Copacabana to IIha Grande

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  Parati, Brazil
Friday, March 14, 2008

Hello Hello..
My last couple of days in Rio were just chilling out and exploring a wee bit more. I wandered down towards Copacabana beach on the Friday and I honestly couldnt wait to go back to Ipánema beach. I found it to be dirty, water was like coffee and lots of rubbish been washed up on the beach too, which wasnt what I was expecting from this famous beach! Above all though I felt more vunerable from the crowds of sellers, drug dealers etc.. That night a group of us from the hostel went out the a place called lapa, which was like a mini Notting Hill carnival, lots of outdoor music, drinking and dancing on the streets and a great atmosphere. We had been told not to take any valuables, wear no watches etc. We didnt expect to be jumped on by 5-6 13 year olds however. 3 of us decided to take a break in what seemed a quiet area when suddenly we were jumped on by a group of young lads. They tried their best to get hold of our money, one of the lads I was with had 4 people on his back, literally trying to pull him to the ground

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. Luckily we all got out of there unharmed. We had a few beers to get over the shock of what happened and what couldve been a lot worse! In all I would say Rio is an amazing city, beautiful scenery and lots to do, but with an air of danger about it too..´

IIha Grande, two words to describe this place, Tropical Paradise!
We caught the bus from Rio on Sunday morning to the port of Angra do Rois which was about 2 hour drive, then caught the ferry out to IIha Grande. We were really looking forward to some beach time in a relaxing environment. We arrived on the island and checked into our hostel which was a wee bit out of town.Initial impressions of the hostel were good, but on closer inspection it was grotty with rotten smell coming from the bathroom area. We spoke to a French guy there and he said this is what you expect if you pay $12 a night, we didnt agree. We checked out the next morning after a pretty restless sleep and found a really cool hostel called Bugio, the manager was a great guy, and the people we shared with were a great laugh. The next day we headed off on a 3 hour trek through the forest on our way to a surf beach called Lopez Mendez! After a wee detour we eventually found our way and carried on the hike. It was amazing we came across humming birds, large Iguanas, small and large monkeys swinging through the trees and even a little snake who was waving his tail at us, presuming it meant he wasnt happy to see us, we moved on rather quickly

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. Lopez Mendez was amazing, white sands that was crisp like snow when you walked on it, time for some chilling! The next day was meant to be a chill day but headed off on another (small) walk to search for waterfalls. 2 hours and lots of hiking later and a wee detour of course we found it, it took me by surprise how beautiful it was, we just chilled and hung out splashing around like eijits for ages before making the trip back. That night a couple of Polish girls who had hiked with us decided to get some vodka to celebrate, 2 bottles later a number of beers we were all dancin on the front lawn of the hostel, much to the owners disgust! A day of much needed doing nothing was had the day after and to honest we were all feeling quite sorry for ourselves, so we just hung out on the beach.
I´m now back on the mainland in Paraty, just arrived a couple of hours ago and it looks like a really cool place. We´ve checked on for 3 nights and see what happens. Will mail more next week, till then, Adios Amigo´s

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