An Island Paradise

Hello! We have been out of touch for 5 days. Sorry about that. But it was worth the wait!

We have just come from an island called Ilha Grande. It´s only 3hrs south of Rio de Janeiro, but a total contrast! There are no banks and no cars, just rainforest and beaches! In true ``flashpacker`` style we were picked up from our hotel in Rio in an airconditioned minivan, which took us 2hrs south to a port. Here we hopped on a small speedboat and shot over to the island at 25knots in 15mins! Very nice!

We fell in love with the place as soon as we got there! Our Pousada (guesthouse) was run by a really friendly little fat lady called Leila who spoke no english, but made us feel very welcome! Our room was fantastic, loads of hammocks to chill out in and the breakfast and afternoon tea was great!

After wandering round the sand-streets of the town, we took an old schooner to a beach around the headland, called Lopez Mendez. This massive beach had some big waves and a few far-to-cool-for-school surfers, but other than that almost empty! The walk there took us through the rainforest, and in true Amazonian style it started to chuck it down with rain as soon as we got there. But it was so warm, it was really quite refreshing! On our walk back to the boat, we were walking through the forest when we heard a rustling sound in the trees. On closer inspection a group of monkeys had joined us on our hike! No idea what kind of monkey, but they were very inquisitive!

The next day we walked across to the other side of the island and found an amazing waterfall with a swimming hole. Ice cold water! Around the next corner were the ruins of a former prison which was only deommisioned in the 1950s. Very spooky!

The next few days were spent lying on the beach, wandering through town and enjoying nice cold Brazilian beer! We were sad to leave the island, but we had a plane to catch back Rio and then on to Florianopolis in the south of Brazil.

Next update coming soon! Hope you are all well!

Lots of love,
Jan and Nikky.