View from the bus. Rainforest!
I arrived in Conçacão do Jacarai after a couple of hours. A guy, Yazzeed, asked me if I spoke English and were going to Ilha Grande then we joined together with the 25 reales boat over to Vila do Abraão, which is the largest village on the island “Ihla Grande”.
Ilha Grande is an island located off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state and part of the municipality of Angra dos Reis. It was really cloudy when we arrived. The island is known as a paradise for it’s beauty, because it has both tropical beaches and lot’s of rainforest which is good for hiking.
We took in at Overnativa Green Hostel and then we were really hungry so we went to find somewhere to have a snack. We ate at the only bakery/café they have, had a really good coffee and a sandwich of cheese, banana and canela. Yeah, love those ;)
Having sandwish with Yazzeed
Then we went for a walk around all the streets in abraão to get to know the island. It was raining a little bit but it wasn’t cold. We visited some souvenir shops, churches, the main streets..
It is really small and cozy here. Only 1900 inhabitats. What I love: there are no cars!! Woho! :)
Free line by the beach
Walking aorund with yazzeed
Dressed up men going to church
We had a cup of acai for 3 reales and then went back to the hostel because they served buffét there for 15 reales. It was really good actually. After dinner we went “downtown” again and got to know Abraão at night, lovely!!! We had a coffee under some colorful umbrellas and trees just by the beach..so beautiful! And Yazeed is so funny to hang with because he is super excited about everything. :)
Having acai, haha, Love the chef in the background! Hahaha
Ilha grande at night
Love the umbrellas!!!
Having a coffee by the beach :)
Next day it was a half sunny-half cloudy day. I took a boat to the famous beach Lopez Mendez. It went at 10.30 but we didn’t arrive there until 12, because you have to hike like 30 minutes before the beach. Then the last boat was leaving 16, so I felt a little stressed there. I slept a bit and did some bracelets and then it was time to go home. :( But the boat ride is nice. You pass by tons of green and more green and more green trees.
Ilha Grande reminds me a lot of Galapagos. I don’t know if it’s the lifestyle the people have here, island –lifestyle, or if it is the nature.. But it just reminds me a lot of David and Jas over there. I really miss Galapagos :(
When its clodu it gets a very mystical look!
On the boat to Lopes Mendes
What it looks like along the whole coast of the island. Just loads of green forest!
Such a beautiful little path between the beaches!
The famous lopes mendes beach
Dark shadows hanging over Lopes mendes….
Waiting for the boat with this ‘sexy’ brazilian couple…with the tangas and the zungas.. haha.. yeah I am fascinated!
The entire island here is a protected area. It has one of the richest ecosystems in the world and holds some of the largest remaining endangered species in the world.
At night I met up with Filipina and Stan, the French couple I hanged with in Salvador. They are so sweet. So much fun to see them again! We had a great dinner at a restaurant just by the beach, Lua do Mar, a luxurious restaurant but still not tooo pricy. They made me a supergreat vegetarian risotto for 30 reales, which I couldn’t even eat the half of because it was so much, so I took it with me as a doggy bag. :) So great! It was a super nice evening, ateunder some beautiful trees, listening to the waves a couple of meters from there.. so enjoyable. Then we said goodbye for this trip because they were leaving the day after, but I hope I’ll met them on the road someday :)
(Have a nice picture of us eating by the beach which didn´t upload.. will come soon)
At night I slept ok but I woke up really hungry again and bitten by mosquitos. I had breakfast at 8.30. Not as good as they had written in the references..haha. But it was ok. :) Today it was a sunny day! I went down to ta agency with a funny woman together with Yazzeed and bought the ticket to go out on a tour along half of the island with a speed boat the whole day. It costed100 reales, but it stopped at 7 different sites. The people on the boat was supernice too, an Argentinian couple, Italian couple, Brazilian couple and me and Yazzeed. Haha.
The island is beautiful, and the beaches as well. IT IS SOO GREEEN!!! Even the famous “blue lagoon” was not blue but green! Too bad it isn’t clear water.
Our boat, great guide, great people, great day! In front of the blue lagoon that was green today!
So green!!!!!
The cacha fruit, tastes like something between banana and pineapple. Really good!
Walking in the water
Poetic picture taken by Yazzeed
At the love beach, hehe. Yazzeed says hi. And there was a really really white girl there.
Happy when there´s sunshine!
Typical brazilians having a party on a boat, haha!
The (of course brazilian) couple there were on their honeymoon :)
Chilling at the beach with a beer… can´t complain!
The seas around the islands are also protected and said to be the only place in the world where you can see both corals and tropical fish with magellanicpinguins and southern right wales. But guess what?! The visibility was like 2-3 meters so there where NO BOATS leaving for scuba dive during my 5 days there!! :/
But I did snorkel on this tour and saw some fishes, but it is all the same kind, and we had to feed them for them to come close haha. But there were hundreds of them like 1 cm from my mask! (I wasn’t able to see so much further, haha).
Snorkel!
So many fishes, and they go so close to you!!
So many fishes
Snorkel
The tour ended about 17, and I enjoyed the last hours of sun in the beach right there by the peer, reading my book. Then I went for a walk and had some acai and a coffee.
When I got back to the hostel I had to change room because of a water leakage. Typical. Took a shower and then went out with Yazeed again. We had some great crepes by the beach listening to live music and the sound of the waves again. LOVE IT!! Ah. It’s is SO peaceful. Didn’t want the night to end! But it does…
Acai, coffe, and a book. Can´t complain here either!
Night by the beach. So cozy
Yummy chocolate, banana and coconut crepe!
I decided to change my plans a little bit, because I was investigating about doing sky-diving in Sao Paolo, but it was just so messy to go there directly from Paraty later and then from there to the airport, that I didn’t feel like I wanted to end my trip with stress. So instead I decided to stay a few more days in Ihla Grande and in Paraty. So once again, I needed to change room, to my final room. Haha. But there I met Jelouza and Tracy, and I’m happy for that :)
I went for a hike along the coast and passed by plenty of small beaches with people un them, until I got to one that was empty. It was super sunny and hot, I wasn’t able to lie on the beach but had to be in the water. Then of a sudden it got really cloudy..then I fell asleep on the beach. I woke up because it was raining a bit, but just a few minutes. Talked to a guy from Uruguay who is on a around-the-world-trip with his sailing boat and his dog. So cool. Later it got more cloudy and just when I started to hike back home, it started to rain.
So beautiful hikes here
Green green!
The trail
Lovely
The beach were I almost was alone at :)
Hanged out a bit at the hostel and later at night I went out for dinner with Tracy from my dorm room, she is from Scotland. We walked around and then had coffee at the bakery again, where also Yazzeed happened to be, haha. Nice evening just talking about everything!
I had my best night of sleep to, first time I didn’t wake up hungry (somehow I´ve done it every night even if I had a great dinner!), I just woke up because I put the alarm to eat breakfast before they close. It was a rainy rainy day. So then I went back to the dorm and slept. Then woke up, fixed a little bit with the computer, went out for some souvenir shopping, had some coffee and sandwich hiding from the worst rain, back home to do some bracelets and then back to bed to watch tv-series. :) Just a perfect day to do so… hehe.
On Thursday I left the island…. Still raining. Buhu. I’m sad I wasn’t able to do the scuba dive!
