After Rio we made our way to an Island about halfway between Rio and Sao Paulo called Ilha Grande. We arrived late at night on Sunday 19 Feb and checked into our accommodation - Studio Beach Hostel. We were in a 6 bed dorm, but it was split over 2 levels so didn't seem crowded at all. We met two cool couples there - one from Chile and one from Germany. We all got on really well and hope to meet up again with both of them later in our trip.

Monday we slept in a bit and then dashed down for breakfast at 9h45. The breakfasts here are AMAZING - on top of the usual cereals etc. there is a huge selection of fruits and the guy makes 2 cakes every morning. Yes, cakes. For breakfast. When we had finished gorging ourselves, we took a stroll along the coast. Unlike Rio, the beaches here are smaller but more frequent - about 5 mins walk between them through some jungle. We stopped and swam at each of them before heading back for dinner. Side note: because this place is such a tourist trap, everything is insanely expensive. So we hit the local supermarket and Monique managed to whip us up an awesome dinner for under R$10!

Tuesday we joined the German couple, Jorg and Ramona, on a boat tour for the whole day. There are a number of good snorkelling spots around the island and the boat took us to the main ones - Lagoa Verde (Green Lagoon) and Lagoa Azul (Blue Lagoon) as well as few other cool beaches. Lunch was provided which was awesome - the food was great and pretty much kept coming from around 11h00-ish until we got back at 19h00. The water at the snorkelling spots is really clear - you can see deeper that you can dive without bursting your ear drums (I know 'cause I tried.) There is not a huge variety of stuff to see, but we did see some pretty cool types of fishies and some big starfish.

Wednesday we were up early again for some more chocolate mousse and fruity-cake for breakfast, and then set off for a 2hr walk through the jungle to a beach called Lopes Mendez, which apparently is supposed to be one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. It was really hot, so we spent most of time under the trees in the shade, with the occasional tanning session followed by a swim. It did make us think of what we would normally be doing and of everyone back home - hope you're all well. We didn't have the energy to hike back, so caught the overpriced ferry. Monique whipped up another masterpiece for dinner and then we settled down for some blogging/journaling.

Thursday we packed our things and left Ilha Grande. The ferry was late (again) so we missed our connecting bus and only arrived in Sao Paulo after 22h00. We just found the nearest taxi and went straight to our host for our first CouchSurfing experience...