rain, mud, slippery, swimming and joy

yay for ilha grande! the bus arrived in angra dos reis, where there is a ferry to ilha grande. after another hour and a half on the boat (passing lots of little palm tree covered islands on the way) we arrived on ilha grande. it was raining in buckets, but even the rain couldn´t take away the beauty of the little houses, beaches and cute little muddy streets. there are no cars on the island, except for the garbage-tractor and the police golf carts, which add to the charm.

we got settled in the HI hostel after bargaining down the price, having the advantage of being six people (we had picked up two swiss people in angra dos reis, who we hung out with a lot during our stay on the island).

we had hoped for wonderful weather, but no such luck. our first day on the island was as rainy as on arrival, but it being summer and tropical, the rain was warm, so it was only a minor inconvenience to our fun-having-ness. we walked a little trail that takes you past a pretty little beach with lots of cool black sand, a deserted old prison, an ex-aqueduct and a cool river with a little pool formed by rocks, which we frolicked in. we headed back to meet our swiss people, and then walked down the same path again with them, to get to a waterfall beyond the aqueduct. the path was crazy fun, muddy and slippery (we walked barefoot again, making our feet a little sore), with beautiful flowers and cool trees everywhere (including a not so cool tree that smelled of armpit).

the next day we finally had sun! joy! we used the opportunity to walk the two hours to the most amazing beach of brasil, lopes mendes (we took four hours getting there because we stopped at every beach on the way). the beach is quite amazing, a broad band of white sand that made a cool squeaky sound when you walk, shallow water with huge waves, perfect for surfing, and beautiful palm trees everywhere. we aren´t sure if it´s the most beautiful beach, since the ones we passed were pretty amazing as well, but it was definitely worth the hike. the path there was muddy like the others, and made our feet even more sore than the hike the day before (i stubbed my toe on the way back, which is now a pretty purple colour), and was adventurous and fun. we even saw cute little monkeys on the way there... crazyness.

having explored the best (or most advertised?) of the 120 beaches on the island, we left the next day, taking the boat back to angra dos reis and catching a bus to parati.