Ilha Grande

After an overnight bus to Sao Paulo and sometime to figure out our buses at the MASSIVE Sao Paulo bus station, we took 2 more buses to Angra dos Rios, where we would be able to catch a ferry to Ilha Grande. Apparently there are only 2 or 3 ferries to the island per day and we didn't think we would be able to catch one but we lucked out and caught a 7 o'clock ferry which nobody knew about.
Ilha Grande is one of Brazil's largest islands and it still has a very island lifestyle, there are no cars on the island and no bank machines. One of Brazil's top beaches - Lopes Mendes is on this island which we visited and can be easily accessed by hiking to it from the main town. The center of the island is green lush rain forest and you can hike to almost any part of the island, though some take longer than others. You can also take boats to various beaches and lagoons. Katie and I did half and half. We took a boat to Lopes Mendes which is honestly one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. The sand is white and soft and squeaky. I have never encountered squeaky sand and neither had any of the others we were with. Essentially, when you walk on the sand it squeaks and makes a noise very similar to wet sneakers on a tile floor. It was such a novelty for all of us gringos. The beach also stretched for kms on end. On the trek through the forest back to the pier (even the boat doesn't drop you off right at the beach, you have to work if you want the most beautiful beaches!) there are tons of monkeys. We saw 2 different kinds, a smaller one - which we would later find to be quite common in Rio de Janeiro, and a larger black one.

On our second day, we hiked to a beach with black sand. This was pretty cool and we wrote the word Brazil in the sand (which you can see in my photos). We also found a natural swimming pool of fresh water which we went swimming in. We also hiked on the other side of our hostel to a beach more known for snorkelling but didn't end up going into the water because it was too "chilly". Yeah we were just being idiots.

And on our last day we went to the Blue Lagoon. This was stunning. The snorkelling was amazing. Kates and I saw this crazy water snake or eel that had neon blue slash green dots and a super long nose horn thing. I also saw a "rock fish" (thats what I'm calling it), lots of clown fish and various other types that I'm not sure of. And the water was so calm and refreshing. On our boat trip with all the other kids from our hostel (whom we had made friends with the previous night around a table of many beers - the small island isn't really known for the nightlife) we blared Bob Marley and had of course, more beers, which were sold to us by vendors in little canoes that came right up to our boat. It was a great day and a hard life! The boat trip also included three more beaches but the lagoon was definately the highlight. Most of us also had exceeded our amount of time in the sun and so we skipped the last beach. It was the perfect day.

After 3 days on the island we decided to move on...next stop Rio de Janeiro! One of my most anticipated cities of my entire trip!!!