Praia do Santinho is hidden behind sand dunes.

Well, maybe not “hidden” considering the number of cars with Paraguayan plates in the nearest parking lot, but Canada didn’t get the memo so we wouldn’t have discovered it if we hadn’t hiked across the Praia dos Ingleses sand dunes.

We came back the following day to explore it properly.

This is the perfect beach. Not too crowded, great waves, warm water and yes, picturesque and probably painful Bluebottle jellyfish washed up on the sand but hey, let’s forget about them.

We walked to the hill at the end of the beach and found a trail just past the viewpoint. Remember what I said about trails and hills in Brazil? The three of us were wearing Havaianas, so the goal wasn’t to reach the next beach 2.6 kilometres further, but to go as far as possible, enjoy the view, and come back alive.

Surprisingly, we actually made it to the top, climbing over rocks and on a very narrow dirt path.