On Wednesday morning we got the bus from Rio de Janeiro's rodoviaria (bus station) at 10.30, heading for Angra dos Reis, west along the coast. The journey took us three and a half hours, despite the crazy driver doing his utmost to whisk us there as soon as possible, haring around every corner! We managed to jump on a boat at Angra's port pretty shortly after arrival, leaving at 2.30 for the hour journey across to Ilha Grande and the town of Abraão. It was a great day to travel, as it remained overcast the entire time. We didn't feel like we'd therefore missed out on a day at the beach. However, the food on Wednesday was disgusting! We went to a bakery upon arrival at Ilha Grande, and watched as a guy poured milk over some coffee granules and didn't even stir it in to make our cappuccinos. They obviously tasted awful. Our burgers weren't much better. It turned into a pretty awful day food-wise, with dinner not really living up to expectations. Nick and I shared a fish dish with rice and roasted potatos, ruined by the tamarind sauce they'd saturated the fish in, which was really sweet and sticky. Everyone else's pizzas weren't great either. Inbetween lunch and dinner we had a wander around the pretty town. It's obviously set up purely for tourism, but it was a cool little place, with boats bobbing on the beach, pretty lanes and lots of vibrant colours everywhere.

We got some sun on Thursday! We boarded a boat at 10 yesterday morning to take us from Abraão around the headland, docking at a beach still on the north side of the island. From here, we completed a twenty minute walk across the island, up and down a hill, through to Praia Lopes Mendes (pictured above). This was definitely worth all the effort, seeing as it is the best beach in Brazil. Whilst Jo and I preferred a beach we visited in Boipeba, this was an extremely close second. It was literally that perfect. When we first arrived, we were amongst the first few people there, and it was deserted. We were all pretty chuffed to have found such a place. The rest of the day was spent right there, after setting up our towels in the sun. We sunbathed, swam in the sea to cool down (battling some almighty waves that caught you off guard as well as a strong undertow), got some cold drinks and all read etc. Nick hired a surfboard and fought the strong surf to get up, and I joined him for a few lighthearted attempts myself. We had a great meal that evening. Maggie and I went for prawn skewers, with the biggest prawns you've seen in your life on them! The others had steak or fish. We also all indulged in both starters (Greek salad, salmon carpaccio, mussels) and desserts (crepes and icecream).

Seeing as yesterday was such a perfect day, we pretty much followed the same itinerary today, step-by-step. We got a boat and then walked over to Praia Lopes Mendes again, sunbathing, swimming, reading and munching our lunch, and then heading back at about 4:30. We went out for pizza this evening, ordering so much that we ended up taking a lot of it away with us! We also had the customary 'por kilo' icecream afterwards...I was so stuffed I couldn't lie on my front to go to sleep!

Tomorrow we get a boat back over to the mainland, and then make our way via bus to Paraty, where we're planning on spending the next four nights. Jo and I can't believe that our trip is almost at an end now!