Florianopolis is an active island on the coast of Brazil, and is famous for it’s beaches. It also happens to be a pretty good place for trekking.
Many parts of the island of Florianopolis are made of thick lush forests, and on the coast lines there are several beaches. Trekking in Florianopolis seemed like a great activity, so my mom, dad, sister and I decided to take a ‘Secret Beach’ trek with our tour guide, from www.gotriptv.com.
The trek would go along the side of a hill on the coast of the island, then reach a secret beach between two hills.
I’m still pretty new to trekking, but I’ve trekked in the Lake District of Chile a couple of month’s earlier, so I knew what to expect. We headed out at around 9 AM, then walked around one of Florianopolis’ many of beaches and into the forest. It honestly felt like we were just walking down a random path in the middle of nowhere for the next 2 hours.
It was a nice day on the beach, but in the forest it was a completely different world. It had to be at least 10 degrees cooler, and during most of the trek we could barely see 20 feet in front of us because of the vegetation. I don’t remember seeing many animals, but the scratches on my shins showed that there were more than enough thorny plants.
Once we had made it out of the thicket, I found out that we had been slowly ascending during our walk up the side of a really large hill. We seemed to be pretty high up and the view was impressive. Our starting point was barely in sight, and we could see miles of the coastline.
Then there were several cliffs that we walked along after getting out of the forest.
While walking I had a slight dilemma. If I looked out to the horizon and admired the view, I could slip and die in the Atlantic Ocean, but then if I watched my steps and didn’t look at the view, there’d be no point of trekking in such a nice spot. I ended up opting for the second choice.
Finally we made completely around the hill and could see the secret beach. Apparently the only ways to get to the beach was either by trekking or by boat.
Trekking in Florianopolis seems to be a really popular activity, because we saw several people while on the trail. There were around 50 people at the beach before we had made it there.
If this beach is so ‘secret’ than why are there people here?!?!?!
In the end, I thought the trek to the beach was a lot more interesting than the destination itself. We didn’t stay at the beach for too long, then headed back to the real world. My parents and sister were tired, so they were being slow, but I was still going strong keeping the pace.
The one thing that annoyed me the most was when people passed us by while we were trekking. I know I can be overly competitive, and that trekking isn’t a competition, but I usually would never let that happen to me, but that time I had to yield. It’s one my pet peeves, along with people who talk too loud and large puddles and a lot of other things.
Anyways, I really liked the way back because it was a lot more open and there were several groups of medium smallish boulders that were climb-able. There was even a little stream with cool fresh water where I washed my hands.
Once we made it back, we were completely wiped out and I was extremely tired and hungry all at the same time. I personally thought that it was a fun and active way to see the nature in Florianopolis.
Do you have any trekking experiences? Leave your comment below.
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