Trekking in flip flops

Day two in Ilha Grande. The rain had stopped, however, the hostel was without electric – a cold shower I presume. It was actually quite good to ease the itching of the mozzies who had had a veritable feast on me the night prior – I didn’t think they liked the rain?

It was not beech weather, but I had my Dora hat on and headed through the town centre to the seafront. Despite the overcast weather, it was incredibly warm and you could get an idea how glorious it’d be in full sunshine.

I headed along to the State Park and began a gentle jaunt through the forest (which was quite jungle esq in my mind). Along the way I came across a multitude of hidden beeches, one which I had to myself, well at least for 15 mins.

As you all may well know, I am not typically described as an outdoorsy gal, but wandering through the forest and hearing the swish swash of the sea really re-energised me; I felt that at that moment there was no where better i’d rather be.

I came to a viaduct – cue arty shots…

And I decided I was enjoying myself so much, I’d continue on the path; to the waterfall I thought. Mmm, an hour and a half later, no waterfall but lots of steep uphill climbs. Not only was I wearing hugely inappropriate footwear (I did not realise it was going to steep!), I had also ran out off water. Time to retrace my tracks, this time downhill. I saw some fellow hikers using a big stick as a walking pole, despite me emulating this and feeling like I was Gandolf in the Lord of the Rings, I ended up on my butt, covered in orange clay! Hey, another lesson learnt and at least I got some ‘jungle’ shots!

Oh, and just on case you don’t believe me, here’s the evidence 😉

Where is my rain mac?

From the madness of Rio, I had heard that Ilha Grande was a chilled, laid out island with gorgeous beaches and tropical forests covering the hill sides – I was looking forward to a bit of tranquility.

It was raining when I left Rio and a three hour south westerly bus ride and it was still raining. I arrived at a port and waited about half an hour (yep, in the rain), to board the boat and sail across to Abraao. It was a relatively smooth crossing, however, as we neared our destination the island looked really eery, the condensation seeping from the forests gave it a kind of ‘journey to the centre of the earth’ feel.

As we approached the isle, it started thundering and lightening. I ferociously searched in my day pack for my mac and then realised I had put it in my ruck sack – doh! Mind to be honest, what use a mac would have done in the torrential rain is anyone’s guess. My stop was the last one and I was greeted by what looked like a mass exodus from the island, hundreds of people were wrapped in green towels waiting to escape. Getting off the boat was very scary, but I put my nose to the ground and stomped through the roads which had turned into rivers, wheeling my ruck sack, day sack strapped to back and two other bags slung across me. Before long, although it seemed like an eternity, I reached my hostel; Biergarten (wonder why I choose this one, lol!) and was greeted with a warm welcome and a dry towel. Got to the room and realised that most of the contents in my bags were drenched; why did no-one suggest I get a waterproof cover – Sue? 😉

Regardless, arrived safely if soaked. A fellow traveller, Grant from Sydney, arrived in a similar state, so there was only one thing for it, some beers and dinner. Before long, the wet and sodden journey seemed like a distant memory and I began to take In my surroundings. What a cool hostel, I’ll be delirious if the majority of them on this trip are as cool as this!