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Published: August 9th 2010
We left Iguazu on a nice fancy Argentinian bus and about 36 hours later we arrived in Ilha Grande....(24 hour bus to Rio, 3 hour bus to Angra dos Reis and a 1 hour boat journey to Ilha Grande with a few delays in between). The bus was really comfortable so the 24 hour bus journey wasn´t as bad as it sounds! We were still all fairly tired though so we just headed straight for bed that night. The hostel was really nice and Christina really made us feel at home there (Overnativa Green Hostel).
Ilha Grande is a really nice island southwest of Rio de Janeiro with numerous amazing beaches and no cars or roads! The next morning we headed for one of the nicest beaches on the island (Lopes Mendes). We could get a boat or do a 2 hour trek. We decided on the trek and it was well worth it....really enjoyed that. We had really nice weather for 2 days and 2 really rainy days. At least we got to enjoy the beach those first 2 days. And the beaches were amazing.
So, after our time on Ilha Grande it was time to go to
Rio de Janeiro. We got a "Speed connection" from the island to our hostel in Ipanema in Rio. They really try to live up to their name as it sure was speedy and frightening at times on that bus!
It was raining when we arrived in Rio so we decided to leave the sight-seeing until the next day. That was Hannah´s last night so we enjoyed a few beers and Caiparinhas! The next morning we set off to see the Christ the Redeemer statue. It was quite cloudy when we were going up but it cleared a bit so we got a nice view. Hannah left that evening so there was just Martin and the two of us left!
We did a tour of a favela the next day and that really was eye opening...well actually Colette had her eyes shut for a lot of it after seeing 3 lads, about 15 years old, drive by us on bikes with rifles!! There are 1,200 favelas in Rio and this one (Rocinha) is the largest one with about 300,00 people in it. The favelas are literally run by druglords and the police very rarely interfere. The drug-lords are typically
about 24 years old and they use even younger soldiers (between 14 and 18 years old) to defend the favela from rival gangs and police. It really was crazy to see this place.
The next day, we did a trip up the sugar loaf where we had a really cool view over Rio which you can see in some of the photos. We had some time to relax on Ipanema beach in the afternoon before we went to a soccer match that evening...Botafogo Vs Atletico Mineiro. Now we know what real soccer fans are!! On the way in, every fan is given a roll of toilet paper or shredded newspaper to throw when the team come out on the field....what an entrance!! The atmosphere was unbelievable and they chanted for the whole game non-stop!
Our time in Brazil was coming to an end so we sipped a couple more Caiparinhas and said goodbye to Martin before we headed for the airport to catch our early morning flight to Lima.
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joan
non-member comment
Be Green !
Ahem..... Colette, Might have to report you to the Green schools committee for that random act of littering at the football match. I'll be keeping an eye out fot future episodes !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! J x