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Published: March 2nd 2007
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So since I have been travelling, I always thought, "Wouldn't it be so crazy to run into someone that I knew from back home?".. but never actually thought that I would! After Rita and I crossed the border from Argentina to Brazil near Iguassu Falls, we had a few hours to kill in the bus terminal waiting for our next bus to Rio de Janeiro, and so we thought that would be a good opportuninty to catch up on some emailing... while typing away, I heard some other foreigners come in and ask if they could also use the internet, but were told that it was all full up... and one of the guys looked reaaallly familiar as someone that I knew from university back home! But I thought that there was absolutely no chance it was him. Then after a little while, Rita and I were just about to board our bus when I noticed that same guy was lining up to get on our bus! So I asked him if he was from Australia, which he said yes, then asked him if his name was Steve, which he said yes, and good lord it was the guy that I
On the road again..
Still smiling despite riding the urine bus! was thinking of!! Of all the continents, countries, cities, towns, and buses in the world, we end up on the same on! What a crazy small world coincedence!
Steve and his friend Hamish kept Rita and I company on the 24 hour bus trip to Rio, of which the toilet was malfunctioning so that it would spit its contents back up at you (hence showering you with wee with nowhere to run or hide in the tiny cubicle), and the entire bus wreaked of the smell of urine... it was bad enough towards the front where Rita and I were sitting but good lord those poor people sitting at the back! The aircon wasn't working very well back there either so it was like sitting in a hot piss oven. We also got pulled over by the police and thoroughly checked several times including all our baggage, who knows what they were after?! So after hours and hours we smelt of sweat + urine + unshowered for a day general bad smell + Rita and my useless attempts to mask the smell with deoderant..... The boys left us at Sao Paulo but we still had another 6 hours to
The boys on the bus
Whatta small world! Rio then 4 more to Angra Do Reis where we needed to catch the ferry to a small island off the coast called Ilha Grande!
Needless to say by the time we got to Ilha Grande we were two very exhausted and grumpy girls, and the weather had turned bad so the beach haven we were so looking forward to was being battered by rain and wind... Rita and I began to seriously question whether coming this far was worth all the effort!
By the next day though the weather had cleared and we could see Ilha Grande for the beautiful little beach paradise that it is. Rita and I had our own private bedroom with a bathroom (break from the hostel dorms!), and we spent most of our time hiking around the island discovering little beaches to swim in and lazzingly tanning. The food was amazing, lots of fresh fish, salads, fruits and our new favourite food acai, which is a dark purple Brazillian berry crushed with ice and served with chopped banana, toasted muesli and honey! This was our staple breakfast but usually also made up our lunch, afternoon tea and dessert 😊
On our
Ilha Grande
The beach at the main village, not the best weather to welcome us! second day there Rita and I went SCUBA diving for both our first times! We went out on a boat where the more experienced divers checked out a shipwreck while Rita and I waited onboard soaking up the sun, cooling off in the warm blue water and eating watermelon - ahhh! When it was Rita and my turn to go down, we each had to hold hands with an instructer who showed us a helicopter wreck, huge starfish, spidercrabs, sea urchins, fish, coral that opened and closed and lots more - it was a bit scary at first remember to breathe steadily, very surreal but also great fun!
On our last day before heading to Rio de Janeiro, Rita and I teamed up with another Australian man Dave and two Swedish girls to hike to Lopes Mendes, a more secluded beach on the other side of the island with great waves. The hike took about 2.5 hours and although it wasn't a hard walk, it was though jungle and very very humid! On the way we say cute little monkeys and squirrels that would pose for photos, and when we finally arrived to the other side of the island
Ville de Abraao
The view from the village we found that it was worth the walk. Lopes Mendes itself had large waves and there were quite a few people, but the few beaches before were very calm and empty so we hung out there on the white sand eating coconut fallen from a nearby tree that Dave cracked open. That night we all went out for cocktails and music in the small town square... and Rita and I were convinced that all the effort to get to Ilha Grande was definately worth it!
Wishing we could stay longer and promising to come back, Rita and I caught the return ferry to Angra and the bus back to Rio before our week-long party and my final week before returning home during Rio CARNAVAL!!!
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