Shortly, I'll be joining Carrie out in California, as we prepare to head back to reality. Until then, I might as well write about what we did to finish our epic South American journey. At Iguazu Falls, we crossed the border from Argentina to Brazil. Our original plans for Brazil included locations up in the Northern Coast, but due to fatigue and lack of time, we decided to simplify things.
After our time at the Brazilian Falls and Itapu Dam, we boarded a plane to Rio de Janiero. Our plan was to first investigate the island of Ilha Grande, then finish the trip in the city of Rio. With that in mind, we rode a 3 hour bus from Rio to the town of Angra dos Reis, where we found a place to stay for the night. The next morning, we investigated boats to Ilha Grande. We discovered that the "official" ferry left town at 1:30pm, but there appeared to be some "unofficial" looking guys willing to take us at 10:30am. Since we were eager to get to the island, we decided to take our chances with the unofficial boat. While it seemed a bit shady at times, it turned out fine, and 1.5 hours later, we were at the island.
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| From Ilha Grande, ... |
The Island consists of one main town of about 3000 people, and has no cars besides one emergency vehicle. We quickly discovered that people freely walk down the main streets barefoot and in swimsuits (which don't consist of much in Brazil). We stayed at the Pousada Beira Mar, owned by a friendly German named Lutz, who thankfully spoke perfect English. Lutz enjoyed telling us his many travel stories and was very helpful in helping us decide what to do while on the island.
Ilha Grande is supposedly home to over 100 beaches, so needless to say, the primary activity on the island is going to the beach. The most famous beach on the island (and possibly in all of Brazil), was Praia Lopez Mendes. To get there from the main town, we could either hike 3 hours each way, or ride a 45 minute boat followed by a 30 minute hike. For the first day, we hiked to the beach, stopping along the way for a pleasant lunch along the water. We also stumbled upon some monkeys along the hike, but since we were scared of theft, we didn't have our camera with us to take pictures.
The next day, we went on a boat ride / tour, where we got to see other parts of the island. At one stop, we hiked into a cave, which got quite claustrophobic as crawling was necessary at times. Once we got further into the cave, there was a pool of water where we could wade and observe fish swimming in the distance. Outside the cave, we also made a boat stop at a lagoon where we did more swimming and snorkeling, before stopping for lunch and heading back.
On our third day on the island, we decided to take the easy boat ride back to Lopez Mendes beach, and bring our camera. Here are some photos:
One of the boat drivers:
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| From Ilha Grande, ... |
The beach:
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| From Ilha Grande, ... |
Drinking out of a coconut while waiting for our boat ride back:
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| From Ilha Grande, ... |
As we waited for our 5pm boat ride back, we noticed ominous clouds moving in. Around 4:45, rain started falling. Since we were in our bathing suits, we weren't too bothered by this at first. However, after boarding the boat, the rain started coming down harder, and the roof of our boat was not shielding us all that well. Midway through the boat ride, the rain was pouring down in sheets, with high winds blowing the rain horizontally into the boat, where it pelted us with a hail-like strength and intensity. Our boat driver struggled to steer the boat due to the blinding rain blowing directly into his eyes. Huddled together with the fellow travelers, we couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of the situation. Thankfully, we made it back safely to the town and dried off.
It rained for the remainder of our time on the island, so we spent most of the time relaxing after attempting to hike in the rain and realizing it was not a good idea. After that, we left the island and headed to Rio de Janiero!
Our first hotel in Rio was the Hotel Vermont, in Ipanema. Due to repeated warnings from travelers, family, and Ilha Grande residents, we were extremely cautious with our belongings in Rio, and therefore didn't bring out the camera much. Ipanema was a nice area, with the town having decent (but expensive) shopping, and the immense beach two blocks from our hotel. The beach itself was quite the scene, with all sorts of different types of people crowding together enjoying the sun and very intense surf. We ventured in to test the waters, and quickly realized that we were no match for the immense waves and strong current. Instead, we enjoyed the sun and witnessed the interesting sport of futvoli (volleyball without hands). The video below is from youtube -- we didn't take it:
We also took in some Bossa Nova, and I was thrilled to watch some great music after so much Andean Flute and Tango, which hadn't excited me as much. One night, we went to a smaller club, and the next, we went to a 3 floor club where they had a 10 piece band! The music was great at the clubs, and I also bought numerous CDs from the local bossa nova music store.
After a few days in Ipanema, we switched hotels and moved to Copacabana to finish the trip. Since this was the end, we decided to splurge, and we got to enjoy this view from our hotel room:
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| From Rio de Janier... |
One day, we decided to visit Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer). This immense statue is located atop a mountain, and the view overlooks nearly the entire city. Here are some photos:
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| From Rio de Janier... |
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| From Rio de Janier... |
Another day, we decided to try hang gliding. Here, we were driven to the top of a mountain, where we got strapped into some wings with a guide, then ran off of a platform and hoped that our wings would fly!
For our last night, we sipped caipirinhas along the beach, before heading to a churrascaria for some all you can eat meat!
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| From Rio de Janier... |
All in all, I really enjoyed Brazil. Over time, little things kept happening that made us really appreciate the people and culture of Brazil. From the fresh fruit juice stands and snack bars at every block, to people politely asking at restaurants if their smoking is bothering neighboring tables (and doing something about it if it was), to the music, to the beaches, to the laid back personalities (despite our lack of Portuguese), I really felt at home here. I think Carrie and I both felt like if we hadn't been so tired and short on time, we could have spent a long time exploring Brazil. Perhaps someday we can head back to Brazil to explore some more!
Coming soon -- A final wrap up of the trip!
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