Once again I find myself in some kind of paradise. This time it is the city of Paraisópolis, viewing out of the bakery which is on the central square where the Pousada which i am staying at is located as well. It is raining outside which is a fitting setting for this somewhat dreary resting day on the Caminho. It is quite the contrast with the 12 hour adventure i lived yesterday during which i walked just shy of a marathon distance. Read all about it.

It is 4 ‘o clock in the morning when i wake up. It’s not time to get out of bed yet but i am somewhat restless. Probably because of the anticipation of walking over 40 kilometers today, something which i have never done before, ever. I can hear the movement of other pilgrims in their rooms of the Pousada Poka preparing for their day of pilgrimage and wonder why since breakfast is not served untill 5.30. I have come up with this double stage plan after getting tired of walking several very similar 20 km stages in a row. To break the routine i decided to walk a longer distance, thus ensuring another one-day mini adventure of which i already lived various along this way, but not in this manner.

At 5.30 i leave my room and walk down to the breakfast lounge where several groups of cyclists are enjoying breakfast. The lounge provides a nice view of the mountains which surround the town of Estiva. Although it is still dark outside the sun is already providing a soft outline on the mountains in the distance. This peacefull setting is disturbed as a lady walks up to my table and starts to talk. It is Mrs. Poka with her customer satisfaction inquiry and probably some interest into this out of place looking Pilgrim. She starts to tell about how she is leaving on her own pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela tomorrow which she will be walking accompanied by 18 other Brazilians. She is very kind and quickly leaves me to finishing my breakfast only to be followed by the request to pose for a photo with Mrs. Poka; “we don’t get that many foreigners here so this has to be documented”.

Half an hour later i step out of the hotel door. It is 6.30, earliest i have left so far, and the sun is out already. I am glad to have put on my superlight jacket which provides just enough protection from the chilly morning temperatures. The morning sun somewhat disguises the ugliness of this town which does not have all that much to offer other than it’s mountain views. And hills of course. I get a last taste of that as i walk out of town towards the highway which runs beside it.

A pedestrian bridge leads me across the busy highway and provides a nice view of the mountains in the distance where i am walking towards. I understand why some pilgrims get up so early; it’s peacefull and mystic to walk during the early hours. And it’s also practical if you have to walk a long distance like i am doing today. I have calculated that i will be needing about 10 hours to complete the distance. Adding some time to that for lunch and resting would mean that i will be arriving somewhere around 18.00 hours at my destination.

Progress during the early hours is good. I am walking with a steady pace and am kind of expecting to see the cyclists from the Pousada passing by at some point. After 5km i walk through a small settlement where i enjoy a quick coffee in what looks like a storage space but is being used as a local coffee and convenience store. They also have their own stamp which i eagerly add to the collection in my Pilgrim passport. Outside of the multifuncional space one of the bikers from the Pousada shortly stops to inspect his bike and quickly he is on his way again.

I resume my voyage as well. There are several climbs on today’s route and i would like to make some proper progress before the sun is at it’s highest and conditions will be less. Soon i arrive at the bottom of the first of today’s climb, the Serra do Caçador. That’s when the remainder of the first group of cyclists passes by wishing me a good Caminho. It is strange to just now receive acknowledgement of my presence on the Caminho when we already saw each other before at the Pousada.

About half an hour into the climb a second group of cyclists and their support car pass by. I am taking a break at a small bench on the side of the road and eat half an apple as i see 8 women, whom i also saw at breakfast, on mountainbikes trying to make their way uphill. Not all of them look well prepared for the activity. Fat bottomed girls riding their bicycles through the Brazilian mountains. Internally i cheer them on for taking on the challenge. The last of them is still in sight when I resume walking. Half of the group got off their bikes and is walking right now, pushing their bikes uphill while the other half is cheering them on from some flatter section on the ascent. The achievement is celebrated with a group picture with the spectacular backdrop the landscape provides. “I wonder how much more i will be seeing of them today” i think while passing by and observing the cheerful atmosphere.

Now i have no more big butts to focus on and i have to get up the mountain with my own will-power. But my legs are still fresh and quickly I arrive at a viewing point with a small bar and a chapel where the first group of cyclists is eating some pastries and drinking coffee. I suppose i am at the top of the mountain now but when i look at Wikiloc i see that i still have a kilometer or so left. I doubt about drinking another coffee but quickly decide myself and strap my backpack on again to finish the climb and tick off the first ascent of the day.

At the top of the climb, 11 kilometers in now, there is another smaller chapel which looks like a nice place to stop and. Some of the chapels along the route are built and maintained by volunteers whom every once in a while return to the caminho to do some necessary maintenance. This is one of them. Inside the chapel other Pilgrims have left all kinds of stuff and i pick up some cyclist-gels of which i think they may come in handy when i get exhausted towards the end of the day and i might need an energy boost. On the bench across the road from the chapel i prepare the energy boost which should get me through the rest of the morning: a corn bread sandwich with Turkey and tomato.

