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Published: April 21st 2013
Aventureiro Beach
Perhaps the most picturesque beach I have ever been to.After the craziness of
Carnaval and rushing around seeing the sights of
Rio, it was time for some relaxation on Ilha Grande, an island off the coast of Rio.
Ilha Grande really is a place to get away from it all. As the whole island and the waters around it are protected for conservation, there are no cars allowed on the island and you can only reach the island by boat. As a result it is perhaps unsurprising that the island is full of hippies, jocks, British gap year students, and Aussie backpackers. A paradise away from the harsh realities of real life - Brazil's version of The Beach.
The first thing I notice as we leave the pier and walk through the dirt roads of Vila do Abraao, the main village on the island, is that the place is full of dogs. With next to no concrete, vast beaches, the freedom of the village, and lots of fellow canine friends, life on the island must be pretty good for a dog.
Hell, it's not bad for a human either.
After a quick dip in the sea, we scrub up a little before enjoying some beers and dinner at
Green Lagoon
Lovely secluded spot where we had our first snorkel of the day. a beach-side restaurant, our tables right on the beach itself. Ahhhhh.....
Tired out by out last night out in Rio the previous night and a whole day of travelling, we turn in early for the night at our relatively flash digs (compared to where all the backpackers and hippies were staying), the Pousada Sanhaco, very much a family operation.
The next morning we head to the most popular beach on the island, Praia Lopes Mendes.
The only ways to get to the beach is either via boat or a three hour walk - like most people we opt for the boat. At 193 square km, they haven't named the place 'Big Island' for nothing.
A large wooden yacht takes us, as well as around 75 others, to another pier near the beach which is some 40 minutes away. From here we then have to embark on a 20 minute walk through the jungle. In the Brazilian heat and humidity, you're dripping with sweat in no time - they sure make you work to get to the beach. Soon enough however, the path then opens up and the beach is laid out to you in all of its glory.
No
View From Parrot's Peak
Fantastic view looking over Vila do Abraao. wonder it is the most popular beach on the island - it is almost perfect. The golden sand is so pristine that it squeaks when you walk on it, and it stretches out for miles along the coast. There is decent surf and some big waves too, although it is never rough. The water temperature is almost perfect - in fact it may have actually been slightly
too warm.
We were in the water for ages - swimming, catching waves, ducking waves, diving into waves, throwing around a tennis ball - good fun. A world away from the freezing cold and the office back in London.
John, Sag and I also went for a bit of a wander over the rocks at the end of the beach to harden up our feet, at times putting our climbing skills to the test. And when we got a bit too hot, we just Hasselhoffed/Mitch Buchananed ourselves back into the water.
The
only downside was that there wasn't a bit more shade. The Brazilian sun is much harsher than the sun in the Mediterranean and incomparably harsher than the sun in England. Apparently there is a bit of an ozone hole over Brazil
Paradise?
Aventureiro Beach - looks like something right out of a travel brochure. which means that while not as severe as the sun over New Zealand, it still toasts you pretty quick.
On the way back to Vila do Abraao, we stop by at a floating bar - a bar on a barge that you can only get to by swimming out to it or by a dinghy that the bar staff pull in from the shore by rope. The idea of a such a place is awesome and most of us take the opportunity of a 25m swim to get there.
Life couldn't have got much better than it was on that bar - beer, sun, music - and the opportunity to drop some sweet bombs! After we had all had about 3-4 beers, we were all a little tipsy and started diving and bombing away off the back of the bar into the water. Laughs, jokes, cock-fights with floating polystyrene noodles - it was great and was all over far too soon unfortunately as we towed ourselves back to shore to catch the last boat back to Vila do Abraao.
That evening there was a 'bloco' of sorts although in classic, laid-back, island style, the band was playing reggae
Lightning!
Quite proud of my lightning shot! Manually taken on my trusty pocket digital. Luckily the storm never hit the island. rather than samba, and the sweet smell of weed drifted through the air. Not exactly the kind of music conducive to recreating the crazy blocos we experienced in Rio, this bloco was more of a large gathering of people, all drinking in the streets.
It was another early-ish night for us, although the highlight of it had to be the lightning that was flashing violently in the distance. Unusually, although the lightning was frequent, intense and very bright, there was no thunder to be heard, and only very small spits of rain. Perhaps we were lucky to avoid bad storm.
