01/02/2020 – Vale do Pati, Lencois, Brasil

Woke up at 06:30 and went to Joe and Hennas for 07:00 in our hiking stuff (day 2 in the same outfit we wore on the big hike 2 days ago!) We were all super tired so we tried to glug a load of coffee with breakfast, with a chaser of dioralyte. We were out the house at 0800 and were met by Felipe and our driver. We drove a couple of hours through the incredible national park, through the vale of gerais do rio pretohy. There were dramatic mountains stood above rich green foliage. We arrived at the carpark at 10:30 and suncreamed ourselves up before setting off in the intense heat up the side of the mountain. The first 35 minutes were intense uphill, and again we went at a walk/run pace trying to keep up with Felipe. Then we walked along the flat ridge and stopped beside a river of tea coloured water. I jumped in and Josh joined me after I said we would be thinking about this in a few days time when we were back in England. After drying off we continued along the flat wide ridge, speeding across easier terrain than that of 2 days ago. We arrived at the viewpoint or the ‘Mirante do Pati’ and were gobsmacked at the view, I think we were all silent for a good few minutes, a rare thing amonst us! We sat and took in the view, spending a good hour or so soaking it up, the best packed lunch spot ever ever ever and like nothing I have ever seen before. Need to come back here for a 5 day trek through the valley - absolutely incredible scenes! When we started to feel a bit too cooked by the sun we dragged ourselves away from the viewpoint and walked the 2 hours back to the car. We all had a little snooze on the drive back. We went home and showered before meeting Joe and Henna and walking into town. We sat at a little table outside the restaurant Quilambola (the restaurant from Joes birthday) and tried the green banana and meat curry that had Felipe told us to try as it is a local delicacy. We shared a big dish between the four of us before going home and finishing yesterdays leftovers. We played some games and helped Joe and Henna with some of their travel plans before going home and crashing into bed.