From here the walk is mostly downhill untill the town of Consolação and therefore should be easy, physically at least. Along the whole route of the Caminho da Fé you can find many signs of religious nature. The closer you get to Aparecida the more i see of them. Some of them are hand painted wooden signs, others are plastic signs with inspirational phrases from people whom all seem to have walked the Caminho da Fé. Today i am somewhat annoyed by the continuous flood of phrases and words telling me to persevere and how much easier life is once you let faith guide you and I have a hard time ignoring them for a while. “It’s all just total chaos and we are all trying to make sense of it” i think at some point.

I arrive in Consolação at around 11.30. As i walk into the village i am saluted 8 times by the female mountainbikers riding past me one by one. They are stopping for lunch at the entrance of the town and i greet them. They make jokes about me having small wheels in my feet and i tell them that i expect them to arrive at the destination before i do. I walk a bit further into town and find a nice restaurant to have lunch at besides the church. 20 kilometers and counting.

One hour later i resume my walk. Having stopped for almost an hour feels a bit exaggerated but at least i had proper lunch and my legs got some rest now. I have put on my long sleeve shirt now to prevent my arms from getting sunburnt. Up ahead is what may be the worst part of the day, a long stretch of asphalt road during the warmer part of the day. I want to get this over with as quickly as possible. Luckily the road is not very busy with vehicles and most of it is downhill. I am starting to feel a burning feeling in my buttocks as a result of the continous rubbing occurring in that area in combination with the sweat running down my back and into my buttcrack. Out of experience i know that i should attend to this quickly before things get worse but the idea of pulling down my shorts on the middle of the road does not seem like a good one. This morning i stored my anti friction cream deeply inside my backpack after having spent the previous weeks in the top compartment of my backpack and not having needed it. Once i am on a dirt road again i dig the cream out of my backpack, pull down my shorts and apply some hoping things won’t get worse during the remaining 17 kilometers which, buttcrack wise, seems like a long way to go.

On the map i can see that i have to walk alongside a river for a while to eventually arrive at a bridge and walk back on the other side. While i do so i feel how my right knee is protesting somewhat. It does not really hurt but I am not walking as fluently as I should. I slow down a bit since it seems to be what my knee is asking for. I already envision limping into Paraisopolis at the end of the day but i am determined to go all the way today. Still, i am happy when i walk past a pousada where a woman greets me and i decide to stop for a bit. She offers to prepare me a suco do peregrino (pilgrim juice) consisting of a blend of coconut water and acai. She carelessly tosses some empty coconuts into the garden before she walks inside to prepare me my juice. I loose track of time and spend about 30 minutes talking with Angelica and drinking my juice. When i announce that i am leaving she seems a bit disappointed. Maybe it’s because it means she has to start ironing the Pousada’s bed sheets. After commemorating my visit with another Instagram picture i leave her to her task and focus back on mine.

According to Angelica it will take me four more hours to cover the remaining 14 kilometers into town. I am hoping she has not accounted for the small wheels in my feet because it would mean i will be arriving at night which is not something i want to be doing. “I guess i can do faster than that” i think to myself although my right knee is still protesting somewhat. The sun is already lowering as i walk around a really big rock which reminds me somewhat of the default desktop image on my macbook pro desktop. But this is not a computer screen, it is really there. Still i am fully focussed on the remaining distance. “The woman on their bikes must have arrived by now” i think as i approach the second climb of the day.

It feels like I am the only one still out there. After lunch i have not seen anyone passing by. I haven’t even seen any fellow walkers all day. But then I am greeted by two cyclists. I am happy to have some interaction although it is a repetition of earlier instances: “where are you from? From Holanda, really? Can we take a picture?”. I see them starting the final ascent while i postpone it some more with another food stop. I try and eat as much as possible of my second turkey sandwich of the day although my body does not really feel like it. But i will need to energy for the next few kilometers. After applying some additional anti-friction cream more bikers pass by and we struggle up the climb together. They provide me with some cold Gatorade half way up and are also impressed by the speed with which i moe up the climb. When i arrive at the top the sun is closing in on the horizon providing as magical a view as it did this morning.

Only 5 more kilometers to go now. The strange feeling in my right knee is gone and i walk normally again. I am suprised about still feeling good and can almost not believe that i am walking a complete marathon though be it not in regular marathon time. My last stop is at the Seta Amarela (Yellow Arrope) bar which is already closing for the day. I collect another stamp there and pose for a last Instagram picture. I am relieved to arrive at the edge of the city at 18.00. the lights in the city have already been turned on and it’s just a short bit more to the center of town.

20 minutes later i walk into a Pousada da Praça located opposite the church on the central square of the city. In the receptiong area i am greeted by the 8 biker ladies whom arrived 2 hours earlier. They are preparing themselves to have their picture taken as a memory for the accomplished achievement. For a moment I think they want me to be included in the shot but they take their picture without me. But who cares, i just walked 42 kilometers in one day.