John got his big camera out and got it to continuously take photos in an attempt capture the lightning rods in a picture like you would see in National Geographic, but wan't having any luck. I simply got my trusty pocket digital out twice and waited for the lightning to flash before quickly jamming my finger down - and got the two best shots out of all of us. Amusingly ironic.
The next day, the boys and the girls split up to do their own thing, and John, Sag and I decided that we would embark on a hike
Welcome To Lopes Mendes
Emerging from the jungle, this is a pretty awesome sight. to the top of Parrot's Peak, the island's highest climbable mountain, 959m above the sea.
I have done a few walks in my time -
The Cinque Terre,
The Samara Gorge, and most recently, some hiking in the mountains behind
Bergen in Norway.
Despite this however, I was a little nervous about this one. It is supposedly a six-hour hike to the top and back, so it was longer than any walk I had previously done, and it was a climb rather than walk. Looking up at the mountain, the actual 'parrot's peak' is a solid piece of bare rock so it looked like we might have to scale some rock to reach the top - and the fact that our trail map marked the peak as "Dangerous" and highlighted it with crossbones wasn't exactly encouraging either.
More than anything however, was the heat. I have walked in hot temperatures before but never in this humidity. A short 30 minute walk that I did in
Cambodia in similar conditions was hard enough, let alone the six hour one ahead of me.
We bought plenty of food and more importantly, water, from the town's general store for our hike - we were to carry three
Welcome To The Jungle
Sag and John take a breather. litres each.
Finally getting going at around 11am, we walked along a gravel road up the mountain for about half an hour with the sun beating down us, before we finally got to the start of the path that took us into the jungle's canopy, a rotting jackfruit infested with fruit flies greeting us as we started the hike
up.
Despite the shade of the canopy, I was heating up rapidly and we were all really struggling. We weren't even an hour in so I actually started to question whether I would make it up there - I was more worried about heat exhaustion than anything. We were taking regular breaks, but the steep hills were relentless.
We then came to a river where we managed to cool off. Dipping my head in it and splashing the cool water all over my bare torso (wearing a shirt wouldn't have been ridiculously foolish) cooled me down enough to continue and it seemed from here that we found a second lease of life, and suddenly we weren't feeling so knackered any more. This made the middle stretch of the walk bearable.
As we neared the top, the gradient got steeper and
Rope Climb
Some parts of the walk required rope climbing. our second lease of life was starting to drain away. It was only the motivation of almost reaching the top that kept us going. Curiously, the further we got up the mountain the more and more piles of monkey sh*t we were seeing. Or what we presumed to be monkey sh*t anyway. These were
massive piles of sh*t too. We knew that the island was full of brown howler monkeys but we didn't really know what they looked like - judging by the size of their sh*t we figured they must be fairly big. Having watched Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes en route here from Rio, we were a little nervous. Perhaps surprisingly, although we saw lots of monkey shit, we didn't actually see any monkeys even though we could hear them howling and growling, much to John's disappointment.
We then came across a massive piece of rock and the canopy started to clear - we were now very close to the top. After a small rope climb we then walked out into the blazing sun, through dry shrubs and onto the 'parrot's peak'. Four hours and sh*tload of hard yakka later, we had made it. The sense
Top Of Parrot's Peak
There is literally nothing but a hundred metre fall to your death underneath the parrot's "beak" that I am sitting on. Make no mistake, I was shitting myself a little during this photo. of achievement was palpable after trials and tribulations we had just put ourselves through.
As reward for our efforts, we got to sign a book that is kept in a wooden box on the top of the mountain, for all the people who had conquered Parrot's Peak. An even better reward however, was the view. It was simply magnificent although I will admit to having jelly legs as we perched ourselves on the rock which was pretty much an overhang with a long fall to your death below. After a lunch of bread and sardines, it was time to descend.
While I had conquered Parrot's Peak, Parrot's Peak had conquered my shoe which busted open on the way down. Rather annoying. Feeling refreshed and with gravity now on our side, we were flying down the mountain. The biggest worry was twisting an ankle because the ground was so uneven. We were mindful also, to try and get back to Vila do Abraao before the sun set - it was already getting very dark under the canopy.
