Blogs from Ilha Grande, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, South America - page 13

Hello everyone Well where do I start, we left Rio about a week ago and got the bus down to Angra dos Reis where we then got a ferry across to Ilhe Grande. There are no banks and no cars on the island which makes for a big change from Rio. We eventually found our hostel (Over Nativa) there was NO signs at all and tempers were getting frayed but alas with some help from a man who spoke no english we found it!! Really nice hostel just one street back from the main beach. We were staying in a 10 bed dorm in a vain effort to stop spending so much money but it was a big dorm so it was cool and we met 2 guys from Birmingham, Aaron and Sam who we ended ... read more

After our first stint in Rio (which I am holding back from blogging on until after we leave for a second time) we took the popular trip down to Ilha Grande, or The Big Island, approximately two hours south of Rio off the coast. After a short bus journey we boarded the first boat we saw which had a man enticing us on with shouts of ´beer, cerveja, mucho beer, mucho cerveja´, and we helped out with the loads of cargo being lumbered on board over our shoulders. Not quite the chicken on the lap scene which Emma had in Africa but was still an adventure of sorts. Incidentally all the local trade is done by boat as the Island is an ecological reservation and so most modes of transport are forbidden, boats are therefore a ... read more

Ilha Grande After Rio we headed down the Brazilian Coast to a little island called Ilha Grande, for some relaxation (because Rio had just been so exhausting!). The weather improved (i.e. it stopped raining) which is good when one wants to lie on the beach. Ilha grande reminded me a bit of some of the Thai islands - lovely white sandy beaches, no roads to speak of, just green rainforest covering the entire centre of the island. Helen and Fergus were still with us, so the consumption of caipirinhas continued....... It was quite a fun place - we even managed to get ourselves invited to someone´s 45th birthday party, cake and everything, and Fergus managed to pull one of the rather large Brazilian ladies!!!!! We did a mini-hike through the middle of the island over to ... read more

We asked the girl at the hostel in Copacabana where would we go for diving and snorkelling, she advised us on a remote island called Ilha Grande. So off we went- As you can see we had a great time here, stayed in a hostel called Hostel Aquarius and it was right along the beach. The island probably took about 7hrs total by bus and by boat. It was amazing. No atms on the island but we were fortunate enough to exchange dollars for Brazilian reais but at a price. The lady basically raped us with the exchange rate. We ended up chatting with some people on the boat over and turns out we were all stayin in same hostel. U will see all in the photos and names will be noted on all. We stayed ... read more

We were told that no visit to the state of Rio De Janeiro would be complete without a stop in the famous Ilha Grande, a large island situated a short ferry ride off the coast of Brazil. We boarded our bus to Angra Dos Reis and upon our arrival there were befriended by a Norweigan couple, Gry and Glen, to split a cab to the ferry for the ride over to the island. On the ride over to Ilha Grande, we were able to mostly ignore the relentless pouring rain by chatting with our new friends, however upon disembarking in the main town of the island we could ignore it no longer. Deciding to abandon our planned search for a quaint camping ground (ala Ilha Do Mel) we elected to instead traipse around looking for drier ... read more