaurants, some specialising in trout and dishes of pinhão, the Brazilian pine nut. It takes its name from Irineu Evangelista de Sousa, Viscount of Mauá, who was granted the land in 1870; his son set up a colony of European immigrant families here in 1889, which did not last. Its waterfalls are the draw: the Cachoeira do Escorrega, 3 km from Maromba, where you slide down a smooth rock into a natural pool, free with parking of about R$25; and the Poção de Maromba on the way there. The road is paved to Maringá, then about 6 km of dirt road to Maromba. The nearby national park sector opens daily 6:00-18:00.
Slide into a pool.
End of the dirt road.
Mountain cooking.
Villages of Mauá, Maringá and Maromba, Mantiqueira Mountains, Rio de Janeiro state
Take the paved road from Mauá to Maringá, then about 6 km of dirt road to Maromba and 3 km more to the falls; entry is free, parking about R$25.