Ilha Grande

After a great few days in Paraty we headed to Ilha Grande, the largest island off the coast of Brazil. It has forest all over the island, large hills and it also has some fantastic beaches spread all over the island.

We arrived after our 2 hour ferry ride to straight away be told our hostel was fully booked, oh dear but actually it turned out alright with our alternative hostel been fine. So we hit the beach as soon as possible to wash away the bus grime, finding a private beach overlooking the bay. This was when the first storm hit, and our run to a restaurant for dinner needed both emergency ponchos!

The food in Brazil has been fantastic and Ilha Grande was no exception. Fantastic shrimp stews, fish stews and every other seafood you could desire. The first full day on the island was spent exploring the beaches. Normally this would be terribly dull for me but it actually involved trekking through the rainforest, over hills at Maura's extreme pace - certainly beats reading my book on the beach all day!

The beaches are amazingly beautiful - crisp white sand, with crystal clear water and loads of amazing bottoms to look at! There were hardly any people on the beaches which was a real treat. Our walking through the forest was great fun and meant all the beers on the beaches were well earnt.

The second day we went to visit a tropical forest pool, with a small waterfall that you could slipdown. Apparently it was where the Colonials used to wash all the slaves, I just thought it was crazy as all the locals were sitting around it posing for (non nude) glamour poses. It was then off to see some ruins of a fort and a cool aqueduct.

We then headed on to our final destination - Rio. We jumped on the ferry, assured by our hostel owner that there would be a bus ready at our destination. Of course when we arrived the bus was 2 hours late....... this was then the next storm hit - and I'm talking galeforce winds, rain, and a little bit of flooding.

Maura, Tim, 4 rucksacks and a ludicrous storm = two not happy travellers. Especially as when we arrived in Rio we found we where staying in a converted prison....