On the way down, I then spotted a massive swarm of massive army ants on the ground, each of them about 2cm long.
Snake!
I almost stepped on the bastard. That would have been interesting. And painful, one suspects. "Woah, look at these ants!" I shouted to the boys.
"F*CKING RUN!!" shouted John.
Looking down at my feet I then suddenly realise that the ants are all over my feet and that the swarm of them has covered the path for the next ten metres in front of me. It was like that scene in Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of Crystal Skulls. In a panic, I sprinted down the path for about twenty metres only looking back down when I was well clear of the swarm. I then felt a sharp bite on my left foot as I brushed off last remaining ants and took off my left shoe fearing that some of them had got into it via the massive hole that had opened up. Thankfully none of them did, with most of the ants having fallen out after my panic-stricken sprint.
We finally got back onto the gravel road an hour and a half after we had started our descent.
Walking along the gravel road, John suddenly shouts, "Watch out there's a snake!"
Looking at my feet I don't spot it before suddenly seeing it an inch behind my right foot.
"F*ck you almost stepped right
Sunset
On the boat from Lopes Mendes back to Vila do Abraao. on it! I actually thought you were going to step on it - its tail started rattling and it's head turned around when you got near it!" John tells me.
So I had two close shaves with the local wildlife.
However for what is supposed to be a protected island thriving with wildlife and endangered species, we were disappointed not to have seen more wild animals during our six hours in the jungle. A massive moth, colourful butterflies, army ants and rattlesnakes yes - but unfortunately no monkeys or parrots (apart from the peak itself of course). It goes without saying that I slept pretty well that night!
When we had first arrived on the island, there were rumours going around that we had to turn our watches back 24 hours but we weren't sure why. Sag suggested that Ilha Grande was in a different time zone to Rio but given we were almost directly south of Rio, I found that hard to believe. iPhone clocks automatically went back for those who had their time zone set to the mobile networks. It was like a sort of weird Twilight Zone phenomenon that resulted in me getting up an hour
Streets Of Vila Do Abraao
Rua Santana, the road our hotel was on. It was great not seeing any vehicles for five days as they are not allowed on the island. earlier than everyone else the next morning, which as many of you know, just never happens. Research later on revealed that daylight savings had finished overnight without any of us knowing. It was all rather disorientating.
We didn't do anything other than lie on the beach that day - the highlight was in the evening.
Rather ironically and perhaps sacrilegiously, there is a hole-in-the-wall bar right behind the town's church. Serving mainly
caiprinhas, they also served other interesting variations on the same theme.
Caipisake, which replaces the Brazilian sugar liquor
cachaca in a caiprinha with Japanese sake, is surprisingly delicious. It gets better though - try mixing a caipisake with kiwifruit. Really. Good.
As we knocked back the
caipis, the bar staff kept us entertained by blaring out dance tunes from their laptop through some massive speakers. We were also sitting opposite a young dude selling cakes and dessert from a massive glass box built upon a bicycle. It was like a mobile cake cart. We - OK, the girls - gave him some pretty good business and over the course of the evening got to know him a bit better. Among other things, we find out that he
Good Effort
The number of caipis we got through in one night on the island. is moving to Norway of all places.
"Norway es muy, muy frio!" John laughs at him. Quite different to Brazil, that's for sure.
Before long, we had knocked back an entire table of caipis and Joy was giving Fi rides in a wheelbarrow. The caipis and dance music had got us into a dancing mood and we were keen to continue the night - but in this tiny town, where could we possibly go?
Never fear, Cake Boy is here!
We follow Cake Boy right across the other end of the beach, having to wade through some water to get there. It felt pretty cool, as if we were going to a secret party. There were loads of people streaming the other way.
As we got closer to our final destination, we could hear the music pumping and we were getting amped.
And then we arrived - a club right down the other end of the beach that we had no idea existed. The place is actually a hostel with the nightclub as part of it - how guests get any sleep I will never know.
There is queue to get in and peeking over walls, we see that
Dessert Wagon
The girls look to buy some yummy cake from Cake Boy on the streets of Vila do Abraao. this floating club is going off!
"Impossible" says Cake Boy - the doorman isn't letting anyone in as the place is full.
