Jan 2008

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!

When our bus drove through Rio, the first thing that hit us was the awful smell of sewyers and the view of thousands of run down and derilict houses. We began to question why everyone raves about this place, to us, it looked like a dirty and overpopulated city. We then arrived in the centre and got a taxi to Copacabana, where we were staying. The city seemed to transform itself into an impressive place, surrounded by mountains, with towering white buildings and pretty pavements full of mosaic white and black tiles. We definitely knew we were staying in a more glamorous area.

Typically, when we reached our hostel, our room wasn't ready yet, so we decided to hit the beach for a couple of hours while we waited. The famous, Copacabana beach was fascinating to see with all the beautiful people posing on the beach, women in the tiniest of bikinis and men in speedos! The waves looked so ferocious with the sea so blue, the sand so yellow against a backdrop of high, white 70s style skyscrapers all along the front. Sam thought it looked like a tropical Torquay!

When we returned to the hostel our room apparently still wasn't ready. An hour later we were still waiting so Sam finally reminded the guy at the desk who had totally forgotten and raced us up to our room. Our private suite consisted of bunk beds in a room the size of a shoe box, in between the bar and the TV room, though we were thankful to have our own private space.

We spent the rest of the day on the beach and just as we got back to the hostel it began to pour down with rain. We had a few drinks in the hostel bar, where we met a guy from Putney. We quickly realised his budget was a bit more flexible than ours when we arrived at the restaurant Marius, which was a seafood and meat restaurant that charged 38 pounds a head! Too late to turn back, we decided this would be a once in a lifetime indulgence! We should have really realised the expense, when we walked down a red carpet in order to enter the place and all the seafood was displayed in beautiful ice sculptures. Inside was also amazing, as it was covered in nautical antiques of all shapes and sizes hanging from the ceiling. Even the floors in the loos were covered in semi precious stones! It was quite an experience.

Sam's theory of trying everything twice soon back fired when he was full after the mountain of his first plate. The seafood was absolutely out of this world, though we found the meat a little too salty. By the end, we were all totally full, although Sam was possibly full with pain!

The next day we woke to pouring rain and with no chance of visiting the beach we decided to go to a bookstore in Ipanema. After realising that this was a waste of time, we proceeded to walk the main high street of Ipanema in the pouring rain in the hope of finding some Christmas presents. Soaked to the bone and miserable, we resorted to going to a shopping mall just outside Copacabana. This was also Sam's idea of hell, but at least we were inside and out of the rain.

Tired and moody, we headed back to the hostel for a few beers and then ended up going to a churrasco with some other people much more in our budget limitations.

The next day was still pretty unpleasant, so we did the usual uneventful tasks of organising buses and accommodation for our next visit. We then went to Leblon to find the street and house that E-J's mother had lived in forty years ago. Sadly it had become a derlict building with graffiti all over the walls, but the canal down the middle of the road still made it a reasonably attractive place.

When we got back to the hostel we unexpectively bumped into Liv and Ali, a couple we had orginally meet in the Galapagos. Excited to meet again, we caught up on each others news and we decided we would join them and their friends for a night out in Lapa.

That night was the hostels weekly BBQ and it was amazing. After taking full advantage of the BBQ and salad, a group of us headed to Lapa to see the famous street parties. There were lots of people in the streets with vendors selling beers and Caipirinhas at evey corner. We then headed into a club which had the amazing deal of entrance fee and then as many Caips as you like for free. By 2:30am, we were ready for bed with the knowledge we were going to have one hell of a hangover from the amount of pinga we had consumed!

The next day our heads were in agony, but the sun was shining, so we wanted to take full advantage of this and see some of the main sights. we therefore joined the hostel tour of Christ the Redeemer on the Corcovado Mountain. As we joined this last minute, we had to share a seat on the minibus and going around and around as we climbed up to the statue did not do our hangovers any good!

Before reaching Christ the Redeemer we got an amazing panoramic view of the city from a good vantage point below the statue. The structure of the city was amazing, surrounded by the sea, with various different bays and large mountains dotted around the place. Buildings growing from the valleys and huge skyscrapers everywhere. The Sugar loaf looked so impressive and it was the first time we were able to appreciate how and why Rio is so beautiful.

