Ilha Bela day #3

I am exhausted.
We took the ferry to the island and walked to Alvaro's house where we had left our bug spray. We stayed and chatted and they offered us a ride to Henrique's house where we would head out to the Ilha Bela Park. Ok, I thought this hike would be 1 hour, MAYBE 2. Wrong, It took 4.5 hours! We walked a total of 14.5 miles today. We were dying! However, we played it off like it was no big deal (we couldn't be sissy's! We went with 4 converts that didn't even break a sweat as far as I could tell). On the way up to the park there were some really pretty views, so that was nice!

If we had our swimsuits I'm sure it would have been super amazing because we stopped at 5 different "waterslides"/swimming pools. We even hiked a bird watch tower (that was actually off limits... for good reasons, it was pretty sketchy).

What really made this hike worth it was doing it with 3 guys that Dayne baptized. I loved being able to listen to them talk, even though I couldn't understand a single word, it was inspiring to see their connection even after years of not talking.

Dayne says: "It was amazing seeing Carlos Eduardo, Diogo, and Jefferson all together for the 1st time in 5 years. When I left the island they had arguments and stopped being friends so I never saw them all together again until now. It was also good to see them friends with Henrique. Hopefully they will all come back to church with Henrique some day. When we were finished with the hike we took one last picture and I gave them each a dollar bill to remember me. "

 This was on the hike up. We basically hiked up the mountain through the jungle. It was gorgeous! I'm sure it would have been even prettier during the summer since there weren't any birds or blooming flowers and I guess during the summer there are.

 There were a ton of borrachududos again! Dayne's legs got eaten up and became really swollen.

 When we arrived back to Sao Sebastiao, President Paulo's brother Eduardo picked us up from the ferry and we all went out to dinner. They made me eat SQUID. It wasn't TOO bad. I wouldn't say it was good but it wasn't bad either. I only felt a little nauseous when I thought about what I was actually eating. The flavor was pretty good, the texture was not so good. After dinner here, I guess the guys were still hungry because they insisted we go to this guy who cooks hot dogs in the back of his van. It sounds a little sketchy but it was pretty good! Their hot dogs have mayo, ketchup, and mustard on the bun and then the hot dog. Then on top of the hot dog they put peas and corn with crushed potato chips. They grill the whole sandwich and then its ready to eat up! After dinner we went back to President Paulo's house and went to bed. Well, bao noite!

My favorite part of the day? Seeing Dayne tear up as we were leaving the island on the ferry for the last time. I can tell the island has a special place in his heart.