Ilha Grande

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Now we had been to the Rio boat party the night before so the journey to Ilha Grande was not a happy one as you can imagine! However, when we got on the boat and began the trip across the sea to the island my hangover was soon forgotten! Ilha Grande is literally paradise! Its such a big island but only a very small part of it is inhabited and there are no cars only bikes! The island has white sandy quiet beaches touched by the chilled out sounds of reggae coming from small number of beach front bars and restaurants! Its so incredibly chilled out and relaxing there! We were so lucky as we got a room in the hostel facing the sea with our own balcony and hammock which was pretty special! It was so amazing to wake up and the crystal clear blue sea is the first thing you see! We spent our days exploring the many beaches that Ilha Grande has to offer! The first day i set out on my own to explore ´The Black Beach´which is as it says on the tin, the sand is literally black! It was such a cool walk to the beach through the National park eating Acai Berry as i went! Acai Berry is officaally my new favourite thing, they sell it on every corner in Brazil! My favourite was Acai Berry shake with chopped banana and granola!!!Perfection!lol!!

The next day myself, Anna and Sean went on a 2 hour trek to Lopez Mendes which is an amazing beach on the other side of the island! The trek was quite hardcore to begin with as you literally climb over the top of the island uphill for most of the journey! It was hot, sweaty and really hard most of the way! But Anna turned on her ipod and we began singing Kerry Hilson songs we were in our element and it was really fun! The minute we got to the beach, we stripped off and ran into the sea! It was the best feeling ever!The beach was totally worth it, it was stunning! We spent the next few hours realxing our poor weary muscles before getting the boat back (one 2 hour trek was quite enough for one day!lol!). There wasnt an huge amount to do in Ilha Grande in the evenings and after the hardcore caipirinha heavy week we had spent in Rio this was quite welcome. However after 2 nights there i was definately ready for a drink!So back to Rio we went...........

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