Blogs from Ilha Grande, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, South America - page 12

Friday 2nd May - We arrived at 5.30am to Angra Dos Reis (Land of the Gods) in Rio De Janeiro province. Got very little sleep again as the bus stopped every hour or so and turned all the lights on. Also we were right at the back by the toilet and the bus crowd was a restless lot, to-ing and fro-ing all night!! As the sun rose behind an overcast sky, the first boat to the island (Ihla Grande) was at 8am, so we sat around in the tourist office drinking black sweet coffee with Laerte, who had lived in New York and Boston and amongst other things had worked in Dunkin Donuts. His advice was great but i am sure he embellished alot of things. Anyway half way through our crossing, the sky turned black ... read more

Wow. What can I say about this place? We left Rio on an overcast day to head down to Ilha Grande on the coast. We were warned against it because the slightly dodgy weather (by this i mean, clouds rather than bright blue sky) as the island has very little except for beautfiul beaches for entertainment. So after managing to catch one of the slowest buses in the world to the bus terminal, we got the last possible bus that would get us to the ferry in time to make the crossing to Ilha Grande. The full trip took around 4hrs and the weather still looked pretty depressing. Luckily though, we got up on Thursday to beautiful sunshine and went to a beach named within the Worlds Top 10 - Praia Lopes Mendes. It was breath-taking ... read more

It was a fantastic start to our time in South America, as we enjoyed three world class attractions in our first three or so weeks on the continent - Easter Island, the Rio Carnaval and Iguazu. Easter Island is now known as Rapa Nui by its inhabitants, but one of its early Polynesian names was ´Te pito o te henua´ or "The Navel/Bellybutton of the World", so-called because of its isolated position in the southern hemisphere. The island is part of Chile and lies 3,600 km off the west coast of South America, and over 2,000km from the nearest inhabited landmass, Pitcairn island (a British Overseas Territory where in 1790, the mutineers of the Bounty and their Tahitian companions settled). Easter Island is famous for stone statues, or moai, built to honour the islanders´ ancestors. Our ... read more

During my time in Rio de Janeiro - I took two trips to the big island - Ilha Grande - it sounds so natural in Portuguese but translated "Big Island" - clumsy. It is virtually road and car free, a natural relaxed paradise just a few hours from the hustle of big city Rio. For most of it's history as part of the country of Brazil Ilha Grande was a high security prison - off limits to the public, the military personal posted there must have loved the experience, the prisoners, loathed it - tiny dark damp cells with the promise of island paradise just a few inches behind the walls. Ilha Grande continued as a prison until 1994 - and then was opened up for tourism - as a result it is pristine. The island ... read more

With so many awesome memories of Rio, sat on the bus winging our way away from there, it was hard not to feel a little down. The carnaval was for me one of the real highlights I was looking forward to during my time out here and it certainly didn´t disappoint. Of course im not one to dwell on the past...well except for that time I had my pants pulled down in the school library in front of everybody, unfortunately that haunting memory will stay with me forever. At least im not bitter! So with renewed vigour we made our way to Ilha Grande, a small island off the south coast of Brazil. Time for a spot of rest and relaxation! Clearly this was too much to ask for as we ran into difficulty straight away ... read more