SO we arrived, after the last of the bus journeys in delightfully warm Sao Paulo. Our first experience of the city was catching the very busy metro with all our´heavy bags so that wasn´t a particularly warm welcome, especially when we got to the first hostel who to find they were full already...but thankfully they rang across to another one who had space for us 2 little English gals. Once at the hostel we hung out all our wet stuff from the previous day at Iguazu and then headed out for a delicious afternoon tea of brioche, nutella and thick hot chocolate - it was heaven on a plate. We then carried on to Sau Paulo´s infamous Batman Alley which is basically a thin, windy road with walls on either side which are all completely covered in graffiti/street art. I was in awe of the artwork (particularly as I am so no artistically talented) and just loved all the different colours and patterns and pictures that people had used to display their messages and feelings on the walls. My favourite ones were a pair of massive green eyes on the side of a building which were scarily life like and so details, and a tree that had been painted very extravagantly in multi colours and was beautiful.
Whilst walking through the streets it was difficult not to notice the thousand of white VW campervans lining the streets (and of course I wanted to buy them all) and we saw one guy spray painting famous peoples faces in different colours on to his camper - I wanted it!! When I returned from our stroll, I discovered that my bag of smelly, wet, dirty laundry was missing from the end of my bed and it contained a few tops, some underwear, 2 cardigans and all my trousers that weren´t leggings. I have no idea where they went and I asked around loads but they never turned up and I can only assume either someone thought it was a bag of rubbish and my beloved, thread-bare clothes are in a bin somewhere or someone decided they had got lucky and decided to steal them (if it´s the later its quite entertaining that they just got smelly, very worn clothes) but on the positive side I now dont have to wrestle with my bag every time a pack it to fit everything in. That night we had a decidedly non-exotic meal and then flopped into bed to recover from the night bus.
The next day we opted to do a self-guided walking tour of Sao Paulo which included a big cathedral, a bustling market street, a monastery, a fancy theatre, going up to the top of a building for views over the city, and most importantly; ice cream. The weather in SP was much warmer than Argentina which was lovely but it was still fairly overcast. I am also finding it harder to travel in Brazil as I have to adapt to not understanding the language which is very strange after 11 weeks in spanish speaking countries and understanding most things and being able to communicate with others, to coming here where everything people say is complete gobble-dee-gook. The signs I can kind of understand because a lot of the words look similar to the ones in Spanish but when they speak Portuguese I am lost.
Next day we jumped on a bus to the beautiful beach resort of Paraty. This town is stunningly quaint with uneven cobbled streets - it actually hurt to walk - and multi coloured, wooden beamed buildings with cute bridges over the canal and gorgeous views out into the bay and outlying islands. We had been recommended to go on a day boat trip which is exactly what we did spending the next 7 hours on a little boat bobbing around the islands and white sand beaches and being loaded up with free caipirinhas stopping off to swim in the sparkling clear blue water with the fishies. For any Twilight fans, we swam off the same island that Bella and Edward go to on their honeymoon - yes be jealous! It was safe to say that by the end of the day, having been steadily slurping caipirinhas since midday we were exhausted and a little sun kissed (or in Phoebe´s case a little pink). We feasted on the BBQ that our hostel did on Saturday nights and then crashed into bed after our exhausting day of sunbathing, swimming, dancing, jumping off rocks and feeding monkeys - its a tough life, eh?!
I woke up (not deliberately) to see the sunrise over the bay in the morning which was incredible with a lovely orange glow and I loved the peacefulness of walking along the beach at 7 am with barely anyone else about. I had another of my 'Oh my gosh, I'm actually here in Brazil on my gap year, this is amazing' moments. We had a lazy morning flopping about in the sun after consuming a large breakfast on the beach before catching our transfer to the gorgeous Ilha Grande (google it!).
This is an island 50 mins boat ride from the mainland and I can safely say I have never visited anywhere so idyllic in my life. If you were to google 'beautiful beaches' then pictures of this island would come up with perfect white sand beaches and impeccably clear waters with a perfectly blue sky to complete it. We were staying in a very cute little 'eco hostel' run by a mother and son and she really did act like a mumma and made us feel so welcome that we ended up staying an extra night than planned.
For our first day on the island we decided to get up early(ish) and hike to 'the worlds most beautiful beach' called Lopes Mendes. This walk would have been perfectly easy had it not all been steep up hill or down hill, walking along a path covered with enormous roots and slippery stones, in the boiling heat of the jungley island. It was a challenge but we persevered and, boy, was it worth it when we made it, 2 and a quarter hours later, to the magnificent beach - I'm running out of adjectives here! Headed straight into the sea to cool down and wash off at least the top layer of sweat from the walk and then spent the rest of the day sprawled out in the glorious sunshine on the sand that felt like snow when you walked on it. Funnily enough, we opted out of walking back again so caught a very bumpy boat back - there are no cars on the island, adding to the heavenliness.
The following day we booked a boat trip to various lagoons and beaches around the island. We were able to snorkel and admire the fish (although they weren't particularly exciting fish) with the hope of seeing turtles but sadly they didn't turn up for us. And bouncing about on the boat soaking up the rays with my hair flowing behind me - you can just imagine it, cant you?! As the afternoon drew on, the weather came with it and the wind got up and the clouds came over making it much chillier. Just as we pulled back into the port it began to drizzle so we scurries back to our hostel, via the supermarket, and then holes up there for the rest of the afternoon journal writing, reading and cooking pasta + tomato sauce + tinned sausages....Jamie Oliver eat your heart out!
