Beach Connoissurs

Hello!

So we are picking up from where we left off and have been in some pretty remote locations, hence lack of contact.

Ihlabela was a really beautiful island where we saw a really cute sea turtle (very small) in the crystal blue water, we followed it around for a bit after I confirmed it was not driftwood as I had originally thought. We tried to walk the 25 km to the other side of the island for the famed beautiful Beach Castellanos, however Charlie managed two minor cuts on each big toe in about 1 hour and we soon realised we did not have enough water so we retreated. That and the fact we saw a 7ft fat snake with a huge yellow stripe streak across our path. This pleased Charlie after the initial shock and screamed to me to run away and get the boat as jungle trekking is best not done in flip-flops!The boat ride was spectacular, we saw a school of dolphins. They were so amazing and were jumping and swimming so close to the boat it was incredible. They were a lot larger than I expected and were so beautifully blue, they matched the sea perfectly. The beach on the other side o fthe island facing east was completely remote and because of the Atlantic quite difficult to get off the boat, we tried a bit of snorkelling but ended up losing the snorkel as really there was only sand to see in the sea. On our return to the other side of the island we hired some bikes, which quickly turned out to be torture devices as all of the roads (being about 4) in Ilhabela are cobbled. AGONY. Those got returnedquite promptly and then we retreated off the paradise island for more adventures. I also was being eaten alive by the sandflies at day and mosquitos and night.

We arrived in the beautiful historic town of Paraty, here the cobbles followed but unlike any others you have seen before, and also we had the good sense to walk. The cobbles are basically huge chunks of rocks placed haphazardly along the pathways and road. It is quite a struggle to walk without tripping over or stubbing your toe. It does however give the town a lot of charm!There was also a rickety pier with about 50 or so little wooden boats all painted in multicolours, it was really beautiful. We went on boat trip to one ofthe surrounding 100 islands and stopped at 4 during the day. They are all absolutely tiny and all uninhabited, there is one which only has restaurant on. We stopped at beautiful deserted beaches but soon realised on a huge boat tour it wasnt worth it!We were harrassed throughout the day with Brazilian karaoke and it wasnt the most pleasent music. In Paraty we also visited another waterfall, although this time the slide was absolutely massive!! It was so much fun to slide down , although carefully edging your way up the slippery moss was not as much fun. As Paraty is a port town there is no beach to walk to , wel there is one but its not fantastic, so we sniffed out the nearest beach town and hopped on the bus.

Trindade came after Paraty and being only 30 minutes by bus it was ideal . It is a tiny little village and to our utter joy and delight we found that we could wak to an amazing beach in 20 mins from our hostel. As opposed to Ilhabela where we went trekking upto 10 kms a day to find a nice beach!Trindade was incredible and had lots of natural pools in the sea which were amazing. We went to some waterfalls which have many tricks. There is one called the rock that swallows as you can literally slide under the waterfall into a crack in a rock,down into a cave. It looks like the rock has eaten you!Then you climb out the other side of the cave. I have a video if this explanation baffles! There is also a cave you can climb under and do the reverse, so sprout out of a rock, highly entertaining! There was another boat trip here which was much better as we were 10 people and the beaches were acutally deserted when we got there instead ofbeing filled with 100 plus other tourists! They were so stunning! We hiked to a little tiny fishing village with charlie doing a huge rock jump into the sea on the way. Trindade was a beautiful undiscovered gem that remains the highlight of our trip so far.

We took a boat and bus to get to Ilha Grande and decided to camp on the beachfront as i have had enough of walkingup ridculous hills with or without the backpack. Thankyou Peru and the Incas. It wasvery fun and ensured we got up early to enjoy the entire day. We went to Lopes Mendez, one of the most beautiful beaches in Brazil. The water was like a lukewarm bath and the sand like silk. No boats are allowed so the water was lovely to swim in. We were however itching to get to Rio de Janeiro so made that our next stop!I will continue in the next few days as i am being eyed up like shark bait for being on the computer in this hostel for so long!!
Miss you all lots and lots,
all our love,
Charlie and Shahinaz xxxxxxxxxxxxx