Ilha Grande

After a bus and a ferry ride we made it to Ilha Grande. What a beautiful place and just what we needed after such a hectic week in Rio. We ended up staying in the most amazing room, overlooking the whole beach, with our own balcony.
We were only planning on staying there a couple of nights but ended up staying there 5!!!! The weather wasnt great (as its still winter here), but we were determined to make the most of our time there, so on one of the days we went on a boat trip to the blue lagoon and went snorkling.... taking no towels or jumpers we ended up shivering for most of the trip. We did brave it and go snorkling and the fish swam so close to you but when we got out our toes went blue and we couldnt stop shivering. After a couple of hot chocolates and cuddles we managed to get the blood flowing again.
The next day a few of us decided to walk across to the old prisons on the island, but after taking the wrong road at the beginnng we ended up on a 3 hour hike through the mountains to the other side of the island, where we found a quiet little town. We had a little walk around, went to the beach (we were the only ones there, it was lovely) and then realised we had the horrible trek back.... got histerical towards the end, lost count of how many times we nearly fell over... wearing flip flops was not the best idea we have ever had!!!
Finaly when the sun decided to come out on the thursday we went to Lopes Mendes, a gorgeous beach with sand that felt like flour. It was fun watching the guys trying to surf, we would have joined in but it was a bit too rough for us little girlies.
Made friends with some spider monkeys, adorable little things, greedy buggers tho.
To top it off we saw dolphins on the boat back, so exciting!

Spent most of the evenings on the island going out for cheap dinners and drinking till early in the morning. Always a sign of a good night whe you wake up with permanent marker all over you!!!!!

Finally we left on Friday and headed to Paraty.