During the dry season, it’s not hard to see how Brazil’s Lençóis Maranhenses National Park got its snoozy name. Lençóis maranhenses is Portuguese for “bedsheets of Maranhão,” referring to a state in the northeast of the country and its endlessly undulating, whipped cream-white landscape—the largest field of sand dunes in South America. Without a guide, one can get lost easily in the vast territory of drifts that can reach over 65 feet in height. At first glance, the miles of sand can make Lençóis Maranhenses look like a typical parched…
