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OK so after another horrendous bus journey (and I thought Brasil was developed they have first world prices and third world transport, this is my last f***ing bus here, sod this I`m flying everywhere else) we arrived in Rio only to board a local 3 hour bus to Angra Dos Rais from where we get a ferry to the paradise island of Ilha Grande.
We arrive in Ilha Grande and spend 5 days doing nothing but lazing in paradise.
On the first day we find a nice poussada (because there were three hot argie girls in the room next door). And then we find out they are leaving that same afternoon (wounder). So that night we go out to the 2 bars they have on the island and we meet a chef from London by the name of Ana whose sister is out in Rio as a private english tutor to the upper crust cariocas (inhabitants of Rio) which is handy as she is going to be in Rio for carnival too and what`s more she is going to be part of a samba school parade in the sambadrome (this is what the world watches on tv and associates with carnival). So the next day to recover from the hangover we all go and spend the day at the beach which is either a 3 hour trek through jungle or a 40 minute boat ride across to the other side of the island and then a 20 minute hike across a hill lush with atlantic rainforest (we chose the 2nd option).
So after this 40 minute boat journey which Hitesh missed as he was washing his hair, we hike for 20 minute through this jungle path and then at the end suddenly the path changes from dirt to sand and you come out of the trees into this absolutley stunning beach, it can only be described as some thing of a movie. Ilha Grande is part of a conservation area and so settlements are limited to 3 areas of the island and thankfully this 18km stretch of beach isn`t one of them. On any given day there are no more than a couple of hundred people and there a 2 sets of people on this beach who are selling soft drinks, food and some other aromatic herbs for the tourists!!!
The sea here is the cleanest I have seen anywhere in the world you can be in so deep that it comes upto your neck and you can not only see your body but your toenails and even the dirt under your toenails!!!
The only drawback is little silver fish that come and have a little nibble at your legs (it doesn`t hurt but is just annoying). All in all a lovely beach and understandable why it is rated as in the top 5 beaches in the world.
The following day we go on the 3 lagoons tour to do a pot of snorkelling. Man this sheet is hard, its hard to breathe, it`s hard to swim with the flippers and damn that coral is sticky on your feet.
Unfortunately I cut my foot at the second lagoon only to be told by peeps on the boat that, that`s what the captain of the boat was saying don`t walk on the rocks cos its too sharp (shame I don`t get any fcuking portuguese). Oh well a bloody foot on a paradise island won`t kill me I was born in Dudley Road hospital!!!
After this we spent the next few days lounging around getting drunk with some frinds we made on the beach excursion and the lagoons tour, namely Ana, David and Katie (also from London) and Christopher and Carin (from Sweden - boys next trip Sweden)..
Unfortunately one day was an absolute washout like back at home. The roads were proper flooded and all we could do was sit in play pool, backgammon, cards and watch borat and shaolin soccer off Christophers Ipod oh and get steaming drunk..
So after finally leaving Ilha Grande Hitesh went with Ana to a colonial town called Paraty as he`d already spent 2 weeks in Rio and me & Asha went to Rio as she was getting impatient to see Rio.
So upon arriving in Rio with Asha David and Katie we find a hostel in Ipanema which is run by a fella called Ely with the poshest English accent I ever heard. He spent a couple of years in London but fcuk knows where he got that accent. Anyway we try our usual trick of saying we are from India to get a discount but as he knows how many Indians there are in England it does`t wash and man Rio (and all of Brazil in fact) is an expensive place. But we stay never the less and meet some great Chilena girls who are very uselful as there Spanish helps as Portuguese is really hard (Spanish is quite easy to pick up or understand but Portuguese is as alien as they come, especially with the accents they have in Rio). So we spend a day on Ipanema beach but although the beach is lovely and the talent also lovely there is a certain attitude about the place that just ìsn`t what I expected.
The following day we do a favela tour through Rocinho (the biggest favela in south america) and I am surprised as I was expecting poverty and all I see is happy people all with a roof over their heads, free electricity and water (as they all have illegal connections of their next door neighbour and all meters are disconnected and reading 00001) and all have tv`s, fridges and some even air conditioning..I think the conception that they are all bad is very wrong some maybe but on the whole when you have sen poverty in India you realise that they don`t have poverty here but more just social issues with drugs and gun crime amongst gang members but considering this is the 8th largest economy in the world I think it`s a problem which effects many countries..
After the favela tour Me and Asha went for a lovely valentines dinner at the restaurant where the Girl from Ipanema track was written and a very nice dinner it was too.
The following day I went to the Maracana and contemporary art museum with Natalia and Cotty and then went back to hostel to move onto the posh hotel in centro to meet Herj and Harvi (friends from UK here for carnival).
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