Ilha Grande & Paraty, Brazil

Ilha Grande, an island between Rio De Janeiro and Sau Paulo, was the perfect place to end our time abroad. Fellow travelers raved about their time on the island, so we couldn't wait to get a taste of the paradise ourselves. We arrived at Abraao Village, the only real town to speak of on the island, to beautiful weather and made the most of the afternoon sun by relaxing on the beach before meeting up with our new Aussie friends Dave and Nicole for a Brazilian barbecue.

It didn't take us long to adjust to the pace of life on the island and the first day we took things easy with a gentle hike up to a waterfall (about 5km from the village), explored some prison ruins and spent some time on a quiet beach. The following day, we booked a boat tour to see half of the island which stopped at 7 incredible snorkeling locations, including an old helicopter wreck. It was a beautiful day and some of the little coves with their turquoise water and white sand were a fitting advert for paradise.

There were only a handful of vehicles on the island, the majority made up by the police force with a fleet consisting of a single beach buggy and a couple of quad bikes. It was hard to take life seriously in a place where the patrol officer, cruising around in a beach buggy with a wife-beater and fake ray-bans, looks more mischievous than official.

Ilha Grande boasts over 100 beaches, with one of the largest being Lopez Mendes, on the other side of the island. It was a fairly tough 2 hour hike through the jungle to reach the long stretch of uncommercial beach, with fine, squeaky white sand, a few surfers, one local selling "Cervejas" (beers) and "Cocos" (coconuts), and a few bronzed Brazilian bodies (& of course the odd pasty/pink European!). The best part about it is how untouched and quiet it is!

Our last 3 days were spent alone on the island, as our Aussie friends moved on their next destination, allowing adequate time for us to reflect on the past 13 months abroad.  What fun it has been!  Our flight home departs from Sao Paulo so we continued south to a little coastal town called Paraty for our last 2 nights in South America from where we have a transfer directly to the airport.

Paraty reminded us a lot of Colonia (Uruguay) with its 'old town' and cobbled streets. Our hostel had a great communal area, so we ate dinner there on both nights, sharing stories with fellow travelers over a few drinks and for the first time on our trip, wallowed in the swimming pool (as temperatures hung around 35'C).

It is hard to believe that it's time to bid farewell to this colourful continent, but the memories will remain with us forever. It's difficult to articulate our emotions as this point, as we complete one chapter and move into the next. All we know, is that love South Africa and can't wait to get HOME!

Arriving at Ilha Grande

An evening swim

Our walk to the waterfall
Bottom Left: An old aqueduct leading to the prison ruins

The full moon from the pier

Snorkeling fun (middle pic: check out the sea horse!)

The 'half island' boat trip with Nicole and David

Some beach time

Beach restaurants and taxi boats, Ilha Grande

Paraty

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Rio De Janeiro has been a definite highlight for us! It is such an energetic place and we felt that the Brazilian beach culture really lived up to its name.

We were fortunate to have warm, clear weather the first two days, so we made the most of it and did as much sight seeing as possible! We took the cable car up to the Sugarloaf mountain on Day 1 to enjoy the spectacular city views.  With the sun still high in the sky and the convenient location of our hostel - just a stones throw from Ipanema Beach - our decision on where to spend the rest of the afternoon was an easy one. Stepping off the boardwalk on to these hallowed sands was overwhelming as we were instantly absorbed in to the mass of beach goers filling nearly every available space along the 2.7km stretch. A heaving shore break took its toll on a few locals who failed to obey the 'no swimming' signs, and had to be airlifted by a helicopter, which caused a bit of excitement. The evening ended with a beautiful sunset from a view point between Cococabana and Ipanema. What a treat!

Rio from the sky!

On our way up to the Sugarloaf

Views from the top of th Sugarloaf - we were so fortunate with the clear weather!

Helicopter sea rescue on Ipanema Beach

Ipanema beach and its huge shorebreak

Sunset over Ipanema and Leblon

 

On Day 2 we decided to do an organized site seeing tour. We usually avoid these tours to try attain a more authentic experience, but we felt that to do the city justice, we needed someone to show us around. Victor, our tour guide, took 11 of us to see some of the city's major highlights. The first stop was the top of Corcovado mountain to see the famous Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) statue. The statue stands at 710m above sea level and truly gives an incredible view of the city and although it is a real bunfight with hundreds of tourists all trying to get the perfect shot, it is somewhat surreal standing next to such a famous landmark and well worth the visit.

