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Published: February 29th 2012
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We arrived to Angra dos Reis after a very comfortable three and a half hour bus journey from Rio. It was then a quick (45 minute) catamaran ride to the main town on Ilha Grande called Villa Do Abraao. We found our first hostel just along the beachfront, we had to stay at 3 because of availability, and were welcomed to the sight of a 9 person dorm. Where there were 3 sets of bunk beds stacked 3 beds high!!! We decided to go for a meal this night, as there was no kitchen available. An extremely nice looking restaurant on the beach caught our eye (Pe Na Areia), where we had an amazing fish dish accompanied by caipirinhas and live music.
Day 1- The next morning we had to move to our second hostel, which involved climbing steep hills with our bags on in 35 degree heat! & it didnt help that the hostel took us about an hour to find as there were no signs. Once back down by the beach we got talking to a local guy selling snorkelling tours (who reminded us of Claude the scuba instructor from along came polly!) and he told us about
a local beach a 20min walk away. He also stressed that we should be very careful in the sun as it was strong that day! We ran into a swedish couple from our Rio hostel and spent most of the day with them on the beach. Needless to say, we got very burnt! Later that day we had our first snake encounter!! We were heading out of the hostel when we heard a rustle next to us and saw a green snake right by us, we both ran screaming and spent a few quite funny minutes trying to explain what we had seen to our non-english speaking hostel owner, including Hayden hissing and slithering around! She managed to tell us that green snakes are okay, orange are the poisonous ones! We finally made it to a BBQ on the beach that we saw advertised and happened to get talking to a couple from NZ that were also in our hostel. We decided to do the 3hr hike to Lopes Mendes beach together the next day, apparently one of the nicest beaches in the world!
Day 2- We agreed to get up at 7.30 and go and buy breakfast and
some lunch to take with us. We were introduced to a great cheap bakery (Paes e Cia) and to the 'Acai' drink by the people we were with, a local berry smoothie with granola on top 😊 we then headed off on our hike and within 5 minutes we ran into an orange and black snake crossing our path! We were quite wary after this but just ended up seeing some large spiders and cute monkeys. The hike was quite tough, very steep at times, but we made it to Lopes Mendes in what only felt like a couple of hours. The beach really was beautiful; really big, white sands and huge waves. We got taught how to body surf the waves and although we werent as elegant, the waves crashing over us most of the time, we got a few good ones.
Day 3/4- We moved hostels again, this time to a pousada, which are cheap double rooms opposed to big dorms. It was very nice! It had air con, tv, and a really cool wooden bed. As we were looking like lobsters, we decided just to venture around town, looking in all the quaint shops. The next
day we went on a snorkelling trip to Lagoa Azul in the North of the Island. Sadly we didnt see any turtles, but we saw many fish, jellyfish and a starfish.
Overall, Ilha Grande was an amazing island! Full of wildlife and superb beaches, and was a welcome relaxation from the buzz of the Rio Carnival! Next Stop, Paraty.
Travel tips!:
- We soon learned, after paying R$8 for a water, that it is definitely cheaper to take food and water with you to all of the beaches
- The cheapest bar we found for caipirinhas is one right down the end of Rua Santana away from the beach, 2 caipirinhas for R$10
- We had aimed to get the 3.30 ferry from Angra,but once we got there we were told that only the 1.30 ferry runs on sat/sun/holidays! The catamaran we had to take was so much more expensive.
- We would really advise anyone going to Ilha Grande to learn some basic Brazilian Portugese! most restaurants had English translations on the menus but very few people spoke English, no one at our second hostel knew any english!
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