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Published: January 18th 2014
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After 8 days and nights of beaches, favelas, multicoloured stairs and mountains, we packed our bags and waved goodbye to Mr Redeemer and headed off to Ilha Grande.
Two hours after leaving Rio we arrived at the coastal town of Mangaritiba where we caught a short ferry to the Island. Once on the island, a quick stroll along the beach and through the tiny town and we reached our new home for next 3 three nights; The Biergarten Hostel. As it was our first night in a new destination we thought we would treat ourselves to a slap up meal in town. So we showered, got dressed, tossed aside the super noodles and headed off for a cheeky Brazilian treat, it was needed and very much enjoyed.
The next day we were up early for a boat trip around the south of the island to view the beaches Ilha Grande had to offer. So we (and 120 Argentinians) jumped aboard and set sail to the tune of the finest South American pop music. Our first stop was a beach called Lopes Mendes; a long, white sanded, shallow watered beach. We now understood what all the fuss was about. The
moment the anchor was dropped we were ready, floating tube in hand we jumped off the boat and swam ashore.
After visiting and few more idyllic beaches and coves, we arrived to yet another. This time though, instead of doing the usual, we let the Argies crack on and we decided to stay aboard to partake in one of our favourite pastimes...jumping off a boat in stupid poses. As you can probably gauge from the pics we had fun!
After a slightly bumpy ride back to shore we made it back with lunch still in our bellies, albeit looking a little bit green, one of us especially so (can you guess who?!).
With Ilha Grand being equally famous for it's many hikes we thought we'd give one go. After all, how much trouble could it be for a couple of seasoned pro's (we did conquer(ish) Glen Coe!!!) ?! Hiking shoes on, bags packed and enough water to flood a small village, we set off. Following the numerous warnings of various poisonous snakes we commenced the trail with eyes peeled and stomping our feet hard enough to set off a small tsunami in South Pacific (to scare the
snakes off obviously). 20 minutes in, red faced and sweaty as hell we came across a sound we have never come across before. We stopped, looked a each other in a desperate vie for reassurance; it went on and on long enough for us to debate whether to carry on along the path or wuss out and head back. With visions of a big foot/predator hybrid about to come flying through the trees at us, we took a deep breath in and continued on with true British stiff upper lips! After another couple of extremely sweat ridden miles we came to the oasis at the end of the trek...the falls! In the time it took Rich to wipe the sweat from his head, Gem was off like the girl from the Peter Andre's 'mysterious girl' video, bathing under the falls. A few obligatory pics later we were heading back to the town along the same track. Another short while later, we were back; alive and venom free. Phew!
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