Pedra de Gávea (and INDY)

For starters, somebody stole my work ethic, and I'm offering rewards if you've got any tips. Here's my latest Independent column:

Hegy Hochi Chili Peppers

I originally dubbed the thing "Teaching English vs. Learning Portuguese: If It Weren't So Hilarious, It Might Be Frustrating." Good thing they changed it - I never would have opened such a tritely titled link. But now you've got an inkling of the subject matter: Exotic Spices of the Amazon.

What? Anyway, to bring attention to its date of publication compared to that of its predecessor's would be to depreciate myself. Worse would be to highlight the date of this post, which is right when I should be working on another story, rather than procrastinating by writing about not writing. Mild self-belittlement aside, a brief reflection on the subject matter of Hegy Hochi Chili Peppers is a solid reminder that I'm actually pretty busy, yanno. What I'm really trying to say, I think, is that this crazy little language game of the streets and the classroom kicks writing in English on my laptop's ass. The rest of the time is better spent exploring, climbing mountains, going to the beach, and hanging out with real live Cariocas (which falls into the first category).

Anyway, I hit all four of those points hard this weekend. Here are some deetz.

This was taken on my walk home along this treacherous road called Niemeyer. It connects the two wealthy neighborhoods of Leblon (near PUC, my university) and São Conrado, where I live. It has a dangerous reputation, as it basically winds around the mountain that is Dois Irmãos ("Two Brothers"), so called because its two peaks look like brothers. The mountain is home to Rocinha and Vidigal, two beautiful communities that scare the shit out of favela-haters. So the road's got all these upper class-created urban legends surrounding it. (Dois Irmãos is also the name of the NGO where I'm teaching English in Rocinha.) Anyway, the walk along Niemeyer is beautiful and refreshingly devoid of pedestrian traffic. It's got some excellent fishing spots along the way, so there are always a few friendly favelado fishermen ready with a thumbs up and a "tudo beleza!" to brighten my journey.

This photo has three important parts:

1. The Castelinho. I don't know the history of this abandoned cliff-embedded castle-like contraption, but imagining it is more fun. If this were Italy, it would be full of junkie squatters. But it's just a really beautiful fishing spot.

2. The São Conrado Beach. Interestingly, it's frequented mainly by Rocinha residents; São Conradans generally prefer the ritzier beaches on the other side of Dois Irmãos to the east, or Pedra de Gávea to the west. I prefer it for this reason. That, and being between the two epic rocks is a panoramic delight.

3. Pedra de Gávea. It's in the background. Here's another photo, taken from the São Conrado beach at the end of the Niemeyer walk during sunset on Friday.

Pedra de Gávea towers 842 feet above the beach, and is the world's largest seaside monolith. The highlight of my weekend - and I'm requesting emphasis on both the high and the light - would be surmounting it.

Saturday morning, I went straight to the beach and dug an enormous hole in the sand (cavei um buraco enorme na areia). Igor came later, dug another enormous hole, and helped to solidify all hole digging related vocabulary in my brain. We then left our holes, went for lunch in Rocinha, and set off to climb Pedra de Gávea.

We commenced the climb at approximately 4 in the afternoon. This is exactly what these guys, who "have an adventure club" and "climb the Pedra every other weekend" told me I shouldn't do. They go to PUC with me and are part of the genre of Rio men whose existence is frustrating. They have misconceptions about favelados who aren't privelidged enough to afford university, and will tell any number of lies to get girls. They told me I should climb the Pedra in the morning, early, and go with a big group, and take nothing valuable. I went at night instead, only with one person, (a favelado, at that,) and thought nothing about valuables - I brought the things I wanted. (Camera. Ipod.)

The hike up Pedra de Gávea consists of two categories, as far as I can tell: steep steps, and even steeper rocks. The steps suck. The rocks are fun. But the rocks don't take up enough of the journey. This is the last bit that we had to climb. It has the appearance of a face, and so there are lots of legends about it. But I'm not really sure what any of them are right now.

I'm climbing the rock!

We arrive on top!

We got there just in time for the sunset...

The mountain farthest to the right is Dois Irmãos. The really pointy mountain to the left is the one with the statue of Christ on top. While you can't make out the details of his shape, it is he who makes the top of the mountain appear especially pointy.

Getting darker...

Anddd... nighttime. Nighttime, before the clouds rolled in, was very bright, thanks to the moon.

For good measure, here's the neighborhood Barra (pronounced like spanish "Baja" or english "Baha"), to the south. Barra kind of sucks, in my opinion. It features really expensive flats in high rise buildings and lots of American-based commercial chains.

This is the tiny fire we made with what few dry twigs we could find in the dark. If we had relied on a fire for survival, we would have failed.

Considering the thick cloud coverage that soon developed and the surrounding lightening, we decided to find a cave rather than sleep under the stars. (The stars were somewhere above the clouds at this point.) The cave we found was very protected from the potential rain. But it was also very small, especially for two freakishly tall people (me and Igor) and so sleeping was fractious and generally egregious. Also, creepy noises filled the cave all night, and it never even ended up raining. Whatever.

The next morning:

Right before sunrise, over the ocean.

During sunrise. These colors are REAL.

A little after sunrise. It was incredible because the mountains were an obstacle for the light, forcing it to sneak toward the Pedra from behind them. The shadows and glares were ever-changing and spectacular.

After the sunrise, I fell asleep. I took a nap from about 6 am to 8 am. When I woke up, I was immediately impressed by the insane cloud action taking place around the Pedra. Check it out!!!!!

Rolling in...

The clouds were seeping up at arms reach in front.
I took this from within.

I'm floating on clouuddssss...
The peak of Dois Irmãos is peeking up from under the fluffy cover.

The moist globs were moving rapidly, swirling around the Pedra from below. It was like being in a plane but better, because I was outside. So it was more like skydiving, but I was stationary. In other words, in contrast to the time I was skydiving and my tandem instructor told me to breath deeply when we went through the cloud, I stayed in the cloud for many many breaths. Rather than zipping through the clouds like lightning (or like a free-falling body), the clouds were moving very slowly through me. Surreal!

It was getting really hot and we descended the mountain. We went immediately to this excellent beach nearby called Praia Joatinga. This beach is very isolated, mostly secret, and gloriously situated in front of Pedra de Gávea amongst lots of really rad rock formations. It's quite a popular spot for body boarders and surfers, because the waves are always GNAR. I took these pictures another day, around sunset, so the lighting is not indicative of the morning we spent there. But you get the idea.

Finally, we went back home to procure some more appropriate beach-going clothing. Underwear is really offensive at the beach in Brazil, apparently. We found our buracos from the previous morning, and they were mostly still intact! SUCCESS.

So much napping happened on the São Conrado beach Sunday afternoon.

Next adventure: Paraty Easter weekend! Camping disaster in the rain waiting to happen! Happy April Fools and end of Lent to all!