Dois Irmaos

I climbed a mountain in a city by the beach! I hiked Dois Irmaos aka Dos Hermanos aka Two Brothers aka Ryan and Sean. 

I walked along Ipanema Beach for about forty-five minutes before reaching a square that had motorbikes and hippie Volkswagen bugs that take people up the hill through the favela to the start of the hike. I decided to go for the hippie van since it seemed safer. I approached a man in a 2pac shirt to take me up. He charged me the tourist price of 5 reals rather than 2.50 and I thought that 2pac would be proud.

The journey to the trailhead was long, but the actual hike was relatively short and incredibly beautiful. The favelas, or slums, are tiny homes with spectacular ocean views that are built into the mountain and are a pop of color in the landscape. As I climbed, I was surrounded by ocean and forest and watched over by Chisto. I packed a tomato sandwich and happily ate it on my way up the mountain. 

The top was unreal. I loved that when I arrived I could hear the excited chatter of the climbers that had reached the summit. There were rock climbers that kept running off the cliff of the mountain. My palms sweat each time they did it and we all gasped. Breathtaking!