Our next stop after Rio is Ihla Grande. We didn't get off to a good start as the tickets Ben had booked online were for the 16th instead of the 15th which we only realised after making our way to the bus station and being carted off the bus because we were sat in someone's seats! We finally got on another bus and made the 3 hour trip to Ihla Grande,including a 25 minute speedboat from the mainland. Ihla Grande is the place where Brazilians from Rio go on holiday - it's a beautiful island,covered in green mountains and flanked by sandy beaches. The main promenade is lined with restaurants,bars and little sandy lanes leading back to more restaurants,shops and hostels. We got there late afternoon so that first day we headed straight to the beach for some late afternoon sun and in the evening we had a couple of drinks and a pizza at a little back street cafe. The following day we got up early to walk to Lopes Mendez beach. LM is voted one of the top 10 beaches in the world so we couldn't miss the opportunity to spend the day there! You can either get a boat there or you can walk 6km through the jungle and over the mountains to get there in 2 1/2 hours - we thought this would be a great adventure! So we packed snacks and water and headed off into the jungle at 8am. The walk took us up into the mountains, along pathways littered with fallen boulders and entwined with enormous tree roots, past bamboo plants hundreds of meters high and back down onto beautiful sandy beaches. About 15 minutes into the walk 2 stray dogs appeared from nowhere, leading us along and waiting for us if we fell behind. We called them Scrappy and Boss and they stayed with us the entire way. The wildlife in the jungle includes howler monkeys and parrots and luckily we saw a tiny monkey running up one of the trees! When we reached the beach before LM there were about 10 big black vultures perched along the sand as we entered the beach - we had seen them flying around but up close they're really creepy! Finally after 2 hours we reached Lopes Mendez beach and it was worth the wait and the walk! We walked onto it and it was completely deserted, 3km of white sand stretched out with the mountains towering behind and the clear blue waves rolling in. Ben and I were so excited, it was beautiful! We couldn't stop taking pictures and Ben's GoPro was put to good use. We set up camp and stayed there for the day - Ben spent nearly all day bodysurfing in the waves as usual! We were lucky to get there early and enjoy it on our own as within half an hour of arriving the boats from Abrrao had started dropping ppl off and it got busy. We got the boat back and treated ourselves to dinner at Lua y Mar where we sat on the beach and enjoyed a Moqueca (seafood stew) and Caipriniahs - we deserved it after all that walking! We stayed in a different hostel tonight which Charlie and Sarah had recommended, it was really sweet with lots of little hummingbirds in the garden and a great breakfast in the morning - cinnamon buns to die for!!