Saquarema..(Weirdsville) to Ilha Grande...again

Trip Start Nov 24, 2005

Trip End Nov 24, 2006

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Flag of Brazil Saquarema, Brazil
Thursday, February 2, 2006

So after our touristy experience in Rio we set sail for Saquarema which is about 1 to 2 hours(depending on the traffic) to the east of Rio. �Cleverly� we left Rio on a Friday which, unbeknownst to us, happened to be a public holiday in Rio. Needless to say we weren�t the only ones headed to the beach resort town of Saquarema. We started to get a bit concerned about the availability of accommodation as we hadn�t booked anything but decided to worry about that once we got there. Sure enough it seemed that most places had been booked up and we had to wander around for quite a while. The first place we checked was a really nice place right on the beach in front of the towns main surf break(On that particular day it was big (8ft+) and windy). Anyway it was fully booked for the weekend and out of our price range. We wandered around some more to no avail and eventually found ourselves back at the original place where we�d planned to have a drink before continuing the search. The manager informed us that a couple had cancelled their booking and there was a room for us if we wanted

01. Saquarema sets...

. We decided to take it even though it was at least double what we�d hoped to be paying.
By the end of our time in Saquarema we came to the conclusion that the town was just a little bit weird. It was full of opposites. The first day after checking in we wandered straight down to the beach. It was hot but windy and the surf looked good. It was also easily the biggest surf I�d seen in Brazil so far. I ran and jumped into the ocean and was surprised to find that the water was absolutely freezing. Saquarema was the hottest place we�d been so far with temperatures climbing into the high and dry 30�s everyday with the coldest water I think I�ve ever experienced. As I paddled around in my boardies one day, trying to keep warm, a guy paddled past me with a full wet suit, booties and GLOVES on!!! I was only able to stay in the water for a maximum of 20 minutes at a time. It was boiling out of the water and too cold in the water. To make things worse the two days when the surf was at its best there was a surf comp on at the best spot meaning that even if I was capable of braving the cold water I wasn�t allowed to.
The opposites kept coming. As you�ll see from the photos there was a beautiful Church on the western headland of the beach. At night it was decorated with florescent blue light which gave it a not so beautiful appearance. One night we went out for dinner to a pizzeria

02. Beach, church, judging tower etc

. Katie ordered herself a mug of red wine. We thought it was a typing error on the menu but sure enough out came Katie�s wine, served in something I�d drink coffee out of and it was chilled. I ordered one can of beer. The waiter emerged with a large elaborate ice bucket filled with 5 cans of beer and ice. Placed it on the table cracked one of the cans and poured it�s contents into a wine glass. As Katie sat sipping her mug of wine and I sat drinking my wine glass of beer we couldn�t help thinking that things were a little muddled up here in Saquarema.
It�s kind of difficult to describe the weirdness we felt here, it simply needs to be experienced. On our second last day in Saquarema we woke to find the town covered in a thick smog. The weather was still scorchingly hot and the water still hypothermia cold but it was as if there was a low lying cloud covering the coast. Sometimes it was difficult to see more the 20 meters in front of you. I haven�t seen anything like this on a beach before. People still lay around on towels sunbathing (including us)and the sun was no where to be seen. Sunscreen was definitely still required, though....weird! No. It wasn�t pollution and it wasn�t smoke.
Anyway, Saquarema was an �interesting� place but we decided to move on. Our next plan was to head north to Salvador which required us to head back to Rio and then take a 26 hour bus ride

03. Saqucky sunset

. We arrived in Rio and upon enquiring about bus tickets to Salvador we decided that the price was too high and a week and a half simply wasn�t long enough to explore Brazil�s north. Another time. We made a spur of the moment decision to head back to Ilha Grande (the island we spent 5 days on when we first arrived in Brazil). Three hours later we found ourselves back in the port town of Angra dos Reias and then next day we were on the boat to the Island. We had decided that we would stay at the same place we had last time which was a family house with shared facilities and a communal kitchen. We didn�t bother checking any other places and dragged our gear through the town and up the hill to the house. Wellington, the guy whose family home it is, informed us that unfortunately his house was completely full. When we had stayed previously we�d had the place to ourselves for the first night and the island was much quieter. Now, being the holiday season, the island was packed. After our first time on the island we�d enjoyed ourselves so much staying at Wellington�s that we�d spread the word to other travellers. Wellington was so pleased that we had come back and told us that after we left, his house had been quite busy and word of mouth advertising had been paying off. So he was keen to look after us and so he lent us a tent and we camped out in his backyard for two nights for free. Sweet. The three bedroom house had three Aussies, a Brasilian, five English, one Irish and one Israeli guest staying....oh and us in the backyard

04. Me and my beer...

. Fortunately a room freed up and we got to spend our third night in a fan conditioned room. So much better.
The Aussies pointed out that Australia day was approaching and we must shamefully confess that we probably would have completely forgotten about it had they not told us. So we did what any self respecting Aussie would do on such a day and arranged a BBQ/pissup. See photos. We took the boat over to Lopes Mendes (surf beach) for a day and got some decent waves but really crappy weather and ended up having to wait in the rain for two hours before our scheduled boat ride back. All up we spent a week on the island, had a bit of a snorkel one day, walked to a really beautiful beach and waterfall another, saw the biggest snail ever and had a good time in general. Thanks to Rod, Joel, Be and Nai for putting a little bit of Oz back into our lives. Nice one!