My Beloved Forest

Today João and I had a brilliant idea. Why not walk in a place where we could breath fresh air, look at real trees and hear the birds singing. Since I ripped up my Achilles tendons in the Tijuca Forest 3 1/2 years ago, we haven’t been back. Because I am doing so well with my walking/jogging on the treadmill, we decided to take our day off and enjoy some of the beauty of Rio.  So off we went this morning in the car. I could hardly wait to check out my very favorite trail, the “Jaguar’s Cave”. It’s in the heart of the forest, and pretty flat for several kilometers. It’s a long trail, about 11 kilometers,   but after a couple of kilometers it  starts up a rocky trail. When we walked it 3 years ago, the trail ended at a broken down suspension footbridge. I was always sad that I couldn’t see what was on the other side. Today, to my surprise and delight, the bridge had been redone and finally I could cross it. 

When we went cross the bridge, and felt like explorers as we walked in unknown territory. Since it’s been rainy and windy this week, it was actually quite chilly as we walked, even though the sun was bright and the sky quite blue today. On the way back, I jogged part of the way to try to work up a little sweat. In all we walked about 50 minutes.

We didn’t take our camera, so you’ll have to pardon the cell phone shots. In fact I didn’t plan to photograph it at all, but I was so excited about the bridge I just had to capture that. Sometimes, as we walked, we stopped to listen to the birds and bugs or “hear” the silence.

One bird, the Araponga, known as the “blacksmith” or bellbird in English had a fascinating sound. It does rather resemble an anvil being struck. It is not your typical sweet sounding birdsong. If your are interested in hearing it, I’ve inserted this video from YouTube. This is NOT my video, but I’ll bet you anything it was recorded near to where we were today. Looks so much like the trail we were on.

I love these woods. They make me feel so alive. Unfortunately, tonight I have found my ankle area is swollen, tender and hurts a lot. It appears my tendon has been slightly reinjured. I don’t understand why, as the trail was super easy to walk and cushioned by leaves the whole way. I hiked up a rock mountain in Hawaii with no problems. I walk/jog a lot farther on the hard treadmill. I am icing my foot and hoping for the best, for I want to enjoy many more hikes in these beloved woods. How blessed I am to live in a place of such great beauty.