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Published: August 7th 2007
An incredibly beautiful old town with over 70 islands and stunning beaches - why then do so many travellers miss it out?! We had a great time there eating loads of Acai (Brazil´s super fruit), getting Capoeira and break dancing lessons from locals in a club and watching Mike do a shot of chili oil!
Our guide to getting by with no Portuguese
*Ordering chicken breasts in the supermarket (creator Mike)
Steps
1. Start by bending you arms into chicken wings.
2. Then flap a few times.
3. Finish by grabbing your breasts.
(Success rate 100%).
*How to swap a big not for change (creator Charlie)
Steps
1. Hold the note flat in the palm of one hand.
2. Use your other hand to Karate chop along the note.
(Success rate 100%)
*Asking whether the drink contains Red Bull (creators Charlie and Mike symultaneously)
Steps
1. Bend your arms like wings and flap. After performing this talented gesture the Brazilian serving us exclaimed árgh gives you wings´!
IIha Grande
Everyone will tell you how beautiful this island is and it is, but my experiences was tarnished somewhat.
For the first time ever I pre-booked accommodation.
This ment we ended up climbing 100+ steps with our 20kg bags to a hostel surrounded by ponds and dirty rivers. Water, especially stagnant water means one thing in a tropical area, BUGS and lots of them, in particular my nemesis the mosquito. At precisely 00:30 I woke up furiously scratching my arm. After waking Mike up so he too could fear mosquitoes and bed bugs I changed beds and went back to sleep. The following morning when I grabbed my towel off my old bed a millipede dropped to the floor. I´m told these guys have an evil bit and judging my the lump on my arm if it was a mosquitoes he would have exploded!
Safe to say I made us changed hostel. The next place was fine and we were given a 6 bed dorm to ourselves. Once unpacked we set off to explore the island. Wearing our Haviana flip flops we decided a 2 and half hour walk over 3 hills in a tropical jungle was a good idea. Any sane person would have seen the pitfall, but nevertheless we did it. We currently have rubbing market on our feet and while I got a
sprained ankle Mike´s got a bruised ass from falling over - but who cares we looked cool! After our trek we only had 20mins in the sea, but with the strength of the waves it was enough time to destroy us and work up an appetite for an all you can eat BBQ.
After IIha Grande we decided to explore the jungles surrounding Rio. As I write this we´ve just finished our day trekking and it didn´t go as smoothly as planned! Here are some do´s and don´ts we learnt:
1) Do not leave home without a Lonely Planet
2) Do not walk all the way to the bus station because you (for some reason) think it has a tourist information to later find out there´s nothing even close.
3) Do not just miss the bus you´re supposed to be on.
4) Do get the conductor to jump into the path of the bus to stop it for you.
5) Do not get off the bus roughly 10km after the park entrance and end up sitting the the middle of nowhere!
6) Do flag down another bus with an extremely helpful driver who takes you all the way
Breakfast
After a hilarious night dancing with the locals!
back to the park entrance.
7) Do enjoy a days trekking and eat lunch with an incredible view.
Now we´re off to the all you can eat restaurant again. It´s a beautiful system. You´re given a card which is red on one side and green on the other. If you have the card turned to green the chefs walk up to your table with skewers of grilled meat and carve it onto your plate. When it´s so good saying no is pretty tough!
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Resh
non-member comment
Happy Birthday
Looks like ur having a blast mate. Have a great day