Ilha Grande

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We woke up at 5.30 to get the bus from Buzios to Rio. With 5mins to spare we made the next bus to Angra Do Reis where we then got a ferry to Ilha Grande. I was ready to go to Argentina but Maz werent ready to give up Brazil just yet and as he heard so many good things about Ilha Grande we made the trek there.

We stayed in AquaRio hostel which is apparently the nicest and most ´happening´. It is clean and the staff are helpful and speak English. They hold barbacues and arrange daily trips too so it was a good chance for us to start meeting more people. We met a mixture of interesting people. But apart from that we both don´t really rate Ilha Grande as much as what we have heard about it. Maybe we just done too many beachy things. The weather on the first day was quite sh itty again so as it was my day to plan, I decided on going for a hike to see the old prison which the lonely planet describes as a leisurely walk, seeing children splashing in the natural lake on their way home from school ' and the old prison itself like something worth seeing. so off we set with our spam and breadrolls which we were hoping to have at this natural lake... yah right! it was a 2.5 hour trek split equally very steep uphill and very steep downhill (and the natural lake was dirty and right near the prison)! Half way there we heard this defening sound which made me and maz freeze. seriously... it was awful. Maz tried to convince me it was something mechanical but we sped up anyway. I wanted to cry. We later foudn out that they are some sort of wild monkeys. I think the lonely planet need to do a version for sheses!
When we got to the bottom we found out there were no taxi´s back. we were gutted but we still had to have our spam and breadrolls. Maz lost the battle to open the spam and had a little tantrum throwing it agains the tree! Later he disclosed that he´s always battling with the spam and always looses so it was obviously understandable....hehehehe. AND the prison was this sh itty little building... so we had to make our way back... orf! and so it began. We heard the noise again and it freaked us out again. Also with no toilet for 5 hours we had to go..... it was so nice being one with nature. Gladly no one was aroudn to watch and thank God we had toilet paper!

We still walking like 60 year old couple. Never excercised so much!

Anyway the next day we took it easy and did a boat tour around the islands and snokelling. That was pretty nice, esp when they took us to see this island full of starfish.

We leaving Brazil now. Cant believe the first part of our travelling is over. We also found that North Brazil is nicer and more cultural than the south which is more catered for tourists. we both loved salvador and the islands around there and happy we did the trip up North.

Next stop - Argentina. Steak country. Maz is preparing to have the biggest steak of his career! xx

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