Parrot's Beak

Hi everyone!

Last night I slept from 9.30pm to 1.30am. Then we both got up and groggily got ready for our sunrise hike!

Our guide picked us up at the hotel. It was me, Maria, Ann, two Spanish girls and one Argentinian guy. We set off and got to the practice part. Our guide, Martin, had told us it was an 'intense' hike so I was feeling pretty nervous. After the practice the two Spanish girls decided not to continue! 

So the four of us and Martin set off into the jungle. It was dark, hot, humid and kind of creepy! Never did I ever think I would be trekking through dense Brazilian jungle in the middle of the night, that's for sure! But again it was a case of don't think and just do. I tried not to think about all the snakes, spiders and got knows what else that was watching us from the jungle! 

We saw an armadillo, a frog and lots of spiders (me pretending they didn't exist didn't work!) along the way. It was steep and on par with day two of the Inca Trail, but this time I could breathe properly due to no altitude! The path was definitely off the beaten track though so it was harder to trek. 

It's amazing how much you can achieve though once you stop telling yourself you can't do something. I just kept saying to myself if I could climb a mountain 4000+m above sea level, then 982m above sea level was a piece of cake. But it really was hard and we sweated and struggled the whole way up! Ann had to stop at 60% of the way because she was finding it too hard. 

So then there were three. Me, Maria and Argentinian guy! We powered the rest of the way up and finally reached the peak - Parrot's Beak at 982m above sea level. The highest point on Ilha Grande! From here we could see the whole island as well as Rio in the distance. We were surrounded by beautiful hills, coastline and ocean, as well as stunning colours shining through due to the sunrise. We were so lucky because Martin told us the previous day it had rained and was cloudy! The photos don't really do the sunrise justice but I tried my best. It was the best sunrise I've ever seen and the best one I think I will ever see! Worth every minute of sleep lost and every minute of struggle up that hill! In the last few photos it's the peak in the distance to the right hand side. 

Then we started our descent. It was slippery and hard on your knees but we did ok. Picked Ann up and the way down was a lot faster! 

We got back to town and all the power was out, but luckily our hotel and some of the shops have backup generators. Maria had a nap and I went out with Molly to do some shopping. The day we arrived it was busy and bustling, but today it was a ghost town! Lots of shops were closed due to no power. Spending the rest of the afternoon chilling out and relaxing, packing (I did my last South American washing, should be ok until Saturday now!) and later we are going out for a group dinner. 

Tomorrow we head to Rio de Janeiro, I am so excited! It's one of those cities I've always wanted to go to and I can't wait to explore it. I'm going to try and post this today so if you're reading this it worked! Due to power outages the wifi keeps cutting in and out. 

Love to all

Claire

Xoxox