Rio de Janiero to Ilha Grande...

After what would, on reflection, seem like a stressful few days in Rio (mostly due to my dwindling supply of knickers..), we headed off to the idyllic, tropical paridise that is Ilha Grande.


The island, which we reached by a local ferry jam packed with islanders, was an absolute haven of peace. The lack of any traffic, save a few bikes and plenty of chilled out tourists on their way to the beach, was a bit of a shock after the utter pandimodium of Rio, where crossing the road took a good 5 minutes and at least 7 near death experiences, but a good one nonetheless.

Sitting on the ferry, squeezed between giant bags of rice, vegetable and meat that constituted the isanders weekly shopping delivery from the mainland (Tesco Direct, eat your heart out..), we watched intently as the lush, green hillsides of the island slowly came in to view. The Island was utterly beautiful, with its  sandy yellow beaches, vibrant rainforest and bright blue skies, meaning that I could put the 'supervivid' setting on my new camera to very good use!

Once on dry land, and having taken lots of gorgeous pictures, we struggled on to our hostel with our rucksacks gazing at the beautiful sunset that, teamed with the long sandy beach, made the place look like it had fallen straight from a book of postcards. Heaving our massive rucksacks up the winding cobbled streets (if only something slightly heavier than my underwear had been stollen in Rio..) the Bambu Inn for which we were headed turned out to be slighty further uphill than we were anticipating.

When we arrived, sweating in a very attractive manner and Kitty already bitten to shreds by the local mosquitos, the hostel was a very welcome surprise.

Situated in lush tropical gardens, the dorm was almost entirely glass, with beautiful views of the surrounding garden, and, after establishing that the trickling outdoor shower was in fact only a water feature, a pretty good bathroom too. But, enough of that, the beach was calling us.

After meeting our lovely dorm-mates, we headed to a bar on a small beach, just off the main tourist trail. Sitting under a huge tree strung with fairy lights and dripping with lanterns, we drank Passion Fruit Caiparinhas, ate coconut and lime chicken kebabs fresh of the Barbeque and listened to the waves lapping against the beach. I am completely aware that this all sounds just a liiiitle bit cheesy, but it was actually everything that films have led me to believe Island life to be.

Until it started to rain. And rain it did. Our kebabs turned to chicken soup and I was left looking extremely bedraggled, not ideal and certainly not like the movies. We did, however, make a top celebrity spot through the tropical downpour. None other than George Lamb was sitting on the table next to us, and later came and bought us all Caiparinhas! Lifestyle of the rich and the famous and all that..

After our perfect, if slightly damp, evening, we prayed that the rain as over and booked a boat tour of the island´s beaches for the next day. After hiring snorkles, and drinking a lot of coke to combat the effects of last nights Caipifrutas, we jumped (crawled..) on to our little boat and headed off to find some fish.

When we eventually did find some fish however, I discovered that I may actually have quite a serious fear of them. It may have been something to do with the Boat owner thowing bread at me, which led to a feeding frenzy of hundreds of quite large, snappy fishies swimming around my head, but it was not the best to to make that quite strange realisation. It was also not the best time for Kitty to realise that she cannot breathe without the use of her nose, so after a rather epic snorkelling fail we panicked our way back to the boat, the skipper still throwing fish food at my face, and I finally escaped the fish. Hopefully this was just a passing phobia, I don't think being scared of fish is very practical when travelling!


After visiting a few absolutely beautiful beaches, and swimming in crystal clear, turquoise water (luckily our friend had run out of bread, so the fish were pretty cool too..) we headed back to the harbour. I promptly fell asleep on the front deck, as seems to be the case on any moving vehicle, and severly sunburnt my nose.

After a good shower, and some serious moisturisation on my now glowing konk, we trundled down the hill for some steak, rice and beans and an evening of drinking beer (which Kitty seems to have developed quite the taste for..) and eating acai berry sorbet with granola and banana in a local bar.

The next day, after an amazing breakfast of juicy fresh mango, seed cake and pesto toast in the jungle garden, and an absolutely perfect couple of days, we were back on the boat bound for the Iguazu Falls..

C xxx