Ilha Grande

The ride to the port took no time at all, partly because we both passed out from our early and exuberant start. We were both really looking forward to seeing this beautiful island, which was once a former prison.

We shared a cab with a couple of dutch travellers to the harbour and jumped on the first available boat to Ilha Grande. On arriving, we realised that our hostel was at the other end of the beach and as there are no cars on this island, the only way to get there was on foot across the beach.

With our rucksacks pulling us down, we stumbled across the beach, which seemed to change from tiny pebbles to soft, fine sand about every five paces.

We arrived at our hostel with no booking in place, despite the fact that we had paid a deposit, but were luckily still given a room. Sam then slept for a few hours while E-J spent some time on the net.

In the evening, we explored the little town with it's stone and sandy pathways to various shops and restaurants, while looking for a place to eat. We found somewhere, which looked pleasant and looked out to the sea near the port. Although E-J was slighlty unsure of the menu, Sam persuaded her into having the appealing "house special".

We returned to the hostel for a drink at the bar, but then headed to our room as we could see the place was full of young, single travellers, hungry for some partying. Something we couldn`t face after being worn out by Rio!

In the early hours, E-J suddenly awoke feeling dreadful and spent the rest of the night in the bathroom with bad food poisioning.

The next morning, with E-J still unable to eat anything and Sam disappointed by the average breakfast, we boarded a boat, which would take us to the well known beautiful beach, Lopes Mendes. After the one and half hour boat journey we then had a twenty minute walk over a hill to the other side and to the beach. E-J, still struggling, took forever, slowly climbing up and over the hill.

When we finally reached the beach, it was a mesmerising view of clear, white sand, crystal blue water and luscious green trees. We found a quiet spot to rest and enjoyed the rest of the day on this beautiful beach.

We then caught the boat back to Ilha Grande and treated ourselves to another one of those "help yourself to as much as you like' icecream stores. The cost was then calculated by the weight and Sam seriously over did it when his came to 4 pounds!

That night, we ate at the hostel and after a drink or two we headed to our room tired of the usual small talk with all other backpackers; the usual three questions: How long are you travelling for? Where are you travelling to? Where have you been?

The next day the sky was overcast but we decided we would return to Lopes Mendes and see if we could do a bit of body boarding. Before we ventured into the sea we also got to see a few monkeys playing in the trees, which E-J took great delight in, especially by how tame they were and how close they would come to us.

Our body boarding experience was particularly amusing as the waves were incredibly strong, so the first challenge was trying to get out deep enough to catch them without being thrown over and dragged back to shore. E-J, also had the problem of not only trying to hold onto her board for dear life, but each time a wave hit her, it would literally rip off her bikini leaving her rather more exposed than she would like, this was much to Sam's amusement!

The hour of body boarding was great fun and we managed to catch the first wave together ,which we found hysterical, bobbing along simultaneously.

As it began to rain we headed back to the boat and back to Ilha Grande. That night we decided to eat out in town again and took the safe option of going for pizza. By the time we had finished the rain was now torrential and we had the challenge of getting back to the hostel via the beach. In the pitch black, flip flops in hand, we ran all the way back along the beach, with Sam pulling E-J along to make her run faster. By the time we reached the hostel, we looked as though we had jumped in the sea as we were utterly soaked, dripping from head to toe.

The next day we woke early and headed for the first boat back to the mainland at 8:30 am. Then a few hours later we were on the bus to Sao Paulo were we would be staying with E-J's great family friends, the Matias' for the next few weeks.

Sam's Comments: A stunning place, with incredible vegetation and wildlife,

E-J's Comments: Ilha Grande is beautiful and I would love to return here again, although next time I think Sam and I should choose somewhere a little quieter, away from all those backpackers game for a party. This place is so romantic and the beaches are out of this world. I am also pleased to say I'm a better body boarder than Sam!