When we reached the Statue of Christ the Redeemer, sadly he was in cloud, but through the cloud we were able to make out this massive landmark and understand why it is one of the new great wonders of the world.

For a second or two the cloud would suddenly part and there would be an uproar of applause from the Japanese tourists. They also constantly posed in front of the statue in the same stance as Christ for a photo.

Behind and under the statue there was a little chapel which Sam was totally taken aback by. E-J was slightly concerned that Sam may have seen the light and decided to become a born again Christian!

On our way back we passed through the old town of Saint Theresa, appreciating the Bohemium architecture. We then walked down a staircase of coloured tiles, designed by an eccentric old, chap from Chile. He had a tile dedicated to every country along the wall. Sam had great enjoyment talking to him particularly when he started slamming some of his art work on the wall to show how strong they were.

When we finally returned, our hangovers were now at their beak, so we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon chilling on the beach. That night we went for a quiet meal together, before settling into the bar for a few drinks.

On the Sunday, a group of us decided to sunbathe on Ipanema beach. Sam started his morning by sitting in an English pub to watch the footy. E-J and another girl found the hippy market, which sold some amazing stuff and great gifts for Christmas.

By 6pm, we decided we would watch the sunrise from the Sugarloaf, so headed there only to find out it had just closed due to engineering faults. E-J, with a boiling trantum was just about to throw herself into a very angry mood, when Sam pulled her a side and reminded her we were in the presence of other people and we may be able to see it tomorrow.

That night we ate out with our friends from the hostel and then said our goodbyes, preparing ourselves for our early start the next morning.

The next day a prearranged taxi took us to the Sugar Loaf and by 7:45 we were outside the entrance to the cable cart waiting for it to open.

It was great to be one of the only people there and we were able to really appreciate the clear sights in the crispness of the early morning light with no crowds around, unlike many of the other main attractions. The only frustration was the limited time we had, but we made the most of it and took in the spectacular views. It was great to be able to see another panoramic of this magnificent city.

We then returned to the cab and made it to our bus completely exhausted, both already talking about when we could come back to this incredible city.

Sam's comments: Fantastic city, already want to come back, although my stomach suffered alot from the theory at Marios of try each thing twice!

E-J's comments: I loved Rio. It is a place that I would definitely like to revisit, though with more money so that I can indulge in the amazing luxuries the city has to offer. It is an incredible place, so full of diversity. You cannot believe that somewhere so beautiful as this can also be so dangerous.

The bus journey to Florianopolis was an interesting one, particularly when we got stopped by the police, who started to open up parts of the bus in order to find something suspicious. Finally, they left the bus with the packages they were looking for along with two people from the bus.

When we arrived in Florianopolis we made our way to the tourist information office and found an apartment in Armacao. Armacao is in the south of the island and renowned for being quiet, beautiful and full of walks.

Our next challenge was getting there. This consisted of two local bus rides and after working out the new ticket system, we were pleased to find the place without going wrong.

The friendly run apartment was pretty basic. However, it was lovely to be in somewhere bigger than a hostel room and the sea 50 m down the lane.

Once we settled ourselves we decided to go for a walk along our local beach. The sky did look a bit overcast, but we thought it would hold. The beach was not quite how we had hoped. It was clean and deserted, but was full of tiny pebbled sand which made it incredibly painful to walk along and each time we walked we would sink into the tiny pebbles, making it tiring and take forever to cross the beach.

By the time we had reached the end of the beach it had started to rain and with no bar in sight, we decided to keep on walking, down the road until we reached somewhere where we could get a drink. 200 metres on, we were in luck, though it was a pretty average place. We had a quick drink and then decided to head back. The next obstacle was catching the bus back and after waiting in the rain for several minutes one finally arrived. By this time the weather was pretty miserable, we were soaked so we decided to have quiet night in with beers, cheese and backgammon.

The next day the weather wasn't much better, so slighty disappointed by our lack of beach time, we headed into the centre of Florianopolis to look around the town.

We found the buildings quite colonial and very colourful. Our next mission was to find a bank and at this stage we were starting to irriate each other. Sam, then managed to lock the keys to our rucksack in the rucksag along with all our cards and money! At this point, E-J saw red and had what can only be described as a "Travellers Moment" as she exploded at Sam in the middle of the crowded streets about the situation.

