We spend about a week on Ilha Grande or the "Big Island". Wondering around the many hiking tracks on the island, visiting the pristine clean beaches, or taking a boat ride the word "paradise" and the name "Robinson Crusoe" come to mind. It is peaceful for the most of it - which is last not least due to the lack of cars on the island. Life seems to take place on the slow lane and is very lay back. Compare to Rio or Sao Paulo it is super safe and far from being "touristy". If you go to Brazil - put Ilha Grande on your list!
We stayed at a small Guesthouse called "Pousada Cruzoe". It is run by an Argentinian couple who decided to make it a vegan place. Now Siri and I are not vegetarians and certainly not vegan's but the food we got was outstanding and the service and friendliness was second to none. We came as guests and left as friends. After 3 days we went to the other side of the island and stayed in the "main" town which is a little bit busier. On our list was to go diving in Brazil and we found a small dive centre which took us to 2 dive spots around the island. The water is clean but not as warm as Thailand so the 5mm wetsuit was a very welcome piece of gear. I saw my first sea-turtle and loads of other fish I can not remember the names (colourful, tropical and some rather funny looking creatures).
It didn't took us long to get into the island rhythm of life and we got used to our siesta's and the one and one "Caipirinha" (Brazilian version of Mojito) in the middle of the day. After a relaxing week on the island we headed to Paraty - an old pirate town with a vibrant art scene. More about that in the next blog update - as usual - stay tuned.
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Ilha Grande impressions....
some shots of the dive - taken on an Olympus underwater camera