Brazilian Summer

Chapter 8

Shielding her eyes from the already glistening sun Rachel gazed up at the solid piece of rock and seriously wondered how they were supposed to make their way up there. It didn't look like there was a path and the stony sides of the mountain seemed way too step to just walk up. She skeptically looked back over her shoulder at Felipe.

'This is it? Are you sure?'

He just laughed revealing his perfectly in order white teeth. 'Yes, I promise there's a way. Come, I'll show you.'

He had picked her up again early in the morning on his vespa and they had driven for quite a while. Luckily, it was Saturday and the roads had still been fairly empty. It seemed like the rest of the cariocas were still in bed, nursing their hangovers from the night before. Rachel had been very excited when Felipe had suggested they'd do an early morning hike together and then spend the day at one of his favorite beaches but she hadn't expected for the hike to be so challenging. To be fair, the mountain didn't look too high and just from the altitude she would imagine it wasn't going to take them much longer than 40 minutes to get up there. The steepness of the climb however was a different story...

It was already a warm day and Rachel was thankful that she had had the presence of mind this morning to already put on some sunscreen. She fully understood now why Felipe had insisted they leave early. In a few hours it was going to be boiling.

They sorted all the stuff they were going to need for the hike into his backpack and left the rest of their belongings locked up under the seat of his scooter. 

'Ready then?', Felipe asked and inquisitively lifted an eyebrow over his Rayban sunglasses.

'Let's do it', Rachel countered trying to swallow down her nervousness about the climb.

At first they made their way up through a path that was overgrown with trees. It felt nice to be in the shade but the humidity had them sweating already just after a few minutes and Rachel tied her long blonde hair up into a pony tail to allow for some air to cool her neck and shoulders. Before long they made it to a crossing with a few signs indicating different viewpoints that hikers could take.

'Which way now? Which one are we going to see?', Rachel asked squinting at the sign and trying to sound out the different names. They were all rather complicated and contained about a thousand vowels. It looked like those were all names derived from the native indigenous languages that were once spoken here.

Felipe tried to suppress the laughter that started bubbling up at Rachel's attempt to pronounce the names. He pointed towards his left. 'This way, we're going up the Costão da Itacoatiara. That's the name of the big rock we saw from below. We'll have the best view all over the coast and all the way to the city.'

'Is it far?', Rachel asked hesitantly. 'Or rather is it difficult to climb it? It really didn't look like there was a way up from below'.

'That's why not so many people come, it's a bit hidden. But it's not far at all, I would guess about 25 minutes from here. Don't worry, you're perfectly safe with me, you'll be fine', Felipe took a step towards her and placed his hand on the small of her back as they were both looking into the direction he had indicated before.

Rachel felt a jolt of electricity going through her. Instantly, feeling his physical presence put her more at ease. She stole a glance up at him. In the shade he had tucked his sunglasses into the collar of his grey shirt and the light that fell through the leaves above them played in his green brown eyes. They seemed darker than she had remembered but he was every bit as handsome. 

As soon as they had turned the next corner the trees gave way to the rocky surface Rachel had already seen from below. And it also looked every bit as steep from here. She stopped for a moment and quickly caught sight of the metal rope that was drilled into the rock and that was supposed to help hikers to overcome the very steep first climb. Felipe looked back at her, checking if she was going to be fine. She gave him a quick nod. Rachel had been on countless hikes in Europe and even though the safety protocol was probably a little stricter in the Alps than here she wasn't scared of heights. She had done several via ferrata already, this little rope wasn't going to be a challenge for her.