Ilha Grande

Getting there: Epic transit day from Iguacu falls to Ilha Grande

We woke up at 4am for our 6am flight. Even though the airport was only 20 minutes away, we had received a notice that we were flying at an extremely busy time. A lady taxi driver dropped us off and we checked in no problems. There were tonnes of people there for the time though. I dozed on the flight that landed at 8am.

On the other side we had to wait until 11.45am. This was fine, we got a coffee and breakfast, I wrote some more of my blog, we got money out. We were waiting at the correct door at 11.40am. Naturally, the van didn’t arrive until 1pm, and waited until 1.45pm for one last passenger, a young British guy. The driver apologised to us.
We drove out of Rio, only just seeing houses in tiers up steep hills covered in smog. It was very poor in the surrounding areas, it looked similar to Kenya. We passed a truck barricade that went for at least a kilometer (three rows of trucks and vans parked nose to tail across most of the road and all their drivers staring at us), then a field that had been set on fire. The smog made it hard to see the landscape, but when you could see it, it was beautiful. Tall steep green hills covered in palms dropping into sharp valleys.

We arrived at the ferry stand and waited there for '10 minutes’ aka almost an hour. There were black storm clouds ahead and on the ferry, the headwind bashed into our faces. It started raining as we pulled into a large, shockingly steep mountaineous island with a tiny little town at the bottom. We ran up the pier, helped the British guy find his hostel, then walked around in circles for a couple of laps of the village. At last a man helped us, pointing in the opposite direction of the map. We found Pousada Juliana.

A silent man checked us in and took us to a clean nice room (with a toilet door!). It had a private balcony. The hotel was a ghost-town, just our luck. It was around 5pm when we arrived, it had been a long day! We showered and walked down to the beach for dinner. Tables were set out on the sand, candles lit, a man sang and played guitar. We ordered a traditional fish and banana curry to share. Despite sounding quite bizarre, it was really good! On the way back we saw heaps of clothing shops and popped into the supermarket for water.

It’s really nice here, I just hope the weather improves tomorrow because it’s quite cold.

Day One on the island: Ilha Grande (pronounced Ee-la Graun-ghe)

We woke up around 8am to a sunny day! Breakfast was in a room down the outdoor corridor from us. There was one other Brazilian family there, but the lack of people didn’t matter, the food was delicious. Fresh mango, pineapple, watermelon and melon, cakes, fresh bread with scrambled eggs, ham and cheese, fresh pineapple juice (with real pulp in it!) and strong coffee. Delicious.

After breakfast we prepared to go on our walk. We almost walked out the door in t-shirts and demin shorts, but then realised it was really hot outside and the sides of the town were steep! We swapped into exercise clothes.

The jungle path started east of the town. At first there were just heaps of hostels along it. It was high tide so we waded through the ocean at points, the water up to my thighs. A strange girl joined us at one point, she was from Rio and asked lots of questions. When we came to a junction, she turned one way but came back saying she had ‘bad memories’ of the beach and didn’t want to go alone. We wished her luck and she said she would think of our words while returning to the main town. We opted for the uphill track that led straight under a huge spider sitting in a web.

I walked staring straight ahead at Susie’s feet, not wanting to see what critters or reptiles lay just steps away from me, if any! The path was short and we arrived at a beach 15 minutes later with two bars on it. We found a spot on the sand (it really was high tide and there was only 1 metre of dry sand) and lay down. We changed into togs and had a swim. I was feeling quite twitchy from the jungle and didn’t like the fish that kept swimming on the beach. On the sand, my towel kept being soaked by incoming waves. Plus there were these huge ants the size of spiders that kept creeping up on me, and a few actual spiders. It was somewhat unrelaxing, but after a while of lying of the beach it no longer bothered me and we could unwind. A caipirinha at one of the bars also helped.

We walked back over the jungle path to the town (I saw a new huge spider). We showered and redressed for some shopping. I love anything with birds on it, and the skirt I bought had tucans on it. We ran into the English guy from the boat earlier. We had dinner and drinks early (5pm) on the beach at a healthy food restaurant. I had a tapioca crepe with margarita filling, roast potatoes, salad, dulce du leche crepe for dessert and two very strong and delicious caipirinhas. All that set me back 80 real.

We’re having an admin evening tonight. Perhaps not the most exciting Saturday night ever, but a good chance to have long chats with our families while the internet connection is good. You have to make the most of these opportunities!

Day Two in Paradise

Today we woke up late and had another delicious breakfast. The TV had an exposee on the current fuel crisis. Around 11am we went down to the same restaurant for a real coffee. There was quite a strong breeze. On our way back to the hotel we tried to book a boat to the other beaches around the island. No one could speak English but they could speak Spanish, and we discovered all the tours left at 10.30am. There was only one slightly dodgy sole trader who rented his boat for 40 real.

We got ready regardless and went to find the solo guy. He had disappeared, but another man came up to us and said in English, ‘do you want to go to Lopez Mendez? We leave in 10 minutes.’ That was exactly where we wanted to go, so we said yes. We paid him 50 real and he disappeared for 5 minutes, then appeared and said 10 more minutes. Then another guy appeared, told us to get on the boat alone, possibly stole some petrol from another boat and left us with a different driver. It was sketchy, but it was nice being out on the water and getting a good view of the island. The speedboat roared into action and we bashed over the waves, past the beach yesterday, hugging the coastline into another bay.

From Susie’s fabric flag map we bought yesterday we could see a trail from a closer beach to Lopez Mendez. So it was no surprise when we dropped off onto a beach with a trail over the hill. There were lots of people and the occassional tourist on the jungle track.

Once again I didn’t look around me – there was one section with a cicada noise that got louder the closer we got, then stopped the second we walked past. It was probably all in my head, but I could only think of rattlesnakes. There was a warning sign about monkeys on the track, although we didn’t see any. It was a relief to get to the beach 10 minutes later. It was a strong surf beach with a few groups of tourists on it, but otherwise empty. We sunbathed and I tried a short dip, but the rip current was strong and the water barely got above my waist in between waves.

We walked back around 3pm for our 3.30pm pickup that had only been communicated in Portuguese, so it could have been any time really. We sat and waited on the beach, expecting a delay. Our driver was there and hand signalled ‘5 more minutes’. There were four others on our boat back. The wind had picked up and it was a lot cooler, but the lowered sun on the sharp peaks of the island looked dramatic and beautiful. We jumped off the boat on the beach and walked home for a shower, only stopping for a very average acai bowl at a place where all the staff ignored us. A lot of the staff everywhere spend a lot of time cleaning and vanishing their tables and chairs, looking at us like we’re inconveniencing them.

We planned our Costa Rica trip in the early evening then went to the same delicious place for dinner. I had the Australian beef and bbq sauce burger – it felt nice having slightly more familiar food. We also had two cocktails each and dessert – another dulce du leche crepe. Mmm so sweet but delicious!

We leave Ilha Grande tomorrow morning! I don’t want to go, but luckily Paraty is meant to be just as quaint and beachy. The allure of Rio is taking over most of our conversations, we head there on the weekend. It’s at the most dangerous it’s been in years so we’ve invited my friend Tatiana from Poland and Susie’s boyfriend Joao along. Hopefully two Portuguese speakers and a bigger group will keep us safe. But there’s also something else about it. It’s such a infamous place it seems like we’re being drawn into it like magnets. I can’t explain it. We’re very excited!