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Published: March 10th 2007
Alright...
So Stef and I have slowly been making our way south along the Brazilian coast. Somehow we have managed to island jump the entire route with the expection of Sao Paulo. First we headed to Pararty, a touristy port town that found us living in a treehouse like hostel for 3 nights. We conveniently arrived on the weekend to find all of old town alive with vendors, musicians and outdoor dining. It was a nice switch up from the hustle of Carnaval.
From Paraty we headed to Ilhe Grande, home to Brazil´s most beautiful beach...which we actually never got the chance to see. However we did decide to take a 13 kilometer trek over the mountain to the jail on the opposite side of the island. It was brilliant until an hour in we realize that it´s 35c and we´re hiking a mountain in flip flops AND once reaching the jail would only have to turn around and do it all again. But being the resourceful girls that we are, mid hike heard the distinct rumble of a car engine. We stuck out our thumbs just as it rounded the corner, the kindly Portugese man gestured that he was
not allowed to pick up ppl and further motioned for us to jump in. Our 13km trek quickly turned into a bumpy drive through the scenic hills of Ilhe Grande. The jail while unimpressive and plastered in brazilian nudie pics but was situated by the most gorgeous beach. We kicked off our sandals after our long walk and swam away our cares.
This was also our first attempt at camping, the jungle floor proved to be rather uncomfortalbe...as did the suspicious man would decided to sneak a peek into our tent in the early hours of the morning, luckily I sleep like a log and Stef had the pleasantry of telling him to F off, I opted to do so when a charming Brazilian thought it a lovely idea to walk around camp singing at 6 am.
From Ilhe Grande it was off to Sao Paulo and a free stay at Hostel Alberto, the home of a friend we met in Rio. He´s part of this website couchsurfing.com which unexpectedly led us to share his apartment with an additional 4 other girls. Very random but very fun! He took us all around town- Japan town, all you can
eat sushi, flea market, parks and what not. The highlight for me was our night out at DJClubBar - yes that is the real name, fantastic rock club who played No Doubt!! and let us dance until the wee hour of the morning.
Sao led us onto Ilhe do Mel a paradise of an island where there are no roads, cars and minimal electricity. The beaches were deserted to the point where we were one of four groups soaking up the sun. It was the most vegetative inducing island you could possibly find.
Presently we´re on our last couple days of our Brazilian leg of the trip heading off to Santa Catarina. It´s hard to believe that over 3 weeks has already passed and we´ve only managed to cover the smallest portion of our route. We´re both getting excited to switch it up a bit from the beach bummage and into some trekking.
Brazil has been nothing at all like we had expected. The people have all been really helpful, the landscape has been immensely beautiful and our trying adventure has definitly felt more like a dream vacation. Standing in the ocean and looking around it´s hard
to believe that we´re really here!
Thanks to all the great comments and support, Stef and I constantly say how much we wish we could share all the amazing things we´ve seen and done with our friends and family.
Talk to you soon, xo Tash
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Kathy
non-member comment
WOW
You guy's are so luckey. the pic's are amazing. Be safe and have fun.