"Come back tomorrow" he tells us, "before 11pm". It was a real shame because everyone was up for it that night, and you never know if everyone would be in the same mood another night.
In any case, we vowed we would be back the next night, which would be our last in Ilha Grande.
There was another reason why we decided to go back early that night - we had an all day snorkelling trip planned for the next day, starting early that morning.
We were basically going to be on a speedboat all day, taking us to two lagoons and four beaches around the island, the perfect way to get a proper look around the island and to sample the different beaches that Ilha Grande had to offer.
Our boat was pretty flash and new - not quite like the millionaire yachts that you might see in the south of France, but certainly nicer than the old wooden boats we had been travelling on up to that point.
The ride itself however, might have been
Flash Speedboat
Our transport for the day... the bumpiest I have ever been on. We were sat at the front and once we hit choppier waters on the open sea, we were literally
flying over the waves, landing with a huge jolt every time - the bigger the wave, the higher we flew, the heavier we landed. It was exhilarating, sickening, fearful, and painful all at the same time. I am sure we were cracking our seats every time we landed and I was sure our driver was doing it on purpose and taking the piss. After one big wave I landed right on my nuts. Not very pleasant. Eventually you learn to try and take the impact with your feet, but it was still hard work.
In terms of the lagoons and beaches we visited, I will let the pictures do the talking. We saw lots of colourful fish and reef, particularly at the 'Green Lagoon' where a massive school or silver and yellow fish were not perturbed by our presence and swam right among us (probably because they knew we would give them food). I tried to catch some with my bare hands because they were so close, but moving in the water is like
Aventureiro Again...
This is exactly what you imagine when you dream of a tropical island beach. moving in slow motion so I didn't have a chance in hell - the fish would just zip off as soon as I started moving my arms.
The highlight was undoubtedly Aventureiro Beach. A deserted beach of golden sand, it was picture perfect with rocks, coconut trees, and the clearest water I ever seen. I'm standing up to my neck in water and I can still see my feet - the water temperature was perfect too. It was what you imagined paradise to be like and it was as if the place had come straight out of a travel brochure. It
was paradise...it was stunning. It was magic, and it was a shame we couldn't spend the rest of the day there - so we just spent the day swimming and lazing around the other beaches instead. Life was indeed a beach.
We started off our last night in Ilha Grande at Kebab House, which was right next to our hotel. We were sat in front of the two piece band of bongo and guitar and they were churning out 90s bogan classics which fuelled by beer, led us to reminisce about our teenage years and to sing along.
Fish!
A school of colourful fish that camped out right beside our boat. I don't have a waterproof camera unfortunately but John did, and has some awesome underwater photos of us and the fish. Sonic The Hedgehog, Dr. Ropata and K-Bars I'm sure were all discussed on a delightful trip down memory lane. It was as if the band had heard what we were saying as well as we got our next-song-predictions spot on with Sublime and Eagle Eye Cherry. They definitely got a rousing send-off after their last song and we were in a good mood to continue onto the club we went to last night.
Although the club resembled more of a bar when we arrived, the place soon filled up and the tables and chairs were duly cleared by the bar staff to resemble the heaving mosh pit that it was the previous night as we knocked back the caipirinhas.
Unlike the previous night however, not everyone was in the mood for a big one and though we boogied for a little while, the others soon took off back to the hotel and I was the last one standing. I mingled with the crowd and met some interesting people from England, Ireland, Argentina, Norway and Uruguay - the Uruguayan has actually been living and working on the island for the past two years!
I can understand why - it
Creedance Clearwater Revival
I think I have used this photo title before. But just look at how clear the water is. is a beautiful island, natural and relatively untouched, laid-back - it's a backpacker's paradise. The lifestyle would be fantastic and so relaxed - an escape from reality that in the Uruguayan's case, can be addictive. Hotel California, if you like. When it came to my turn to leave the island, I certainly didn't want to.
Realistically though I think would get bored of staying on the island and I didn't feel like I fitted in naturally here with all the holidaying couples, hippies and jocks. It was time to leave paradise, to move on and to continue to explore new places - the next of which is Paraty.
Até logo!
Derek
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Jelly legs, ants and snakes, oh my!
Sounds like a great island to spend a few days. The hike sounded tough. Glad you didn't meet with tragedy. Love the pineapple prawns.