Ilha Grande and Paraty

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From Ilha do Mel we booted it up the coast to get to Ilha Grande in time to meet up with Katie and Carter one more time before they went home to Canada. It was a trek to make it to Ilha Grande since we had to ferry to the mainland from Ilha do Mel, bus to Curitiba, bus to Sao Paulo, another bus to Angra dos Reis and finally a ferry to Ilha Grande. However, Ilha Grande was totally worth the effort.

The island is much more lively than Ilha do Mel and the surfing is really, really good. We had amazing weather the whole time, which was perfect for swimming. The water around the island was maybe the clearest we have seen on the trip. Probably because the weather was so good, we had to upgrade our accomadation somewhat and stay in a pousada since all the hostels on the island were full---not exactly a hardship for us. We saw some wildlife while on and around the island too--dolphins, monkeys and a huge sea turtle! We decided to stay an extra night because we liked the island so much.

After three nights on Ilha Grande we decided to head back to the mainland to the town of Paraty. Apparently, the beaches of Paraty are amazing, with a huge number of them easily accesible from the town. However, what we saw was mostly a torrential downpour from our hostel and the various shops we ran into to avoid drowning. Despite the fact that it poured the whole time we were in Paraty, we still liked the town. We stayed in the historic centre, which was really quaint and had some beautiful buildings. We also did a mini pub crawl and sampled some cachaça (sugar cane alcohol) that had venemous snakes in the bottles. Apparently this is an aprodisiac but it mostly just freaked us out. Paraty was a good place to stop on our way up to Rio!

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Photos

Ilha Grande
The view of the island from the ferry

Ilha Grande
Sunset on the island

Ilha Grande
The dessert stand with Kristine!

Ilha Grande
The three stooges

Ilha Grande
Katie and Carter!