Climb Dois Irmãos
Hi everyone, how’s your weekend going? Those of you who follow the Eat Rio Facebook page will know that last weekend, Mrs Eat Rio and I went on a bit of an adventure. We climbed the larger of the Dois Irmãos!
Dois Irmãos, the iconic pair of mountains that sit at the end of Leblon beach. We went up the taller one on the left, commonly known as Irmão Maior – bigger brother.
It was awesome! Seriously, the views were incredible, we saw loads of amazingly bright butterflies, the walk through Vidigal was interesting – all in all it was a great day out!
So, why am I telling you this? Am I gloating? Well, yes, partly it is gloating. But also I thought I’d add it to my list of things to do in Rio!
It’s quite a short list at the moment (I do have other things to do in my life y’know!) but I hope to keep expanding this list with ideas for people either living here or planning on a visit.
So without any further ado, here is my latest suggestion for a great day out. Enjoy!
So incredibly jealous. I can only imagine the views!!! How long did it take you guys?
It was so cool! We are not bigger trekkers and did the whole thing in flip-flops – took us about an hour from the start of the trail to the very top.
You don’t have to imagine the views – I put quite a few photos in the “Things to do” post! ;)
Oh no way! I would have guessed it’d take way longer than that. Nice. Heading over to the thing to do post now to checkout the pics :)
Wow, thats so awesome! parabens!
Thanks Alex! How are you enjoying São Paulo? You must be like a kid in a candy shop (see how I Americaned that up for you? In England we would say “sweet shop”… ;) )
brilliant choice! thanks for posting this!
Thanks Anna! I can’t wait for a new visitor to come stay so we have an excuse to do it again! :D
Tem uma vista maravilhosa mesmo!!
Vale muito a pena.
Foi quase fácil! Bem vale a pena! :) Agora quero voltar num dia sem nuvens
Awesome adventure! I didn’t know Vidigal was that peaceful! Excellent sign. Another cool adventure is the Half- marathon inside Rocinha. It’s organized by Rede Globo every year. I really enjoyed the last time.
BTW, Rocinha is not the largest slum in Latin America. The last census said that there are only 69 thousand people living there, far behind the likes of Petare in Venezuela or Nizca in Mexico and several others.
Yeah, it was a really good day out and there’s plenty of time for some refreshing beverages once you get back down to Vidigal. I’ve heard that back in the bad old days, Vidigal had a really bad reputation as being one of the most violent favelas. All I can say is that I’ve felt fine every time I’ve been in. It actually gets much calmer and more peaceful at the top – fewer mototaxis and general chaos.
Regarding the relative size of Rocinha, I guess I was guilty of repeating that often cited ‘fact’ about Rocinha. The population count also seems to be somewhat contentious, with the census saying 69,000 but “estimates” quoted in Wikipedia (so it must be true, right? ;) ) ranging from 150,000 to 300,000. I’ve always thought those estimates sounded a bit exaggerated and having looked down on the favela from above, my (uneducated) guess is that it can’t be much more than 100,000… Anyway, it’s still big! :D
Any eating establishment worth mentioning in Vidigal?
I’m glad you asked me that Gritty! ;) I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my friend Tia Léa who has become famous for her awesome feijoadas and other Brazilian classics served up on the Laje. Definitely worth checking out.
More details here: http://cariocasdaclara.com/rio-secreto/feijoada-na-laje-da-tia-lea-no-vidigal/