Relaxing in Ilha Grande & Paraty post Carnaval

---

Leaving Rio was always going to be hard, apart from kissing goodbye to the shocking driving and music taste (lady gaga is huge in Brazil, our taxi driver was mental playing her music and driving 60mph through a congested city). But did mean that we were officially on the road and traveling, cant stay in one place too long. We went to the bus station and got our first bus ticket. The 2 and a half hour bus journey was'nt a bad one but the 50 minute boat trip from the mainland to Ilha Grande was amazing. Not only had we discovered that the sun was well and truly on its way (factor 30 at the ready,) but according to the position of our hostel on the map we were going to be spending the next 2 nights in the jungle which was very exciting!

Ilha Grande is an Island off the mainland of Brazil, no cars, no atms, no sambadrums and no lady gaga. Total relaxation in paradise.

After having a quick look around the place,we decided on spending the rest of the day checking out the harbour and the lovely little shops to find out how much the local beer cost. Then went to the beach for some well deserved relaxation. Which was obviously never going to completely happen as Perdy seems to attract anything that either stings,bites or has a slippery surface. The inevitable happened after about half an hour when a giant ant decided to sink his jaws into her middle toe and hold himself there for a few seconds. Undetered we lay around until a downpour made us get up and decide what to do for dinner.
There was'nt much to decide in the end as our budget has taken a big hit during the carnival and Ilha Grande not being as cheap as we'd hoped made our minds up for us, pizza and chips it was. Not that there's anything wrong with pizza of course,but for the first time on the trip Tony realised that it was going to be pretty hard going trying to keep a full stomach whilst trying to make sure you get to see the most of the place that your visiting. So something cheap and filling was on the menu tonight,which also turned out to be pretty nice!

Apart from the main harbour,Ilha Grande has a number of other lovely beaches around the island,which can be reached either by paying for a boat (around RS10 one way) or hiking through the rainforest to get to your desired destination. Us being us and wanting to find out if we had it remotely in us to take on the Inca trail,decided on the latter, to Lopez Mendez which we read was supposed to be beautiful. Hiking boots check, factor 30 check, anything else we might need just incase we get trapped in the jungle for days on end..... check! And 2 hiking sticks that we borrowed off of Mark and Nikki who decided on scuba diving for the day.

The hike through the forest was quite challenging, first the path (being made up of tree roots as steps and hopping over rocks and streams so had quite a laugh passing people wearing flip flops) leads you approx 600 mtrs above sea level,where you get an amazing view of the surrounding islands and beaches, which really gave us a sense of achievement and a huge pain in our legs! The way down seemed just as hard,especially for Perdy who is quite famous for rolling down mountains such as Mount Kinabalu. But it led us to a lovley beach were we decided to stop for lunch which consisted of stolen chocolate cake and ham & cheese from breakfast. We were slightly frowned upon by Nikki and Mark but a lunch not paid for is worth at least 3 beers at the end of the day! After getting a killer green spider off of Perdy's back (here we go again) we carried on our persuit of paradise up and down what we thought was one other 500mtr hill through the deep forest but turned out to be another 2 until we reached our destination.

As we passed the 20 or so monkey's in the trees, the path came clear and there we finally were. 3 and a half painful and hot hours later, Lopez Mendes.

The beach was protected by the natural formation of rocks either side, so there were too many waves beyond the lagoon for boats to come into, so it was completely untouched. Paradise.

We had already decided at this point to hike back to the nearest beach and pay for a taxi boat back, as we would never make it home before dark, or before Perdy broke something.

The boat trip back was about an hour, this put into perspective just how far we'd travelled by foot. There really wasn't much left for us to do that day apart from eat and collapse. So we did. After, Tony fed some hummingbirds outside our hostel. What an amazing bird, felt so privaleged to be so up close and personal with them. We would never have been able to capture the image if it wasn't for our new camera. It has such a fast shutter speed that we were able to capture a still shot as they can hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings 12-90 times per second. It was exactly the thing we had been waiting to use the camera for.

Unfortunately we were leaving the next day, we could have definitely stayed longer if we had the time & money. Shame we couldn't do the diving either because of Perdy's arm, but certainly somewhere we'd come back to if ever in Brazil again.

We were stung a little bit as we left Ilha Grande on a Saturday and only the double price catamarans left at weekends, but we had no choice. 50 mins to Angra and then a further 2 hours on a local bus to Paraty. We had booked 3 nights to stay here as we had heard it was a great place to recharge after the carnaval festitivies. It was also our first private room which was welcoming to finally get a good nights sleep. Paraty is one of the first portugese settlements. Very pretty and has some stunning old colonial buildings. It is currently a candidate to become a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

We arrived late morning and conveniently for Mark & Tony, just in time for the FA Cup games. The hostel had an all you can eat BBQ night on, a bit over budget but we deserved it. We filled up on meat & fish had a good few drinks and head into town. It was so different to anywhere else we'd been before, we felt increidibly safe. The streets of Paraty are very strange, lined entirely with cobbles which makes it unbearable after a while to walk on. Clearly no one in this town knew what a flat tarmacked surface was. We found all clubs too expensive to go in to. So in true backpacker style, we bought our beers from an ice cream parlour and stood 50 yds from the club so we could hear the music and drink & dance in the street. cheap!

The next day we explored the immediate vacinty of Paraty and the beaches. We were left a little disappointed, for the first time on the trip. The beaches weren't anything special but we were informed you needed to travel out a bit. So the next day we did. We jumped on a white knuckle ride, also known as the local bus to Trindade. Negotiating windy bendy roads that had 200 foot drops and pieces of the road missing. Not very pleasant. Worth it when we got to Trindade though. Its a national park about 40 mins from Paraty. Once again we realised that good things don't come to those who are lazy, so set off on 2 hour hike to get to the most beautiful beaches. It was quite trecherous in places and there was a bit of wave dodging over some precarioius rocks, but we made it. Very glad that we did, we found ourselves in this beautiful lagoon that was enclosed by rocks, keeping it completely calm and secluded. Not a bad place to spend Monday lunchtime. Probably the 1st time both of us thought about what would be going on back home. We smiled... a lot! On our hike back we watched the waves for sometime. They are incredible here, so huge. A little frightening at times actually. But still nothing as frightening as the bus journey back to Paraty. We really need to get used to these journeys. We are glad we came to Paraty as just outside was beautiful. Our advice to anyone is to venture out a little from town. Although beautiful colonial buildings and quiant cobbled streets, if offers little else without a journey out of town. Although I think I would have rather stayed there than face the 24 hour bus journey ahead of us.

---

Comments

[mum]

surfing!
Oh yes i can just see me on those waves with my surf board! lol I bet you are so glad you bought that camera, the photos are great. The scenery ones are beautiful although some were spoilt abit as 2 people kept getting in the way! lol. . So glad you are both having such a great time. Cant wait to read the next part of your adventure. xx