Adventure hike around the Lagoa do Peri

The Lagoa do Peri is a large clear lake in the middle of a nature reserve with countless trails. One of these trails should lead around the lake and take about 3 hours. We chose this path and thought we could manage it without a map or guide. Soon, we left the immediate path along the lake and continued further into the forest. The nature fascinated us, the forest became wilder, the path became more difficult. We had to climb over fallen tree trunks. There were lianas on both sides of the path. The forest changed from Mediterranean flora to a tropical rainforest. A sign indicated the 'snake zone'. I carried Vincent in the sling in front of me the whole time, hoping that the difficult section would soon be over and that we would hopefully have circled the lake soon. Dennis carried the camera, the diaper bag, and our picnic supplies. After crossing two rivers on thin wooden planks, we entered a section with 20-meter-high bamboo trees that bent in the wind and squeaked loudly. The path became swampier but slightly less strenuous. I waited for the lake or a sign that would indicate how much further it was. We took a break at a waterfall, where we wanted to switch Vincent and the luggage between us. My back was slowly giving up. We had probably been walking for a total of 4 hours. Were we not walking that slowly? During the short break, we drank our water and ate the last apple. I was already looking forward to dinner at the car. I would definitely be able to sleep well tonight. After a few meters, we reached a sign that said 'fim da trilha' (end of the trail). The path just ended. We were in the middle of the jungle! Suddenly, we also noticed that no one had passed us in a while. It was already late afternoon. I suddenly panicked that we would have to spend the night here in the jungle with the snakes. The only way out of this situation was to go back the way we came. The adrenaline expelled all our aches and fatigue. Vincent had been sleeping most of the way there and was now in a cheerful mood. He didn't notice the precarious situation we were in. With the fear of being attacked by the night and with exchanged luggage, we headed back - through the swamp, past the squeaking bamboo trees, across the rivers, over the high stones, over the fallen tree trunks, past the lianas, ... Dennis was much faster with Vincent in his arms than I was on the way there. We were back on the right simple path. For the way there, we had taken about three hours for this route, but on the way back, we made it in less than an hour. We saw the lake! There were houses here; we could even take a taxi if necessary. Dennis immediately regained his sense of direction and knew how to get to the main road, which would lead us directly to the parking lot where our car was parked. We arrived there by hitchhiking and made it on time before Vincent demanded his dinner. Phew, that was a close call. From now on, only hikes with a map or guide ;)