After buying a stanley knife from a local handy store and cutting into the bag, everything was resolved. We were back to being relatively nice to each other in a friendly bar in the heart of the city. We finished the day with a night of beers and backgammon, sitting out on the balcony, hoping that the weather would improve.

The next day was sunny, so we decided to enjoy the beaches. We had been told about a picturesque beach called Praia Do Lagoinha Do Leste. Although it required a two hour walk over the hills, we decided this would be the perfect place, so set out in not the best attire of flip flops and shorts. The path quickly turned into an overgrown secret track of muddy rocks, green shrubbery and trees. We precariously made our way along the path, which followed the hilliness of the cliffs edge, so that we were constantly climbing steep hills and then descending them.

Two hours on,we came out from the trees and rocks and found ourselves in more bearable terrain, with a path amongst knee length grass. E-J was just beginning to enjoy the walk when suddenly Sam stopped still, frozen by the enormous tarantula dangling on one of the long pieces of grass beside his leg.

E-J then started to freak out saying she didn't want to go any further, though realising that they couldn't turn back, or wish to repeat the treacherous walk they had already done. After a few hysterical minutes, Sam managed to calm E-J down. Another 45 minutes later and we reached the beautiful beach and it was worth every minute.

The sea was amazing blue and crystal clear and the sand was a rich golden colour. There was literally no one on the beach apart from a couple of surfers who were in the sea.

After relaxing for a while on the beach we thought we ought to continue our trek to the other beach Pantano do Sul, where we could get a beer and a bus back. The next challenge was trying to find the path to this place. Some friendly surfers pointed us in the right direction, but still not totally sure, a dog suddenly appeared and seemed to show us the way. We don't know if this dog was one of the surfers or a stray, but it definitely knew where it was going. Occassional the dog would run off into the bushes to investigate a noise but then she would always return to check we were on the right track. The walk took about 45 minutes to an hour and it was a steep and very hot climb over the rocky cliff amongst the trees. E-J was a bit more wary of all the noises coming from the bushes, having already come across the spider, but Sam was just desperate to get out of this place and get a drink as we were out of water. We finally arrived at Pantano do Sul, hot and sweaty, feeling like we had reached civilization again. We walked onto the beach and had a beer in a bar on the beach. Sam took great delight in finding our waiter a dead ringer for Pete Sampras.

We then got the bus back, which disappointingly only took 20 minutes having taken us about 4 hours to trek in total. That night we had planned to have a quiet night of backgammon and a beer, but met our neighbours. They were a very friendly Brazilian couple who despite not speaking a word of English and us not speaking many words of Portuguese, proceeded to try and communicate with us through various hand gestures, objects and impressions. By 11pm, they finally left us in peace, with the knowledge that England had digital TV, mobile phones and Music Television.

We spent the next day on the other side of the beach from our apartment, and found it to have beautiful, fine, white sand, crystal clear sea and a few bars along the beach. It was a perfect day of total relaxation.

On the Sunday, we decided we would explore some of the beaches in the North. However, the only way of getting there was by catching four buses and after getting two buses in the wrong direction, waiting an hour for the wrong bus and then finally getting there by the afternoon, we were both in foul moods!

When we finally arrived at the beach, Praia Do Santinho we found the skies overcast and the beach not that attractive. Despite taking four hours to get there, we only stayed 40 minutes before deciding we'd better head back. A complete waste of time! The only highlight was the icecream shop. This place had every flavour imaginable and then an array of different toppings, from chocolate springles to gummy bears. The best part, was that you got to get the icecream and toppings yourself, so we both indulged in a greedy amount! That night E-J cooked her first meal in almost three months and we played our usual game of backgammon on the balcony.

On our last full day, having realised that the North was a bit of a dump and we were in the far more beautiful area, we took full advantage of the beach, soaking up the rays all day and swimming in the sea.

Sam's Comments: Beautiful, great way for us to relax. Annoyed that the tarantula meant that I had to deal with E-J's biggest panick attack!

E-J's Comments: Florianopolis was brilliant. It was the first time that we actually had a chance to lie on a beach and do absolutely nothing for a day without having to worry about the bus, accommodation and what to do next. I feel totally refreshed, bring on Rio!