Ilha Grande, Brazil (Grand Island)

We arrive in Rio again from Igacu Falls and stay one night at the Ambasador Hotel. The room is clean but ugly. Very old hotel with gold trimmed very ugly tile in the bathroom and walls that need to be painted. En route from the airport, the cab driver cannot find the hotel. Here I go again!!!!! He stops about 4 times to ask directions in the heart of Rio and it reminds me of the time in Quito looking for Fed Ex. The next morning I go up to the breakfast floor level of this ugly hotel and walk off the elevator to this spectacular view. Had no idea and we're not far from the sea and a huge park. The breakfast spread is very nice and Nelson sits down at our table. He is a very friendly guy. He has some business in connection with Carnaval and has a shirt on reflecting the promotion. He offers his shirt to me. I am confused but say thank you. Soon one of the people who work in the hotel delivers 2 yellow bags to him and he in turn gives each one of us one. Inside is promotional material on the parades and a bright yellow shirt with a rooster on it, his logo. He is a free lance person of some kind working for one of the newpapers. He tells us about Ilha Grande and where the different beaches are etc. We say goodbye to Nelson, check out, and get a cab to the Rodoviarua bus station. Catch the Costa Verde bus to Angra dos Reis where we will take the ferry boat to Ilha Grande. The bus route is very beautiful running along the "green coast" (Costa Verde) all the way to Angra. This island is about 3 hrs. by bus from Rio southwest. We arrive in the bus station and no one attacks you for service as in the other places we have arrived. Get a cab to the municiple docks and they are selling ferry tickets outside the gate to the dock. I am suspicious but all the other young guys are buying them so we do the same. We walk out to the boat which is a large 2 masted wooden sailing vessel with a huge tarp covering the area people sit, quite a way out on a bumpy dirt road. I am ahead of Janeen because I am carrying everything on my back and am anxious to get to the destination. She is pulling her cases on this awful road. Some guy grabs the big one and lightens her load as the men here are all very polite and helpful without asking. The space on the boat is open on the sides with seats all around and a wooden railing. They load lots of supplies on the boat. The center is filled with supplies and luggage from the travelers. It takes over an hour to get to the island and it is very beautiful. The rainforest comes right down to the rock walled sea, which is very calm. There are some small beaches in between the rock areas. The ferry and town of Ilha remind me a bit of Isla Mujeres except that it is much more mountainous and green. We get some info on a posada from one of the guys on the ferry boat and another guy trys to sell us his place with pictures he shows us. Reminds me of Nancy and I arriving in Santorini in a small, small scale however. We walk off the pier and I suggest to Janeen to sit with our stuff while I check out the hotels off the main walkway we are on. Check out a few and find a nice place to stay just a few blocks down called Posada Mar Azul. We are quoted 70 reais but later I speak with the owner and he agrees if we stay for several days to 60 reais a nite or $16.67 each. It is a nice room with an outdoor shower just outside our door. A nice outdoor eating area just steps in front of our door that is walled from the little courtyard area the shower is in. We have breakfast every morning there with a selection of ham, cheese, bread, fruit, cake, juice and coffee. We make a sandwich everyday from the breakfast buffet for lunch later. The room has a refrig in it loaded with bevs you can buy or use and replace for a cheaper price if done before they check the room and charge you. Sara and Sylvia are the local girls who work here and are very friendly and helpful although you have to work hard at communicating because they mostly speak Portugese. First morning after breakfast I go for a swim in front of the Pousada. We find out that there is a beach at the other end of town within walking distance so we walk to this beach. Lots of big boulders and pools in between the boulders and also several small beaches in between boulder areas. You can watch the activities of the boats coming from the mainland to the island. It is really very lovely here, no one pestering you to spend your money. Walk back to town, buy some wine ad beer, get to the room and use the shower outdoors. Very nice feeling. At this point after the shower that is, I speak with George the owner and negotiate the price on the room referred to above. We go to dinner to the same place we had gone the night before and try to order the wonder bbq seafood plate we had see arrive at another table. They do not know what we are talking about. Well, we are at the restaurant next door and don't realize it because the tables and chairs are all out in front of the restaurants and sitting on the sand sort of running into each other. The restaurants are small openings the size of the place and when closed they simply pull a garage like door down to shut the whole place off. The place with the wonderful bbq was closed and we were at the neighboring one. We do finally get our bbq seafood the next night. The next day we buy a ticket to go to Laguna Azul by boat for the entire day. We go to several beaches, Freguesia de Santana & Grumifama. The snorkling is very good. I see the strangest fish with long wing-like fins. They use the short ones in the front to brush aside the sand getting food and the longer ones to push themselves forward slowly. When they swim they have all fins tucked to the side like a snorkler using his fins to propel himself and arms by side of body. The were very interesting to watch. The water is crystal clear ad there are alot of colorful fish that you can also observe from on board the boat. There are huge golden-colored starfish and sanddollars both dark and alive and white bleached out dead ones. Decide not to dive down for the dead hite ones as they would probably break in my travels. Met Argentines, Brits, Australians, New Zealanders and Irish today. Second beach is very nice. Finer sand and whiter, similar to Florida beaches. Third beach is not as nice and we hike thru the jungle to another beach with restaurants. Swim at all the beaches. The water is warm and crystal clear and not much debrie. Back in town we stop and buy a lime pie from the huge carts they push around containing wonderful looking desserts. The carts have this huge plastic hinged top to keep out flies. They lift the cover for you to view the desserts and make your selection. Not as good as they look. Janeen disagreed, however. I buy a shirt with a map of