Ilha Grande & Paraty - Week 31

12th to 18th April

We left Rio on Thursday morning with Pablo and two american girls and after two buses, a taxi and a boat we were at Ilha Grande and it was WELL worth the journey! There is a small settlement at the main beach where you arrive and that's it apart from rainforest and 100s of beautiful beaches.



We stayed at a lovely hostel right on the water called Aquario:

On the first night there was an eat-as-much-as-you-like bbq which we duly attended (have to be sociable at these occassions, you know) and then we headed into 'town' for more drinks at the locals bars:


On Friday we turned left out of the hostel and walked and walked along more and more beautiful, deserted beaches until we arrived at the perfect one for a swim and a rest. Lovely day. In the evening we went out to the bars again for some live music and drinking until 4.30am. Saturday was a bit of a write-off... We did manage to raise ourselves (with no alcohol) to go to the opening of a new 'super-club' in the town but only lasted until about 1am - poor show.

On Sunday we did the beautiful 2 hour walk to Lopez Mendez beach on the other side of the island. The views on route through the lovely rainforest were great as were the beaches. Nothing beat the final destination, however, it was gorgeous! Spent a lovely few hours swimming and sleeping.

Lopez Mendez beach

Can't believe James put this photo on - he said it was for the Brazil-flag sarong...

On Monday we caught the boat back to the mainland and the local bus to Paraty along the Costa Verde. It was a lovely drive but we also strangely passed a huge nuclear power station - wierd. Paraty is a very pretty colonial town in a bay with lots of islands all around.



We stayed in a nice HI hostel and met lots of people who we joined for a Thai meal and a funny local club in the evening. Katie tried to dance with the locals again but was one more shamed by the excellent dancers. The thai food wasn't enough for James so he sneaked off for some 'street-meat' kebabs that he thought were little sausages. When he got back to everyone in the bar and described them, he discovered that he had actually eaten 10 chicken hearts!! You should have seen his face!!!!



Tuesday morning Katie woke up at 5am with huge stomach pains so settled in bed for the day, not too far away from the toilet!! Horrible food poisoning of some description. (And it was James eating the chicken hearts the night before!).

Feeling better on Wednesday we took a really good boat trip for 5 hours around the islands stopping at various beaches for a swim and great spots for snorkelling. It was really idyllic.