Hike to Lopes Mendes Beach

 Since it rained lightly, I paired with a hostel mate to hike from town to the Lopes Mendes Beach along T1 trail of the Island. Lopes Mendes is a 3km stretch of beach located on Ilha Grande's south side. The wet surface from the rain made the trail more challenging.  The first hour and a half is mainly muddy trails, through the jungle. The path climbs at a fairly steep rate. We scrambled at points when it gets very steep. 

The trail passes through jungle areas, several beaches and both flat gravel trails and uneven muddy path.the round trip was 8.5 km. The cool temperature was perfect from r hiking, although I still sweated a lot. 

After about 200m of altitude over 2km, we got the first views of the bay. We arrived at the first beach of the hike, Palmas Beach. I forgot to put my lunch in my backpack, so I had to buy a package of orioles cookies as lunch.

The second beach was Pouso beach that has a dramatic entrance along a gorgeous, and very tropical island-esqe pier. At the far end of Pouso beach is another pier where tourists can get the water taxi to Abraao at the end of the day.  Only 10 minutes away from Pouso beach, is Mangue beach. These two beaches are connected with an easy, flat path.

Unfortunately, the waves were too high for swimming. We sun-bathed for half an hour on the Lopes Mendes Beach, then walked to the nearby Santo Antonio beach which was rugged. The way back to town was tiring and I finished all my water. I was tempted but too tired to eat at a restaurant, yet I spotted a buffer restaurant. Although it passed operating hours, I was able to pack a box of protein to take away. I had two big pieces of fish and deep-fried checked wing and thigh for dinner. I surely sleeper well tonight.