Ilha Grande´s streets are all sand, and there are no cars that are allowed on the island! I saw a tractor with a few brazilians hanging off the back pass by, but the whole island is traveled by on foot or by boat. So today we slept in and walked around town, bought a few papayas, bannanas and some snacks, and then headed to the boat dock to catch a boat to visit the beach of Lopes Mendes. While we were walking to the dock a few dogs came up to us and wanted to get petted. The dogs here are very nice, even though they might be homeless, they are all very clean, seem to be washed, and they all have collars, even though there are no tags on the collars. Once we got on the boat, two dogs joined us, one of them had a coconut. It was so funny because the puppy would drop the coconut, and since we were no a boat, the coconut would roll away, and the dog would chase it. It could entertain itself for hours. Two more people came onto the boat, they were two kids from the netherlands. Then with the four of us, on a 100 person boat, we set sail to Lopes Mendes, The trip took 40 minutes, and was very beautiful. The rainforest here goes right up to the ocean, and it is very thick. I really enjoy riding on the boat. the water is azure blue, and there are many seabirds wheeling around over head. Once we got to the beach we realized that we had to hike 15 mins to the real lopes mendes, which was a great hike. It felt like hawaii again, i saw many plants i recognized as well as lilikoi, or passionfruit, or maracuja. Once we got to lopes mendes, I saw what all the fuss was about. Lopes mendes, is a huge beach, with incredibly soft sand, and powder white. Laina and I jumped into the water, about 8 degrees colder then hawaii´s water, Brrr. and surfed some waves, and then went to sundbathe. We met up with the three greeks (we met one more, i dont know if i mentioned that befoe) and the two brazilians. Later, we explored the rocks, which were pretty but devoid of life, and then settled down in the shade. On the beach there are vultures eating a dead pufferfish, and in the distance I can see a fishing boat with hundreds of birds following it. Our friends caught their boat at 4, so we waited another hour and went swimming while we waited for ours. Tonight is 2 of the greeks last night befor the head back to rio, so once we got back to the main town (yes, the dogs were on the boat again) We hung out at a restraunt and got some beer while listening to bob marley on the radio. The nightlife picked up a little bit these last few days! not everything is closed! We head back to the hostel, say our good byes, and head to sleep.
The two greeks left very early that morning, so when we woke up, they were already gone. It was sad for them to leave, because they were very friendly, and easy people to travel with. Our bus to Angra dos Reis is at 10:30 so we have a little time to pack up and head out. Once at the dock, we met up with the third greek, and two british guys who will travel with us the next few days. The british guys are on a trip around the world, and they will head to iguassu falls with us! Sweet, more travel companions! Once on the bus we ran into the american girl that we met in rio on the bus ride to ilha grande! We ended up not seeing her at all on the island because we were so busy, and there were alot of people so it wasnt so easy! The ride was much nicer, not so shakey or sunny. Once in Angra, our group(very large at this point) decided to head to a colonial city, Paraty. The bus ride is 2 hours, and leaves soon. We all get on the bus, and head down the coast. The bus ride is fantastic, Brasils coasline is foggy with big mountain peaks, and a beautiful ocean to our left. There are many little villiages and lots of tropical plants growing. In Paraty, we split up a little, the amaerican girl stays in paraty, because she is headed to Sao Paulo the next day, and everyone else heads to a little beach town, thats not in the Lonely planet guide, but the brazilians reccommend, Trindade!
A trip to Trindade is worth it for the bus ride alone. The last 10 minutes of the ride, are very steep down hil with lots of hills and sharp turns, the bus driver decided to speed up during this part of the trip so the ride felt like a true roller coaster. It was amazing, as we cam up on one hill, I looked out through a clearing and could see the heavily forested coastline with many small peninsulas and lots of rocks, It definately looked foreboding, yet like paradise(hmmm). Once we got to villiage, I could tell it was off the beaten path, yet touristy. Our brazilian friend headed out and got us a good deal on a hostel room for us 6. After we settled in , the hostel room was pretty nice, We headed out for some food and to the beach. It started raining. I like the rain here, it is warm and tropical, each drop is very thick, and you can certainly feel it, when the rain gets hard. We headed to the beach anyways, and it was very beautiful, in a scary tropical brazil rainforest sort of way. The coastline on both side of the beach was very dramatic, and you could see quite a ways. The sand is wet from the rain, and the waves are pretty loud. As we headed back to town, the road we walked on had small pastures on both sides, lots of potholes in the sandy road, and it was still raining. It is very pretty, there are banana trees swaying with the rain, and small cars and truck driving by, with brazilians all doing some sort of job, but i am yet to understand what excatly they are doing.
We went out to dinner at a restaurant, and got the typical brazilian plata do dia, or plate of the day for 8R, 3.75$. I got beand rice, fish and a salad, It was very good. As i look to my right across the road the restraunt is on i see a big truck that has many bricks in the bed. There are three men in the truck bed throwing the bricks to the people on the second floor of the buiding they are parked next to. You would think they could rig up a pulley system to get the job done quicker. " but then you couldn´t pay 6 brazilians to do the job" said one british guy.
This morning we headed to waterfalls, The hike was very fun. We saw a dead snake, and I think it was a ball python. The water falls were pretty, and the water was very clear. We headed back and decided to head back to Paraty.
Once we got back to Paraty, we said our good byes to the last greek, he is headed to Rio to catch his plane home. It is sad saying bye to these people, you meet them, spend lots of time traveling and making decisions with them, It is sad to see them go. I think it will be one of the harder things about traveling.
Paraty is a very colonial town, It is touristy, but the buildings are beautiful. Someone said that it is from the 1600s. The buildings are white wash with blue trim.
We decided to go to our brazilian friends house, in a town called Cerqueira Cesar, and we will meet the british guys again in Iguassu. Tonight our bus will leave at 11:30, and it will be 10 hours to get there, via Sao paulo. Our plan is to Head to her house for 3 days, and then go to iguassu falls, spend one day on either side, brazil and argentina, and then head to rosario, and spend 10 days with our friend there. Then cory comes in on jan 6, so that will be fun.
