the most badass moment of my life

You know those tall, nubby looking mountains you always see in pictures surrounding Rio? Yeah, I climbed one. And not just any one. Pedra da Gávea is one of the most spectacular and strenuous urban climbs in South America. The rock is easily distinguishable by large flat top that rises out of the Western skyline. The face of the rock looks like a carved figure, and there are ancient inscriptions on one of its sides, which have led to theories that the rock contains an ancient tomb, a time portal, and/or a UFO landing site. Whatever the case, it is cool as hell.

The 2.5 hour hike up was the craziest hike of my life. First of all, we did it at breakneck pace because a) we were afraid it would get dark before we reached the top, and b) we didn’t know each other well enough to say “slow the hell down! I’m dying here!” Something that we laugh about now since the events to follow definitely made us very close… literally.

Apparently the hike itself is only 1 mile, but in that mile, hikers also rise over a half-mile in altitude. They definitely don’t have things like this in Illinois, but I’m not in Illinois anymore that’s for sure. Seven students in my program and I made our way through various landscapes from dense tropical forest, to dry barren rocks. At points we had to use vines and grass to hoist ourselves up the rocks. Also, near the top, there was a 30 m rock-face that we later learned you are supposed to use legit ropes to climb. Oh well, despite the tense moments we made it to the top, tired but feeling very accomplished. The view from the top was incredible! The 360-degree view allowed us to see the rolling hills and jagged peaks of Barra da Tijuca coastline, lagoons, the gigantic sprawl of the Rocinha favela, and the entire south zone of the city and more.

Once we reached the top, we relaxed, stretched our sore muscles, had a snack, and settled in to watch the GORGOUS sunset over the ocean. Talk about a good reward. Exhausted, we cuddled up on the rocks (ha) and settled in for a good nights sleep. Or so we thought. About an hour later, we were all marveling at the beautiful way the lightening WAY off in the distance lit up the western sky, when a sudden shift in wind and sudden drop in temperature caused us to look behind us. The eastern sky was very dark and a storm was blowing in from the ocean. And quick. We quickly gathered our stuff, and carefully scrambled down the rocks to find shelter in a dinky cave a few meters down from the top (wait, when did I start using the metric system? haha). Everyone had a good attitude about the situation and we laughed it off by telling stories and getting to know each other for the first few hours. Oh! I almost forgot. I got hit by lightening. Kinda. You see, the lightening was very very close and must have hit the rock we were sheltering under and sent a wave of conduction into my leg. Just me. No one else felt it. It didn’t hurt, but definitely scared me!

Soon the novelty wore off and it started getting very cold. Since no one had brought warm clothes (it had been 104 degrees when we hiked up), we literally spooned together on the sloped floor of the cave (aka: you couldn’t move or you would roll out of the cave) and “slept” until daylight. I don’t know if any sleeping happened but the next few hours were a drowsy blur. As morning drew closer, we once again climbed the summit and watched the beautiful sunrise over the city. I wish I could say that I saw the whole thing, but the flat rock at the top was a welcome comfort after that cave and I kept falling asleep. Every time I opened my eyes the sky was a different shade of brilliant red/orange. Another 3 hours later, we emerged from the forest filthy, exhausted, sweaty, and feeling badass. We just spent the night in a cave on the top of a mountain during a thunderstorm in the middle of Brazil. How many people can say that?