Brazil / Ilha Grande
Initial thoughts of Brazil
It is expensive
It was raining
It is expensive
They should learn Spanish, it would make it easier.
It was raining

One day until Elliot and Saskia arrive

We woke up early the next day and it was off to Brazil, and back on a massive bus journey. 30 hours on the bus from iguaczu to rio was long and boring, we didn't have the luxury of the flat beds so it was an uncomfortable ride. Through brazil we travelled and it rained the whole night. This was not the Brazil we had expected. Apparently we were in Brazil during the rainy season. Anyway we got to Rio, spent the night in a lovely hostel overlooking Sugar Loaf Mountain and Christ the Redeemer. We had to share a dorm for the first time on the trip, Lisa got to sleep beneath a hot Aussie. A good nights sleep but up bright and early the next day to get to Ilha Grande and await the arrival of El and Saskia.

We got to Ilha Grande mid afternoon. Ilha Grande is the third biggest island off Brazil, and is a rain forest. As we came in to the port we had warm weather, but there were ominous rain clouds coming down the hill. We checked into the lovely Casa Blanca and waited for our travelling companions, they arrived soon after and the next adventure began.

We headed straight to a bar overlooking the harbour and the carnival spirit commenced. The beers flowed, the chat was easy, we'd only been away for a few months but we were happy to see people we knew and didn't have to try with. The evening was a warm one and we sat on the pier enjoying the view of the island and the warmth of the weather. We caught up with all the stuff we had missed from home, and got pissed, royally pissed, the pissed you can only get with your closest of friends. So drunk that Lisa couldn't remember her meal. So drunk that the water became more and more appealing. So drunk that Lisa lost her watch. So drunk that El, while speaking to an Israeli girl, apparently became an expert on Mossad. It was a great evening, we sampled our first, but by no means last, caipirinhas, drank beer and had our first por kilo meal.

Por kilo restaurants are buffets where you load up your plate and it gets weighed at the counter and you pay the corresponding amount to the weight of your food. In our inebriated state this was harder to compute, so while three of us had a moderate amount of food, Lisa had a kilo of food. Needless to say it was not all finished.

Then more caipirinhas and beer.

Then night swimming in our underwear.

Then rain.

Then bed.

Next morning none of us were pretty sights, and after breakfast I was left to read the papers, which had been carried across the Atlantic by el and sas, and go for a walk as the rest of the group slept off their hangovers. Ilha grande is a beautiful island, there are some great walks, hidden water falls, a rock pool and miles of white sandy beaches. It was a beautiful walk, right up until the moment it started raining. The rain was starting to become a fixture.

In the afternoon I met up with the rest of the guys and went off with the girls to see more of the island. In the evening we hooked up with Lara, Graham and her sister, Emma, who were also on the island and we partook in more caipirinhas. It was our last night out with Graham and Lara, two lovely people who we'd had great fun with on our travels together.

The caiprinha really is a lovely drink it is made from cachaca, fresh lime, sugar and crushed ice. And it really helps the party along. The more you drink the more you want. The beer in south America has been generally poor, but they do know how to make a lovely cocktail, pisco sours and caiprinhas were excellent.

The following day and with more sore heads we relaxed in the plunge pool and by the sea. The natural plunge pool was fantastic, halfway down the river you could slide in to the water on smooth rocks, you could jump in and the water wasn't too cold. The sea water was lovely and warm. Because the beach we were on faced the mainland there was very little wind and because of the short distance between where we were and the mainland we had lovely warm water. We spent the afternoon on our own private beach, just the four of us and it was sunny, which in Brazil was becoming a rarity. We had an improvised sports day to work off the caipirinha calories and food and relaxed.

That evening there was a black out, and as we had a busy few days coming up we ate and scuttled off to bed nice and early.

The next day we were off to Paraty. In the rain.