Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Ilha Grande (3-6/Nov/06)

Paraty, Brazil

The coastline between Rio and Sao Paulo is amongst the most beautiful in the world. Here, the Mata Atlantica comes down from the hills right up to the sea. The Mata Atlantica was a huge tropical forest along the entire Brazilian coastline until it was "discovered" and chopped down before Environmentalism was invented. Now only 7% of the original remains. By the look of how things are doing in the Amazon rain forest it doesn't seem we have learned much over the centuries.

Anyways, we were extremely unlucky here for two reasons. Firstly, it was a national holiday and Ilha Grande is quite near to both Rio and Sao Paulo (and accommodation prices go up by 400% to 500% - the crowds don't matter as the are paltry to someone who has seen the Mediterranean in August), and secondly the weather was beastly. On the first count we found a nice camping ground which only hiked it's prices by 50%, and on the second the weather slowly got better. So what could have been a bit of a disaster turned out great.

After arriving the first day we walked around the town and had a peek at some nearby (and not very impressive) beaches. The second day we took a 2h hike to the best beach on the island, and one of the best in Brazil, Lopes Mendes. The weather was still a bit dodgy so we returned by taxi-boat the next day, for a full day of sun on the mile-long beach. The last day was the best weather-wise so we didn't waste any time and went to the beaches near the town. 'Nuff said, this island is a complete paradise.

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