The next part of the tour took us through the neighborhood of Santa Teresa, a very arty area and also one of the older parts of the city. There is strong political movement in the area and it was very interesting to see how the people express themselves through murals, graffiti and other art works. One of the main agendas of late is to reinstate the tram that serviced the area for many years. A recent accident resulted in the old tram being declared unsafe and thus has been sadly retired from operation. It is a sore point for the locals and much of the artistic expression in the vicinity is aimed at getting it up and running again. This district looks over one of the cities largest 'favelas' (townships), which were previously very dangerous areas, made safer in recent times by the city's 'pacification program'.

The Escadaria Seleron staircase, our next stop, demonstrated a real labour of love. Jorge Selaron, a Chilean artist, has spent 20 years of his life tiling a staircase in the Lapa district. People have sent him tiles from all over the world, that he has incorporated into his tile art.. and yes, South Africa proudly represented! Our last two stops included a visit to the Tijuca Forest Waterfall (located in dense forest that actually divides the city in two and provides a wonderful escape from the city hustle and bustle) and Sao Conrado beach, the landing site for the hang gliders. It was action packed day, and worth every cent!

The next two days bought bad weather, as well as a change in hostel, as our original hostel was fully booked. So we slowed down our pace, took a break from the beach and explored some local shops and restaurants. Overall, we absolutely loved our time in this diverse and lively city, and would highly reccomend it to anyone heading this way!

Christ The Redeemer

Escadaria Seleron staircase

Tijuca Forest Waterfall

Montevideo & Colonia, Uruguay

Other than Montevideo being the capital and main port city in Uruguay, it holds no great allure. It is however a very pleasant city with leafy streets, fashionable shopping districts, cheap accommodation, and a long coastline with a well built promenade.

We hired bikes to explore the promenade, which turned into a nightmare, as one of the bikes was literally falling apart! We managed to do 15 km of the coastline, and then decided it was wise to turn back. There are some great beaches, but as was the case in Buenos Aires, the Rio De La Plata Estuary gives the water a brown hue and although it was scorching hot, we did not have a great desire to shed our clothes and jump into the murky water.

We visited a large traditional antique market the following day, which took over an entire suburb - have a look at the orange highlighted area on the map below. Every hillbilly and his dog were there selling everything you can imagine. After nibbling on a hot dog, dried fruit, and a few fresh peaches, we decided we had seen enough. There is not a huge amount to do in Montevideo but it was an interesting stop nonetheless.

The Punta Del Diablo (humble) bus station

Cycling the Montevideo promenade (check out Andyś pimping bike - the grumpy face says it all!)

Montevideo beaches (we were convinced they bought this white sand in!)

Antique Market

City Monuments

 Breakfast time at El Viajero hostel. Throughout South America we have been served Dulce De Leche (caramel paste) and bread for breakfast!

Mate: The traditional drink in Argentina and Urugauy (herbs and hot water, drunk through a metal straw)

2 hours south, and our last stop in Uruguay, lies the quaint little town of Colonia Del Sacramento, founded by the Portuguese in 1680 and known for its historical quarter or 'old town', which is now a World Heritage Site. Colonia is a short ferry ride across the estuary from Buenos Aires - our ultimate destination before leaving for Brazil - but before embarking on the journey across the Rio De La Plata, we decided to spend a day exploring the historical sites. The first evening was an absolute stunner with glassy seas and a magnificent sunset. We enjoyed the view from the top of the light house, walked along the cobbled streets, admired many classic cars and played another riveting game of "decipher the menu" (Meg lost this round as the ribs she ordered arrived as pork chops!)

The following day we hired a golf cart to see a bit more of the area. After 2 hours the novelty wore off, so we returned it and siesta'd the afternoon away. Talking of siesta, we have noticed that certain restaurants and stores close in the afternoon (the time varied depending on place), and we concluded it must have been because the employees have a siesta. We asked a local if this was the case, and he simply told us that "in Uruguay, this is the time that people go to the beach". That pretty much sums up life in Uruguay: laid back, no rush, no need for much more than family, a cerveza (beer) in hand, a scooter, and owning a restaurant that takes full advantage of the tourist!

From here its a night stopover in Buenos Aires before catching a flight to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, the last leg of our journey.