the island on it and use it for reference as well as cover. We clean up and head out for dinner. Shop a bit and I buy a cute tie-dyed short skirt sarong and use it also for a shawl. Finally get the bbq seafood I referred to earlier. It is fantastic with onions, tomatoes and potatoes all around the outside. About 12 or more huge shrimp with heads on presented sitting on the top a hollowed out tomatoe holding them. It is really quite a presentation. Below the tomatoe and shrimp is calamari, fish, scallops all served with a pico de guyo sauce on the side and a strange bread crumb mix and rice. We had a meal the next day from the leftovers. It was fantastic!!! We have written Nick, our air broker, to change our flight to Santiago and extend our stay at this wonderful island. Go to the most beautiful beach I think i have ever been on called Lopez Mendez. We go by boat to another beach, Praia Palmes and walk over the mountain thru the jungle to the beach. The walk over is very steep and hard climbing and the surfers are all carrying their boards over to this wonderful beach. We see very small little monkeys with long fluffy tails stipped black and a light color up in the trees above. Finally come down to Lopez Mendez and it is absolutely gorgeous. Sand like Florida beaches but it sings as you walk thru it like Lake Michigan beach sand. We rent chairs and go immediately into the water. The waves are not huge today and it is so wonderful. The water is crystal clear like the Caribean and the sea bottome is uneven from what must be on other days, large waves. Swim alot. We eat our sandwich from breakfast, chips and drink my beer. I take a walk to the end of this beach where there is big boulders in the water. Take my suit off and swim au natural in this beautiful area as no one else is down here. I love swimming that way and think of my friend Nancy Savel. She would have loved this beach. Back to where Janeen is, she swims again, I take my last swim at this fantastic beach and we hike back over the mountain to catch our boat ride back to town. Before we left the beach a man with a small cute little girl talks to Janeen. I had given a little boy that I thought was her brother, a small ball I had found on the beach. She somehow got it and the boy was upset. I tried to give her the crab shell but she did not want it, she wanted to keep the ball. As he prepared to leave the beach with her, he had her give Janeen and kiss and a hug and then me. It was ever so sweet. He had her on his backpack seat and left in the same direction I had walked down the beach. The hike back over the mountain was not as difficult as the trip over. Praia Palmes is not as nice and has darker courser sand. Did swim there and then again after hiking a path over to the side where we were to catch the boat. Have our left-over seafood bbq and another day. This day we go to Laguna Verde, board our boat by walking thru another. Several boats are on the dock to go to these various beaches reached easier by boat. You can hike several trails all over the island, but you need time. The snorkling was interesting. I swam into the lagoon and the coral was all bright green, thus the name Laguna Verde. There was some gold and blue, but mostly green. Saw a school of squid and hoovered over them a bit and watched them with their side fins moving so easily and gracefully. They are irredescent and brown. A lot of starfish and reef fish of many colors. Mostly striped yellow and black. The current coming into the lagoon was strong and I had to swim hard against it but it was very shallow so you could walk also. On this trip I met a guy from South Africa who gave me some interesting info for when we are there and his girlriend Adriana who is Brazilian. He works for a company that does mining. There is alot of iron oar in Brazil. His company is South African and he will be moving here permanently soon. Back to town and it is raining a bit, dinner and to bed. Our last day and we buy our ferry ticket to leave at 5 p.m. for Angra. Will spend the night there and then the next day catch the bus back to Rio and another bus to the airport. Speak to the nice French girl at the travel agency who we purchased our ferry ticket from and she tells us of a beach not a far walk away as she says these beaches in town are not clean. The beach is Abraaozinho and tells us you can pick bananas in route. Start off for the beach and Janeen is questioning whether she should go because of the terraine. I was going. We walk down the beach in the direction the French girl had told us. Guys playig soccer on the beach and it begins to rain. Janeen turns back and I go on t6o some tables on the beach under a big tree. A man from the restaurant brings out an umbrella to the table for me. I do stay for about 2 hours, eat my left overs and read but the rain never stops and I am getting cold and running out of time. Finally realize or accept that it is not going to stop raining in time for me to hike to the beach. I'll have to go back to the pousada, Sylvia is so sweet and gives me a towel and lets me use our old room to get the sand off my sandles and dry up a bit. It's not raining any more but the fog is all about the mountains and the air is heavy with mosture. It ain't green here for nothing!!! We leave this beautiful island wishing we still had more time here. Get into Angra in the dark and a different spot in front of the town at the marina. Walk into town and there are huge snails crawling all over the concrete sitting areas in the park. Find a room with the help of a local man who pulls Janeen's large case thru the streets in search for a room for the night. We're staying at a Hostel International and I pay for the room with the last 70 reias I have. Janeen finally finds an ATM that will give her some cash and pays me back so now I have R45 left, enough to get me to the airport. Make some anise tea in the room with tea left from Cuzco and to bed. Next morning off to catch the bus by the marina just dow from the hostel. It was quite convenient, quick trip to the terminal. I now have about $17 left. I think I'll make it to the airport. Sleep on th bus to Rio, was a quick trip. It's a beautiful day in Rio and I dry some of my clothes on the fence in the sunshine waiting for the bus to the airport. We're at the airport too early to check in, it's 10:38 a.m. and the plane leaves for Santiago, Chile at 2:38p.m. Found a nice restaurant for my last caipirhna, coffee and club sandwich with fries. Still can't get a reasonably prices memory card in duty free but do buy a bottle of cacheca, camembert and crackers and find I am late for boarding the plane. A nice Lan Chile gal calling my name as I am in line payng for my duty free. I'm so glad they're after me but embarrassed by my negligence. Off to Santiago, Chile........