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"My wonders of the world"
After my breath-taking excursion into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean and the dive in a sunken ship wreck,
the narrow paths of the island will lead me to one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, Lopes Mendes.
From here I have to somehow get ahead.
The boat can drop me off at a small beach.
A landing stage you will not find everywhere though.
On the Ilha Grande, there are over 100 beaches
that can sometimes only be reached by boat.
Many of them are connected by small jungle paths.
The road is always rough and often exhausting,
passes great views and native plants.
The Bamboo Brasil. A native plant here.
There are lots of them around.
Its huge and we will see more of them.
Good to know which plants are edible and which ones should be avoided.
In any case, one should ask an expert,
because the danger of poisoning is too big.
Those are nice.
If you had no breakfast, or got lost in the woods,
then you can eat these berries.
They taste like blackberries.
Some plants might be dangerous in a different way.
This palm tree here, this plant, if you pass by you have to take care
because it has very sharp and very large thorns.
And when the leaves are on the floor and you step on it or you fall,
then you can hurt yourself seriously. They're very, very sharp.
The way passing amazing beaches over rocks and stones
through dense forrests and small paths is an amazing experience itself.
As the beach of Lopes Mendes is finally visible I'm thrilled.
I have rarely seen such a beautiful beach, such blue sea, and such white sand.
I am here in Lopes Mendes,
one of Brazil's most beautiful beaches and even one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.
The water is perfectly blue and the sand is white.
Really nice white sand.
The sand fascinates me in particular.
Not only the color but the noise when walking is unique.
If you walk on the sand, then the sound is just like snow in winter.
The white sand beach stretches for almost 2.5 km along the Atlantic coast.
As it faces the open ocean, the beach of Lopes Mendes is characterized by a relatively strong surf.
Besides normal tourists, it therefore attracts especially surfers.
The water is nice and I really always wanted to try surfing.
Here on the beach you can rent surfboards easily.
I choose a nice one and want to immediately plunge into the waves.
It always looks a lot easier than it really is.
I constantly swallow the salt water.
The wave is coming, I am ready, swim with the wave and try to stand up.
But the power of the wave washes me of my surfboard.
Unfortunately I don’t have more time to enjoy this beautiful beach.
I have a destination and now my path leads me almost back in time.
To the darkest and cruelest time of Ilha Grande.
Behind me you see the walls of a destroyed prison,
the prison of Dois Rios.
It's been several years and it is no longer in use.
Therefore, the buildings all came down and buried everything under it.
I'm going to have a closer look to the prison now.
The perhaps most gruesome chapters in the history of Ilha Grande
begins at the time of WW2 in 1940.
Back then the Brazilian government built a notorious prision, The Alcatraz of Brazil,
the prison Candido Mendes, in the northeastern part of the island.
Until the late 80s the brutal military government imprisioned critical journalists,
known artists, political oppositionals and even homosexuals
along with actual criminals and tortured them.
In this prision formerly sat a number of political prisoners.
They say many legends, many horror stories about this place.
Certainly one can say that there definitely was the method of torture
and even some died and suffered here.
"Happiness is an interval of suffering", is carved into a cell wall.
Prison conditions were horrible until recently.
*** stench everywhere, because at temperatures of 40 degrees
feces and sewage flowed through open ditches from the mass cells.
Tropical diseases like leprosy and malaria, but also tuberculosis raged merciless.
Here prisoners of two opposite political dictatorships were locked up together
with murderers and brutal gangsters, intentionally.
When I look at that, I can imagine exactly how the prisoners must have suffered at that time.
And it was not always bad people who did something wrong
but political prisoners who were at the wrong time, wrong place had the false notions of justice.
The history of the prison is filled with breathtaking escape operations.
In 1986, the dreaded killer, bank robber and drug dealer, Escadinha,
jumped on a helicopter in the prisons back-yard.
The movie-like escape action succeeded.
Others broke out in groups
and even managed to reach the nineteen kilometers distant mainland by canoe or raft.
Many were recaptured, some are still living as a fisherman on the island.
The adventure continues.
I will have to face new challenges and obstacles
in order to reach my ultimate destination, the Pico do Pagagaio.
The ascent will be dangerous and exhausting.
"My wonders of the world" >>> END OF BLOCK 4
"My wonders of the world" >>> BEGINING OF BLOCK 5
The history of Ilha Grande is full of legends and stories from a dark past.
Legends of famous pirates, about the era of slave trade
to the horrific oppression of the former military dictatorship.
I am on the way to the last stage,
the long and dangerous ascent to the Pico do Papagaio.
Just minutes away from Abraao, are the ruins of an old disease hospital.
It was built by German architects.
During the era of slave trade, the Ilha Grande was a favorite destination for the slave ships.
Here on the beach you can still find ruins of old docks of this period.
After month on the sea the slaves were weak and sick.
Before their sale they had to be nursed back to health.
During the weeks or months-long ocean crossing
sometimes the entire ship crew were infected with plague and cholera.
From 1886 on they were kept in quarantine in the hospital.
During the military dictatorship, a part of the facility was later used as a musty cellar prison.
