| move them legs, break some sweat 11.19.02 |
| This past weekend, I finally got to get back one of the many 3-day weekends that I seem to be missing while I'm away from the States. The latter part of the year is full of holidays back in the States, and here, they all seem to fall on Saturdays. Quite a disappointment. Anyway, this past weekend, I had the option to go to the beach or hop up one state and go hiking. Although I originally wanted to hit the beach, I'm soooo glad I went hiking. By doing this, I avoided the crowds and also got to see a different side of Brazil. Four of us set off for Aiuruoca in Minas Gerais at 3 a.m. Friday. It took us about 6 hours to get there and we had the pleasure of witnessing the sun rise over the mountains. In MG, there are mountains, hills, huge plains everywhere! There are tiny towns spaced out along the highways where people ride around on horses, lounge outside their stores or homes, watching cars going by, and where they speak Portuguese with the Brazilian version of a "Southern twang." We could actually drive around with the windows rolled all the way down (and not be afraid of muggers coming up to the car at stoplights) and breathe the air deeply into our lungs (without choking halfway from the pollution). We arrived without any clue of where we would stay and found a pousada, which is like a mix of a hostel and a cheap bed-and-breakfast. After checking out one that looked more like a dark, damp shack, we were relieved to find another one down the road that was just too cute. For R$30/night (less than US$10), we had lodging, breakfast, lunch, and soup for dinner. Let me tell you� �comida Maneira� (food from MG) is well-known for being absolutely delicious and it lived up to its reputation. Because the state is more country-ish, everything is more natural and homecooked. YUMMY. The pousada had little cottages and also a more dorm-like building with communal bathrooms. We also passed hours lazily swinging on the hammocks on the porch, chatting it up through sundown. The main draw to go to this tiny town (which NONE of my co-workers had heard of) was to ascend Pico de Papagaio, a peak 6,600 feet up and 6.2 miles each way. I had done a bunch of hikes with my family before and I consider myself FAIRLY in shape, meaning I can stretch my physical abilities to the point of exhaustion and not worry about keeling over and embarrassing myself by waking up in a hospital with no recollection of the past four hours. That mountain sure looked high though. And as we began the initial ascent, I was already huffing and puffing 30 minutes into it. But I knew this was normal. It doesn�t take much for me to start sweating and for my face to turn red, giving the illusion that I�m out of shape, but I can continue longer than people expect. Fortunately the beginning was the worst as we just went up, up, uphill. But after awhile, like the last three hours of the ascent, it wasn�t TOO bad. If you ask my friend, she will say differently. But I discovered that if I trekked slowly and steadily, I was able to last longer. I couldn�t stop that often or else I would get tired even more easily. As we continued on uphill, panting, sweating, with weary faces, I wondered why on earth people put themselves through stuff like this. Why do we put our bodies through this? We�re not even enjoying the view because our eyes are so fixed on the trail to avoid stepping in cow and horse poop or even worse, huge frogs larger than a man�s fist. However, the scenery was beautiful. We went through lush forests where the trees hung overhead, shading us from the view of the looming peak. We went through open green fields with views of miles and miles of farmland below us. As the hills surrounded us, I wanted to break apart from the pack and sing, �The hills are alliiiive, with the sound of music�� I could just picture the music in my head coming to a standstill as I would turn around to see a group of Brazilians staring at me with confused faces, and then me slowly returning to the group, head hung down, falling back into line. We encountered streams of fresh water from which we could fill our water bottles�spent some time at a waterfall where I couldn�t see the bottom but jumped in for a swim anyway. MAN, that water was cold�just like the Pacific Ocean on the coast of Norcal. Brazilians would die if their beaches were even half that cold. When we finally reached the top, the view was amazing�but it was like the view of hikes before when we reached the peaks. If you do one hike, is that like doing them all? Do we really have to do all these hikes to see these places, or can we walk on flat land for 30 minutes and still see the same things? I really don�t know. What is the point of working ourselves until our quads burn or going downhill and feeling like each step is messing our knees and ankles even more? Even with the knowledge of the pain that is to come, the strenuous activity that awaits us on the mountain, WHY do we seek out new opportunities to do so?? Or in working out�why do we sweat and huff and puff through aerobics or step, or why do we bruise up our legs with an hour of kicking sandbags? I can�t answer that, but I know I am one of these people who looks for challenges like this. These are petty goals�meaningless goals�but we do them anyway. To people who like to achieve their goals, it is a big deal. Just like we have mental and spiritual goals, we can also have physical goals where we apply the same principals�motivation, determination, optimism. The achievement of setting a goal for yourself and reaching it is exhilarating�and even if your body feels sore and exhausted the day after, you know that you�ve stretched yourself, strengthened yourself and reached your goal. |
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