The ferry from Angra Dos Reis to Ilha Grande was filled with young backpackers and some local people. The 90 min trip costs R$12 ea. The rain forrest island is mountainous with the highest peak at 982 m. No vehicles are allowed on the island and access to other villages and beaches are by boat or hiking trails. We pitched our tent on one of the many campsites on the main village, Abrao. The weather was great and the next few days was spent snorkeling, hiking to some of the beautiful beaches on the island and just lazing around at some of the small villages.
At one of the villages we watched as the local school ferry (looks like a fishing boat) drops off kids that goes to school on Abrao. The kids seem to have a great life on the island and were back playing in the surf, as soon as they dropped their school bags.
On the ferry back to Mangaratiba, we met an Irish couple who are four months into their `around the world` trip. They´ve been to most of the places in South-America that we still plan to visit, so we spent some time with them on the ferry and in the hostel in Rio.
It was a clear day on our arrival at Rio, and 15min after booking into our hostel near Ipanema beach, we joined 3 other backpackers on a local taxi tour to the hill top where the statue of `Christ the Redeemer`is situated. The views are truly amazing. The city itself is a mix of favelas (informal settlements) situated on the mountain foothills and high rise buildings of which most seem a bit delapidated.
On Sundays one of the motorways next to the beach is closed for traffic and we had great time cycling along the beaches of Ipanema, Copacabana and Leblon. For 10 km´s we cycled alongside beaches packed with small bikini´s and big parties - beach lovers paradise !
