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Published: February 17th 2009
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Ilha Grande is an island located off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state and part of the municipality of Angra dos Reis. The island is largely undeveloped and noted for its scenic beauty, which includes tropical beaches and a rugged landscape. The island once held a notorious prison, which was open until 1994. This lack of human presence is the reason for its intact preservation, making this place a true paradise in the world.
The entire island is a protected area, with most of its territory included in Ilha Grande State Park.The island which is road less and off-limits to cars features over 150 km of hiking trails connecting a handful of coastal villages, mountain peaks, waterfalls, and pristine forests.
We decided to do one of these treks to a beach on the other side of the island. Travis a Canadian guy who we met the night before told us of a beach around 8km away. 8km doesn't seem that far, but let me tell you when its up a mountain and down again.. IT FRICKIN IS... This obviously proved to be a tougher test than we first thought. The round trip was around 16km and in flip
flops... NOT COOL... So Travis, John, Conor, Raz and I embarked on this epic journey.
The trek started off easy enough with a rugged road taking us up the mountain. After an hour of what seemed to be a never ending journey, retreat was not too far from my mind. Never the less, we carried on up to the ridge where the path, after leading us up the mountain, would now lead us back down. We met 2 older European guys who had done the trek a few years before and informed us of a short cut that would cut 2km of our journey. After we got to the ridge, to the right lay a small narrow path that would cut straight through the Forrest and take us down quicker. Although this would kill a couple of kilometers in distance, this was not the easiest way. Pushing back the shrubs and the big bamboo plants, whilst trying to navigate through what seemed to be some kind of death trap in a Rambo movie was starting to take its toll. Again i advise trainers and not flip flops.
Having been going a while now, we pushed back the final
few plants to find a gorgeous lagoon. This fresh water Lagoon was used by the guards to drink and bath during the prison years. The trek had lasted a couple of hours at this point, at which we all found ourselves knackered and dripping in sweat from the mid day sun. A cool, fresh pool to soak our aching limbs in was exactly what the doctor ordered. We sat in this natural bath taking in the beauty that was around us. Not wanting to get out and continue the trek seemed to be a common theme amongst us, but we soldiered on.
Another 20 or so minutes down the island we arrived at our destination. We passed through a kind of ghost town, with lots of old derelict buildings. I guess alot of locals are still living here, years after the prison has been closed. We passed through the town and found our reward. The beach that had taken us around 3 hours to reach was definitely worth the wait. The personal battle that we had all been fighting seemed a distant memory...No one was thinking at this point about the walk back.
The beach was empty, as
expected, only a handful of people enjoying the stunning views.... TILL a boat rocks up with tourists staying on other parts of the Island. NOOOOO.... Our epic journey, the mental battle we had all faced.... and these lot stroll onto the beach from a boat.... ARGH..... never mind, we had worked for it, and this was our reward. They offered to take us back for a small fee of 30 reais (10 quid)...cheeky... cant say i wasn't tempted but felt it would take something away from the whole experience.
After chilling out for a while, we decided to head back. Again stopped at the lagoon for a quick soak and made our way back to the town to grab some food. No one had thought to bring any food along the journey, except Travis, who had brought some sweets and kindly shared to give us a boost of energy.
All in all, it was a great experience although i paid for it for a few days after, struggling to move...
The rest of the time on the Island was relaxed. Not really doing much, apart from relaxing on the beach close to our Hostel Aquario. People tended
to catch a taxi boat in the morning to Lopes Mendes beach, which is meant to be nice. To be honest I've been lucky enough to see some of the nicest beaches in the world and Lopes Mendes didn't really appeal to me too much.
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