Hi guys,

A quick message from Ilha Grande, the beautiful island about 150km off the coast west of Rio. It really is the place to get away from it all with tropical beaches, rain forest and loads of lush restaurants and plenty of bars! The island is a nationally protected area and no cars are allowed on the island - there are not any roads for them to drive on anyway!

We arrived here on Friday after a 3 hour bus and one hour boat ride from Rio and reached the main settlement of Abraao where we are staying. This place is completely set up for visitors although luckily we are here out of season and it is still a relatively new place for Brazillians to come to, since the high security prision that used to be on the island only closed down in 1994.

There is also a music and ecology festival on here this weekend with several Brazillian bands playing. Its got a very much reggae feel to the music and we have had a great time dancing around with a group we had met, an aussie, a swedish girl who sounded irish and two lads from Sheffield who were on the plane with us from Heathrow - small world!

Saturday we decided to go to the beautiful tropical beach Lopes Mendes, which you have to get a boat to get to as it is on the other side of the island. Unfortunately a storm blew in and we were stranded on the beach in the rain for the day. It still looked breathtaking though and Andrew still went for a swim in the sea!

Sunday we went for a walk through the rain forest to an aquaduct and to see part of the prision ruins, then as the wether was better went to the black sand beach, which has as you would expect black sand! We also played a bit of beach football.

Today we decided to give Lopes Mendes another shot and it was a beautiful day and a great chance to top up the tans.

We will be sad to leave the island and would definately recommend it to anyone wanting to get away from it all. Tomorrow we start a long journey - a 5 hour bus to Sao Paulo and then a 20 hour bus to the Iguacu Falls.

Love to all, S&A xx