Next morning it was still raining (sad face) so we took that as our queue to leave the paradise that is Ilha Grande and head onwards and upwards to the bright lights of Rioooooooooo!!
I'm a week behind so I head home tomorrow which is absolutely crazy, these last 13 weeks have past in a complete world wind and I am going to miss the thrill of travelling and moving onto a new place every couple of days but I am equally looking forward to a bit more variety in clothes, my own bed and of course being reunited with my family, friends, dog and BED.
Besos xxxxxx
Whilst walking through the streets it was difficult not to notice the thousand of white VW campervans lining the streets (and of course I wanted to buy them all) and we saw one guy spray painting famous peoples faces in different colours on to his camper - I wanted it!! When I returned from our stroll, I discovered that my bag of smelly, wet, dirty laundry was missing from the end of my bed and it contained a few tops, some underwear, 2 cardigans and all my trousers that weren´t leggings. I have no idea where they went and I asked around loads but they never turned up and I can only assume either someone thought it was a bag of rubbish and my beloved, thread-bare clothes are in a bin somewhere or someone decided they had got lucky and decided to steal them (if it´s the later its quite entertaining that they just got smelly, very worn clothes) but on the positive side I now dont have to wrestle with my bag every time a pack it to fit everything in. That night we had a decidedly non-exotic meal and then flopped into bed to recover from the night bus.
The next day we opted to do a self-guided walking tour of Sao Paulo which included a big cathedral, a bustling market street, a monastery, a fancy theatre, going up to the top of a building for views over the city, and most importantly; ice cream. The weather in SP was much warmer than Argentina which was lovely but it was still fairly overcast. I am also finding it harder to travel in Brazil as I have to adapt to not understanding the language which is very strange after 11 weeks in spanish speaking countries and understanding most things and being able to communicate with others, to coming here where everything people say is complete gobble-dee-gook. The signs I can kind of understand because a lot of the words look similar to the ones in Spanish but when they speak Portuguese I am lost.
Next day we jumped on a bus to the beautiful beach resort of Paraty. This town is stunningly quaint with uneven cobbled streets - it actually hurt to walk - and multi coloured, wooden beamed buildings with cute bridges over the canal and gorgeous views out into the bay and outlying islands. We had been recommended to go on a day boat trip which is exactly what we did spending the next 7 hours on a little boat bobbing around the islands and white sand beaches and being loaded up with free caipirinhas stopping off to swim in the sparkling clear blue water with the fishies. For any Twilight fans, we swam off the same island that Bella and Edward go to on their honeymoon - yes be jealous! It was safe to say that by the end of the day, having been steadily slurping caipirinhas since midday we were exhausted and a little sun kissed (or in Phoebe´s case a little pink). We feasted on the BBQ that our hostel did on Saturday nights and then crashed into bed after our exhausting day of sunbathing, swimming, dancing, jumping off rocks and feeding monkeys - its a tough life, eh?!
I woke up (not deliberately) to see the sunrise over the bay in the morning which was incredible with a lovely orange glow and I loved the peacefulness of walking along the beach at 7 am with barely anyone else about. I had another of my 'Oh my gosh, I'm actually here in Brazil on my gap year, this is amazing' moments. We had a lazy morning flopping about in the sun after consuming a large breakfast on the beach before catching our transfer to the gorgeous Ilha Grande (google it!).
This is an island 50 mins boat ride from the mainland and I can safely say I have never visited anywhere so idyllic in my life. If you were to google 'beautiful beaches' then pictures of this island would come up with perfect white sand beaches and impeccably clear waters with a perfectly blue sky to complete it. We were staying in a very cute little 'eco hostel' run by a mother and son and she really did act like a mumma and made us feel so welcome that we ended up staying an extra night than planned.
For our first day on the island we decided to get up early(ish) and hike to 'the worlds most beautiful beach' called Lopes Mendes. This walk would have been perfectly easy had it not all been steep up hill or down hill, walking along a path covered with enormous roots and slippery stones, in the boiling heat of the jungley island. It was a challenge but we persevered and, boy, was it worth it when we made it, 2 and a quarter hours later, to the magnificent beach - I'm running out of adjectives here! Headed straight into the sea to cool down and wash off at least the top layer of sweat from the walk and then spent the rest of the day sprawled out in the glorious sunshine on the sand that felt like snow when you walked on it. Funnily enough, we opted out of walking back again so caught a very bumpy boat back - there are no cars on the island, adding to the heavenliness.
The following day we booked a boat trip to various lagoons and beaches around the island. We were able to snorkel and admire the fish (although they weren't particularly exciting fish) with the hope of seeing turtles but sadly they didn't turn up for us. And bouncing about on the boat soaking up the rays with my hair flowing behind me - you can just imagine it, cant you?! As the afternoon drew on, the weather came with it and the wind got up and the clouds came over making it much chillier. Just as we pulled back into the port it began to drizzle so we scurries back to our hostel, via the supermarket, and then holes up there for the rest of the afternoon journal writing, reading and cooking pasta + tomato sauce + tinned sausages....Jamie Oliver eat your heart out!
Next morning it was still raining (sad face) so we took that as our queue to leave the paradise that is Ilha Grande and head onwards and upwards to the bright lights of Rioooooooooo!!
I'm a week behind so I head home tomorrow which is absolutely crazy, these last 13 weeks have past in a complete world wind and I am going to miss the thrill of travelling and moving onto a new place every couple of days but I am equally looking forward to a bit more variety in clothes, my own bed and of course being reunited with my family, friends, dog and BED.
Besos xxxxxx
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