Rainy day on the island

When we woke up, we introduced ourselves to the guys sharing our room. They were two very nice Brazilians, one of whom thankfully spoke English. It seemed that most everyone at the hostel was checking out that day since the holiday weekend was over and the only people who would be left were two Argentinian boys named Angel and Marcos.
After looking at the weather forecast, we knew we were destined for rain but we were determined to make the best of our short island trip. We packed out rain gear and headed into town to the small bakery we had seen the day before to get breakfast. The island was still completely packed with people for the holiday weekend and the amount of people in the bakery was insane. We got into line, unsure of how to order because there seemed to be many different lines for different things. Finally, I was too overwhelmed by the chaos and we decided to go somewhere else. We wandered around the island but there weren't really any other breakfast options, so we decided to get coffee and Acai bowls at the only cafe we could find with a table. After we finished there, we went to each grocery store trying to put something together that we could take for lunch on our hiking trip. Sadly, the stores were sold out of pretty much everything (including bread!) so we just got some apples and oranges. By the time we circled back around the bakery, it had been over an hour and a half so the amount of people inside had dwindled down and we felt like giving it another shot. We were able to order some turkey sandwiches to go, which were perfect for the trip.

As we set out, it was really raining hard. I wish I could have taken a picture of the torrential downpour that we were hiking through, but I didn't want to get my pack wet in an attempt to retrieve my camera. It was a steep hike up and down through the jungle mountains and with the rain, rivers formed in the paths and were flowing against us. I kept picturing that scene in Jurassic Park where Dennis is trying to escape with the Barbasol can of dinosaur DNA and his jeep crashes and he has to try to struggle up the mountain with the water coming down on him...and then he is eaten by a velociraptor. It was a lot like that, minus the dinosaur. It was quite the adventure and definitely was not a dull hike. Our main objective was not to slip and fall as all of the locals had told us not to do the hike because it was too dangerous in the rain. We chose not to listen and decided we would be fine- what else were we going to do on a rainy day anyways?

When we finally reached our destination, "Lopes Mendes Beach" 3 1/2 hours later, the downpour had not let up. We couldn't find any shelter, so we sat and ate our sandwiches the best we could under some sparse trees. There had been three dogs that we had picked up along the way that insisted on following us for the duration of the hike there and back. We weren't quite sure why they were coming with us but we were amused by the company.

We stayed at the beach just long enough to take a picture and then turned around and headed back. We were a little disappointed because we had heard how beautiful the beach was and I'm sure it would have been if there was some sun, but we were so wet and the weather was so bad that we couldn't really appreciate it.
The dogs followed us almost all of the way back to town (another 3 1/2 hours) before two of them stopped in one of the smaller towns and only one continued on. As we entered Abraao (which was the island city we were staying in), other dogs started to challenge our dog as he was clearly not in his territory. We were upset by this and threw rocks at the other dogs who were attacking Little Black (which is what we had named him over the course of the day). Finally, we chased them off and Little Black ducked into a nearby restaurant where some locals started feeding him.
We were soaked and cold when we returned to the hostel but apparently we now had to move rooms. We were relocated to the 6 person dorm which meant that all four people staying at the hostel were now in the same room, lol. It was ok though since we had already met the boys staying in the room and knew they were nice. We took hot showers in an attempt to warm up and the hostel owner brought us some hot chocolate. The guy who owned the hostel was so nice and giving- we really loved staying there. After our long journey, we were tired and very hungry. We headed into town to try the "Kebab Lounge" that we'd been eyeing. The place was packed and no tables we available, so Alyssa asked two guys if we could share their huge four person table. They said yes and though they were French, they luckily spoke English. We each ordered the kebab and split a large beer while chatting with the French men about their lives back home and our travels. I like French people a lot but something about French men makes them always seem very effeminate, which makes me laugh. The kebab was not at all what we expected- it was basically like a burrito except it had no flavor at all. We had been expecting meat and vegetables like a kebab in the US, lol. We asked the waiter for some hot sauce so we could liven the food up a bit and he brought us two different ones, warning us about how hot they were. To us, they were not hot at all and we ate all of the sauce he brought which he seemed surprised about. They really just don't use a lot of spicy seasoning in South America which Alyssa and I are usually on the lookout for. After we finished dinner, we were completely unsatisfied so we went on a quest for some dessert. The crepe place had just closed when we arrived, so we stopped at the little dessert cart by the ocean and split a homemade chocolate bar with nuts.

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