Soak up the Sun

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Beaches and Ball in Brazil

Next stop after Rio was Ilha Grande. Our first full day in Ilha Grande was spent on an awesome all day boat tour. It was a fantastically sunny day and we all just hung out on the boat, music blasting, basking in the sun. We were served water and Caprhinias all day. We got to stop at different beaches around the Island and go swimming and snorkling, and the crew cooked us an all you can eat bbq lunch as well! It was such a fun and relaxing day. I was certainly starting to feel like I was on a vacation rather than travelling in a way (which are two very different things in my opinion). That night we went out to the one "night club" that they had on the Island......which turned out to not be much of a party. However, I think we probably left just as the party was getting started, which was around 2am. There was some good live music though. They were playing a traditional style of music - it was muite bom! ("very good" in portugeuse). On the ferry ride to Ilha Grande, the boys had spotted a place called "Parrot's Peak", a large rock formation at the top of a mountain that looks like - you guessed it - a parrot. By the end of the first day they had persuaded and begged the entire group into hiking up to the top the next morning at 7am. I had a great time on the hike the next day - no backpack and at sea level....ha! I was feeling grrrrrreat. Our "guide" for the hike was this complete jungle man; he had no shirt and did the entire hike in bare feet!!! At one point he decided to start running up the path, so Zac (another tour member) and I challenged ourselves to keep up with him. Zac had been the most enthusiastic about doing the hike and had convinced some rather unwilling people to come along, so he had several group members cursing his name by the end of the hike; However, I believe that everyone was grateful to have the opportunity to see the amazing view from the top of the mountain. Another major part of my time on Ilha Grande was the Acai. Acai is a brazillian berry, sort of like a blueberry, which is packed with all sorts of good stuff. I would pretty much have blended Acai for breakfast lunch and dinner...yummm!
Next stop after Ilha Grande was Paraty, the home town of our tour leader, Wado. Here the boys and I played soccer with some locals; the group visited some awesome beaches in Trindade; we went to a rock waterfall slide thing that the guys all chucked themselves down - which was quite entertaining to watch I might add; and we went to a Cachaca factory (production of a liquour made from fermented sugar cane) among other things. We also got to meet Wado's family and see his art studio (as he is also a painter and a musician).
Last stop in Brazil was the famous and mighty Iguassu Falls. After a grueling twenty three hours of travel by busses, we arrived in the town of Foz de Iguacu in the morning and headed straight to visit the Brazilian side of the falls. The falls are really breathtaking, both from the Brazilian side and the Argentinian side, which we saw the next day. It is unreal how big the Iguassu Falls are. On the Brazilian side there was less water, but there was a really wicked rainbow. The Argentinian side was much more powerful and intimidating.....so beautiful. On our last day in Foz de Iguacu, we snuck our way into Paraguay to do a little shopping. That evening, we packed up and headed off to Uruguay!

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Photos

Iguassu Falls
part of the Brazilian side

Iguassu Falls
Part of Brazilian side

Iguassu Falls
Argentinian side