Behind me you see the ruins of a former hospital,
which was originally built in the 19th century.
The hospital was rebuilt in the 50s into a prison.
In the 50s there was military dictate in Brazil,
this hospital, the cells that you see behind me, are cells for political prisoners.
Exactly here political prisoners were held and tortured.
During high tide, sea water often penetrated into the cells, to torment and torture the prisioners.
It is said that some of these cells were built so close to the water on purpose
that the prisoners there almost drowned at high tide.
Drinking water to the hospital was provided by an aqueduct.
Its ruins can be found just a few hundred meters further inside the jungle.
The gigantic building that you see here is an Arquedukt.
It was built in the 18th century in order to supply water to the hospital.
It has a total length of 140 meters.
All ships which came to the island, had to stop at the hospital.
There machines pumped water from the Aqueduct in the ships to disinfect them.
It consists of 26 arches with a height of 11 meters each.
It is an example of Brazilian architecture, because it was built of granite.
On the Ilha Grande you will find surprises behind almost every corner.
In my case, it is a small natural pool.
In consideration of the great weather and the exhausting trail ahead of me,
a small cooling off does not hurt.
The water here is, not joking, so cold guys! So cold!
The small cooling off is good.
Like almost every place on the Ilha Grande,
even this small pond has its history.
In the village of Abraao people say,
when there was still slavery in Brazil,
the slaves came exactly to that place, to wash themselves.
They jumped inside, just like I did,
and took a bath because there was no other way for the slaves.
But after that brief cooling I need to continue.
A long way lies ahead of me.
This type of trial you should never do alone.
From here begins the ascent to the Pico do Papagaio.
And this looks really steep at the beginning and very exhausting.
Only a few months ago a German tourist
who was traveling alone and was surprised by the darkness fell down a slope.
He got badly injured stayed the night out in the dark.
The next morning he was fortunately spotted by a tourist couple. He survived.
The path to the Pico do Papagaio is sometimes very dangerous.
Again and again, tourists who do not know the way travelig alone get lost in the jungle.
Some of them may be lucky to be found after a few days.
Only one wrong turn and you'll be swallowed by the jungle.
The plank roots of the kapok tree can serve as protection.
The place offers refuge if you get lost in the rain forest at night.
Wild animals run past, because they don’t recognize you between the up to 10 meters high roots.
Time and again the way gets difficult or I find seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
Looks like a waterfall,
and I must now look if I can find a way to get down there somehow.
A way around it I have not seen.
There must be a way there somehow to get ahead.
I don’t want to go back looking for another way or possibility.
Like that I would lose too much time.
Seems like there is a possibility to get down there.
Over there are some people who seem to make rappel.
Let's see if I can get down too.
A short briefing on the rope is important because this will be my first descent.
The first steps are the hardest, because the descent is steep and slippery at the waterfall.
With incredible speed the ice-cold water slams down on me from above.
The force of water makes it difficult to put one foot before the other.
Luckily it was just the camera, which, for a brief moment, slipped out of my hand.
The waterfall just washed it away.
The water falls down on me relentlessly,
as if it would want to wash me away along with my rope.
Once at the bottom and removed from the equipment,
I cross the small lake that has formed in front of the waterfall.
Done! Now I can go on.
From here I can go on on dry land and by foot.
For centuries the Tupinambá Indians lived on Ilha Grande,
whose paths are still in use for hiking nowadays.
There are only narrow jungle paths,
often overgrown and barely recognizable.
Good thing I've my guide Paes always at my side,
because this way I learn a lot of interesting and useful things about the native flora.
Nature gives us everything we need.
This is a natural pain reliever.
A few of these beads are sufficient, simply take some into your mouth and chew,
and you will notice a fresh menthol sensation on the tongue.
Against toothache, against rheumatic pains.
You need nor paracetamol, nor aspirin. This plant is sufficient.
On long walks through difficult area the right equipment is essential.
Water is especially vital.
Fortunately, there exist a variety of fresh springs,
where you can quench your thirst and fill your bottles.
One should therefore always keep an eye out,
because at the right moment, perhaps they can also save lives.
Another danger are snakes that curl up at the roadside to sleep there.
This is a jararaca. An extremely poisoning snake.
Just one bite is fatal.
The Jararaca inhabits the south-eastern Brazil.
The species is, like all American lancevipers poisonous
and inside of its area one of the most medically relevant snakes.
The Jaracara is largely nocturnal, so we let it go back to sleep now.
The top of the Pico do Pagagaio lies in 982 meters height.
The rocky peak has his name because it has the shape of a parrot head from far away.
The last bit is very exhausting and then, suddenly, the vegetation thins out.
The wind blows strongly and after this much effort it gives a welcome cooling.
The view up here is breathtaking.
The mighty rain forest below me, countless bays and small islands,
the seemingly endless sea and the mist-shrouded mountains in the distance.
This beautiful view from the Pico do Papagaio is definitely one of my personal wonders of the world,
of which there are still many more to discover.
I will go on to search for them!
And what are YOUR own wonders of the world?