On our second to last night in Paraty we hiked, trekked, walked and ran over 30 km for around 8 hours. We got home with a significant number of minor injuries all adding up to complete exhaustion by the time we got back to the hostel around 9pm. We started off the day like any other, stuffing ourselves full of free breakfast to the point of nausea. Then we head out to the tourist center to gather information on a few different attractions we were interested in. The woman behind the counter told us in Portugese what we understood to mean "you cannot walk that distance, you must take the bus". We ignored the advice and set out to work off our gluttonous breakfast. We hiked for what seemed like ever down a mainly straight road that curved and hilled every once in a while. The sun was unforgiving and our two bottles of water went very fast. With no water and little to no sunscreen left we continued on. Tyson creatively used his towel to cover his head and shoulders looking quite middle eastern. It was a gorgeous walk, we saw unique flowers and greenery, new insects, snakes, an enormouns millipede (pictured on facebook) and several of the most beautiful water falls on earth. We managed to find some water for sale along the way and we emptied the sunscreen with no sense of rationing for later. The first waterfall was quite big and the water streamed along very large rocks. Tyson said that he had seen a picture of people sliding down these rocks keeping with the direction of the water. I said that the only way I would be ok with him doing this, is if at least five other people came by and did it first. Sure enough, a tour group came by and the guide invited us to join in their activities, one of which was sliding down these rocks. Tyson waited until five people had gone and he followed sliding down several large rocks into a pool of water. I even tried it and it was quite the thrill even though it took a bit of coaxing and negotiating to get me to do it. Of course a few minutes later I was reminded of my age and ballsessness when two young kids slid down the rocks standing up on their feet with a running start. They are crazy. We also joined another group of tourists and went through the waterfalls so that we were behind the water looking out. It was also thrilling and well worth the walk it took to get there.
We had lunch in the form of a picnic in the water and continued trekking another 2 hours to the next water falls where we happened to reconnect with the same groups of people. The only difference was they had driven and thought we were crazy for walking. This second waterfall had a natural rope concoction that everyone was using to swing into the water. Unfortunately my heel was so badly skinned from rubbing against my shoes at this point that I couldn't confortably step into the water. Therefore Tyson enjoyed this adventure on his own. Again our age and inability was portrayed for us when as Tyson struggled to climb to the jumping point, two small kids used the rope with one hand and dove off of it flipping upside down during the drop.
After some back and forth decisions and change of hearts we decided to continue on to the last waterfall. It was straight uphill about 40 more minutes on a dirt road. This is where we saw the millipede at least 4 feet long. We also saw a lizard the half of Tysons length, a snake, wierd bugs and eight thousand mosquitos (that seem to enjoy our OFF spray). The last waterfall was the largest and actually cost an entrance fee (that Tyson kindly got us out of having to pay by using our language barrier). We took a few photos which was not satisfying to the all-adventurous Tyson so he decided to have me film him jumping off of a cliff into water. As I suck at taking photos he actually had to do it four times before I caught it on camera.
To put it very mildly our walk home sucked. It was long, we were tired and hot but still more than pleased with all that we had seen and done during the day. Thank God that we had more than enough hot water for our showers and our dinner was a quick fix. The only problem was we had again run out of cash and there are no ATMs in this area. We still owe the hostel for three nights and have to buy a return bus ticket home. Of course neither place accepts US funds but we did manage to find an exchange place in the historical center that (of course) charges a more insane exchange rate than we had ever seen or thought possible. Tonight we plan on heading out to a beach party by the hostel that a friend told us about. Even though we are tired and would rather pass out, we will try to go for a bit to regain our sense of youth that was so viciously had stolen from us earlier. Tomorrow we are heading out on a relaxing boat cruise from 10:30 until about 16:00 and then catching a bus back to Rio where we have booked a nice looking hostel in Leblon right by the beach.
"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"
We had lunch in the form of a picnic in the water and continued trekking another 2 hours to the next water falls where we happened to reconnect with the same groups of people. The only difference was they had driven and thought we were crazy for walking. This second waterfall had a natural rope concoction that everyone was using to swing into the water. Unfortunately my heel was so badly skinned from rubbing against my shoes at this point that I couldn't confortably step into the water. Therefore Tyson enjoyed this adventure on his own. Again our age and inability was portrayed for us when as Tyson struggled to climb to the jumping point, two small kids used the rope with one hand and dove off of it flipping upside down during the drop.
After some back and forth decisions and change of hearts we decided to continue on to the last waterfall. It was straight uphill about 40 more minutes on a dirt road. This is where we saw the millipede at least 4 feet long. We also saw a lizard the half of Tysons length, a snake, wierd bugs and eight thousand mosquitos (that seem to enjoy our OFF spray). The last waterfall was the largest and actually cost an entrance fee (that Tyson kindly got us out of having to pay by using our language barrier). We took a few photos which was not satisfying to the all-adventurous Tyson so he decided to have me film him jumping off of a cliff into water. As I suck at taking photos he actually had to do it four times before I caught it on camera.
To put it very mildly our walk home sucked. It was long, we were tired and hot but still more than pleased with all that we had seen and done during the day. Thank God that we had more than enough hot water for our showers and our dinner was a quick fix. The only problem was we had again run out of cash and there are no ATMs in this area. We still owe the hostel for three nights and have to buy a return bus ticket home. Of course neither place accepts US funds but we did manage to find an exchange place in the historical center that (of course) charges a more insane exchange rate than we had ever seen or thought possible. Tonight we plan on heading out to a beach party by the hostel that a friend told us about. Even though we are tired and would rather pass out, we will try to go for a bit to regain our sense of youth that was so viciously had stolen from us earlier. Tomorrow we are heading out on a relaxing boat cruise from 10:30 until about 16:00 and then catching a bus back to Rio where we have booked a nice looking hostel in Leblon right by the beach.
"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"
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