Ilha Grande

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A blue bay, a strip of beach, a village with no cars, green hills as backdrop...reminds me of Perhentian Kecil and little of Gili T. The community here is larger than the first yet there are no horses and carts here as on the second. It's also a much bigger island than either of them. It's a couple of hours south of Rio.

I spent three days here, hanging out with some of the gang from Arraial: Joaquin, Guillermo, Francisco, Fernando and Ruben. There are lots of other Argentinians here, too. Brazil seems to be where people from Argentina love to come on holiday. Given the beaches and the warm weather, it's easy to see why. Activities include beach, party, sleep, beach, party, sleep.

The main beach consists of coarse, granular yellow sand and about 40 or 50 various craft nod at anchor in the bay, from rowboats to two-masted sailboats. The village is pleasant and while it's a bit touristy, it's not yet over-developed and as long as there are no cars on the island it might avoid high-rise concrete condos. This used to be a fishing village and to some extent still is but I think tourism is now providing more income than fishing nets. Stuff floats at the shoreline, not all of it entirely natural I suspect, so I didn't like to sunbathe or swim here.

We caught a ferry to Lopa Mendes Beach, accessible either by boat or by two-hour hike through the jungle past a group of curious monkeys with lemur-like tails watching us from a tree beside the trail. Long and wide, white sand, transparent, warm water. There was perhaps one vendor on a beach not in the least bit crowded. We swam, dozed, ate, talked and shared a cup of mate (pronounced Mah-tay). It's an herbal tea that the Spaniards discovered the natives drinking. Tastes like boiled grass to me, somewhat bitter, so I guess it's an acquired taste, like whiskey. You put it in cups shaped like the bombs dropped from WWII bombers - pointy noses, flared ends - and drink it through a steel straw. You pass it from person to person so it's very communal. I suppose Argentinians all get colds at the same time.

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