Ihla Grande 23rd July - 25th July 2006 Bit sad to be leaving Rio and it?s quite an early start to to get the bus Angra de los Reis where we will get the bus to Ihla Grande. We arrive in Angra and Stu gets ripped off straight away when buying some little Empanadas. It seems to be quite common with the Brazilians playing a little game whereby they knowingly overcharge you and then wait for you to say "hang on a minute", Except that we don?t know how to say that in Portuguese (but thankfully Gemma does!) Sneeky b*****s. The boat to Ihla Grande takes a further 2 hours and it?s a lovely little ride with little islands dotted around and small beaches along the way. We arrive in a splendid little village with cobbled streets and check into a good hotel with decent sized rooms. Pizza for tea but the service it a little slow. We are still waiting for a decent pizza in South America, it seems that everywhere they don?t cook the topping properly and kind of add it on afterwards, hence you have a hot pizza base and relatively cold topping. A few capirihnas later from a little local store and we are really rather drunk. In town there?s a small local band playing in front of what can loosely be termed a main square. The music is pretty good (Joe even said so as he could hear it quite clearly in bed until about 2 in the morning!) but the singer is like something out of fraggle rock as he?s about 2 foot tall with really frizzy hair. The next morning it?s a superb breakfast and we decide to head off for a great little beach on the other side of the island. The baot takes about an hour to get there before a 20 minute walk through the forest. When we arrive at the beach it?s 28 degrees and we have a great time splashing around in the sea (the waves aren?t too bad) and generally a good bit of relaxing and sun bathing. Unfortunately Joe is not feeling to well so he sits out most of the day, dozing in the shade. In the evening we have a few beers and eat locally caught fish. The next day is similar except we decide to walk to a different beach which isn?t quite as good (Stu is in a bit of a huff cause he had a great day yesterday and wants to do the same again). Still we have a good time again playing a bit of cards and having a bit of a swim. The tide is coming in though and so Stu decides to recreat the Itaipu dam in minature to keep the waves from lapping at our feet whilst we enjoy our picnic lunch. The following day it?s time to move on again this time to Paraty further down the coast. We are herded like animals onto the ferry and an hour later we are back in Angra where there?s just enough time for Stu to get ripped off again whilst buying another Empanada (this time Gemma is not on hand to rescue him!). Lots of Love Stu & Amy