Colonias historic quarter

This beautiful fish was caught, as the sun was setting

Sangrias and dinner on the cobbled streets in Old Town

The Lighthouse

Punta del Este & Punta del Diablo, Uruguay

We were unsure of what to expect from Uruguay. We knew there were lots of beaches, friendly people, a weak currency (19,50 Uruguayan Peso's to $1) and well, that's about it. We had heard that Punta Del Este and Punta Del Diablo were great beach towns to visit, but we failed to actually look at their locations on the map! So after our time in Florianpolis, we eagerly booked a bus to Punta Del Este via Porta Alegra and then planned to head south to Punta del Diablo from there. We arrived, and realized that Punta Del Diablo is actually above Punta Del Este on the coast, so we should have gone there first! Such rookies! So we did things back to front..!

So first up was Punta Del Este, which is has been tipped as the Monaco of South America, where all the wealthy peeps from Buenos Aires and the surrounds come for summer vacations. But little did we know that the place is a ghost town out of season. We arrived at 6am on Sunday morning (thanks to another overnight bus journey), and wearily walked the deserted streets to find our bright yellow, less-than-attractive looking hostel. The worst part was that there were still people drinking in the common area. Needless to say, we were elated that we could check into our room early.

Our two days in Punta del Este was fairly uneventful - we walked around the peninsula, watched a surfing comp in the howling wind, window shopped the upmarket stores, swam in the ocean, visited the yacht club, were disappointed when we couldn't find a ferry to take us to the nearby island (most tourist activities were closed), tried the popular local snack the Chivito sandwich (which arrived as a hideous piece of fried thin steak, with an egg on top! Andy doesn't eat egg, so he was chuffed), and ironically as the fires swept through St Francis Bay back home in SA, we witnessed the top story of a large hotel built in 1907 go up in flames one afternoon.

The hotel burning - the firemen were engulfed in smoke

Finger Beach, named after this famous sculpture

The Yacht Club

Top pic - Punta Del Este peninsula

Punta Del Diablo was a whole different story - a much better story too! We took a 3 hour bus ride up the coast, where we planned to spend 3 nights. Punta Del Diablo, a tiny fishing village with a population of about 800, reminded us so much of Cape St Francis, with few restaurants, one supermarket, dirt roads, brightly colored stand alone cottages, few cars, a handful of committed surfers, and quiet beaches.

Booking hostels in advance is always a gamble, and we try get direction from fellow travelers' recommendations. El Diablo Tranquilo hostel was situated on the beach, which was a bonus, but being the most expensive hostel so far, we expected big things. And what's the most important travel philosophy for any backpacker? Zero expectations = happiness wherever you are/sleep!!

We had a awesome few days relaxing, soaking up the sun, reading, writing, walking on the beach, eating and accounting for where we are in the world. Far better in our opinion than heading back to the city!

Sundowners

Fishing boats and their rusty winches

Punta Del Diablos colourful houses

Florianpolis, Brazil

Perhaps the best thing about our travels so far has been the lack of structure and pressing schedules. Our ability to change our itinerary at a whim has made for some great discoveries. Florianopolis was certainly one of those discoveries and has been a highlight thus far. We had not initially intended to venture into Brazil at this point, and had plans to spend more time in Argentina, but it made more sense to head toward the coast and work our way back south to Buenos Aires through Brazil and Uruguay.

Florianopolis (otherwise known as Floripa) the capital of Santa Catarina state, is an island situated on the south eastern coast of Brazil. It is not a small island and its proximity to the mainland (connected by a short bridge) coupled with its status as a top tourist destination have helped it to be the Brazilian city that has most increased in wealth over the last 3 decades. Leaving the busy city centre and heading to the east of the Island where our hostel was situated, one immediately started to feel the laid back island lifestyle. Our hostel, Backpackers Sunset, was situated on a hill overlooking the beautiful Lagoa Conciago (conception lagoon), a short walk from Mole beach where we spent most of our time enjoying the sunshine.

There are a few items of clothing that are essential to the wardrobe of any beachgoer in Floripa.
1. A pair of Havianna slops
2. For the ladies: The G-string bikini for every size and age!
3. For the men: The "banana hammock" / man-kini / speedo. Call it what you will, it is equally hideous.
Such is the popularity of the g-string, that Meg's attempts to find a new bikini were a real struggle, locating only one store that had any bikins that actually covered the bum!

Seafood is naturally a big industry in these parts and we enjoyed a seaside lunch of the most popular menu item called  Sequencia de Camarao, which is shrimp served five different ways accompanied by anchovette fillets and salad rice and chips.

Floripa served as a great place to take a break and just chill out. From here its back on a bus bound for Punta Del Este, Uruguay. Life is good.

The bar and pool area at Backpckers Sunset

The view from our room at different lights

Our walk to the point on Day 1

Sequencia De Camarao (bottom left)
We also attempted some homemade meals (top right)