A chilled few days was needed after Rio and Ilha Grande was perfect for that! A tropical island just off the coast of Brazil, a few hours south of the city of Rio. It's called the big island but much of it uninhabited because of the thick forest.

Randomly met a few of the guys we had a drink with early in the week at Books hostel in Rio so nice little crowd with us. Found some decent little restaurants and spent the evenings pottering about the main town on the island. Bit like Gili Air in Indonesia, there's no cars or motorbikes on the island which was really nice!

Trekked to one of the main beaches across the island on the first day, saving the island boat trip for the day we thought would have the best weather... In true tropical climate style, the day on the boat went from blue skies to crazy wind and choppy seas within an hour, which led to an 'interesting' day out on the boat to say the least!

On the final day we did another little trek, got slightly lost and ended up on a 2.5 hour stomp over the island though the forest! Found an amazing beach with a person selling drinks and ice creams so always a silver lining!

Ilha Grande has been used for a few things over the years, a quarantine island for European immigrants suffering from cholera, a leper colony, a slave market and also a prison! Before getting lost on the final day we walked to an abandoned building near the main beach that was used for immigrant cholera suffers and prisoners at different times, eerie place!

Decent and chilled few days on the island... Next stop Paraty, A coastal town further down from Ilha Grande and one of the final stops before Iguazu Falls!