Piauí in Brazil

But for a sliver of coast Piauí is dry sertão, pocked with jagged hills cut by canyons and dotted with weather-worn ancient mounds of rock. Few tourists stop here, but those that do seldom regret it. Torrid Teresina is a friendly and well-planned capital where foreigners are a curiosity, Parnaíba is a pretty colonial river port, and the dry interior is broken by a number of stunning and intriguing state and national parks. These include the enigmatic Serra da Capivara, Sete Cidades and the almost inaccessible Serra dos Confusões, beehive mounds sticking up out of the desert whose canyon walls are daubed with some of the oldest rock art in the Americas. And while Piauí's coast is tiny it includes the magnificent Delta do Parnaíba: one of the largest river deltas in the world, replete with mangrove swamps and tiny islands fringed with golden beaches and home to traditional communities who seldom see tourists. After neighbouring Maranhão, Piauí is the poorest state in Brazil. Its population is about 2.7 million, but many leave to seek work elsewhere. The economy is almost completely dependent upon agriculture and livestock, both of which in turn depend on how much rain, if any, falls.