27th February – 1st March

The trip back from Ilha Grande to Rio was as expected, a hot, packed mini-bus stuck in traffic which ended up being a 5 hour door to door slog. Whilst not wanting our trip to end, we were hoping our last hotel in the Santa Teresa district of Rio would be something special as it was a generous wedding gift from Charlie’s sister Ali. Arriving at the swanky and aptly named Hotel Santa Teresa we caught the hotel staff off guard as we piled out of the random travellers mini-bus with our well worn and slightly whiffy travelling clothes and big rucksacks and into the contemporary designed air conditioned reception. Having checked in we were led to our room which opened up onto a garden balcony complete with hammock which Charlie soon made the most of.

Having devoured our complimentary macaroons and completed a quick tour of the hotel we headed out to explore the neighbourhood and walked in the late afternoon sun to the Parque das Ruinas. The Parque itself is centred around an old mansion which used to be a meeting point for all the artists and intellectuals in the 1930s and 40s. Sadly the mansion is now just a shell but the place still holds plays in its grounds during the year and has a great view of the city below.

Ready for a pre-dinner drink we checked out the hotel bar (more great views!), ordering a Long Island Ice Tea and a Cuba Libre before heading into the small centre of Santa Teresa. We found a restaurant called Espirito Santa where we ate croquettes which were supposed to be picante but in fact were not spicy at all (a common theme of our ‘spicy’ food in South America – we can’t wait for a good curry when we get home!) and our final steaks of the trip before heading back to the hotel to get a nights rest before Carnaval kicked off!

With the Carmelitos bloco party not starting until 3pm we started off our day with breakfast at Cafecito. It overlooked the street and we could sense the anticipation in the air as everyone readied themselves for the party and many were already in fancy dress. Fully fed we headed to the nearby Lapa neighbourhood to see Escadaria Selaron, the result a chilean artists work who lived by the steps until he died last year and who, as the story goes, spent 20 years working on the tiled mosaic with people all over the world sending him pieces to add to his masterpiece on the 215 stairs.

Back at the hotel by 12 and determined to make the most of our stay at the hotel, we settled by the pool to top up the tan, have a beer and grab lunch before heading out to join the growing masses in the streets below. Stepping out of the gates, the neighbourhood had transformed itself from a sleepy village to a heaving mass of party goers, drinks in hand and ready to have some fun. We joined the crowd and went with the flow and headed to the small square to watch the mayhem unfold. Unlike street parties back home there was no organisation to setting out where to get together just loads of people invading the streets and dancing wherever there was space. Makeshift podiums were provided by the few van and bus drivers who were mad enough to try and drive though the crowds and didn’t appear to mind at all as revellers jumped up and down on top of the vehicles.

Luckily we found a good spot and soon got chatting with a British couple, Nic and James who were on their holidays. They pointed out where the nearest street vendor was selling drinks and we fast got into rounds with them so we could all get into the spirit of the party. As every hour past, the scene got more and more crazy and lots of Brazilians tried to talk to us to tell us how proud they were of their city and were happy that people from other countries were there to join them too. Come early evening though, the crowds began to disperse, either with people already partied-out or moving onto other blocos in other neighbourhoods.

So it was in high spirits that we went for our final meal of more fish in Espirito Santa but this time with a DJ (who looked exactly like Billy Ocean) providing more carnival tunes – a great last evening of our awesome awesome trip 🙂

We were woken up at 6am to the sound of samba drums in the street and instantly realising our last day had dawned decided to get up. We had a brief swing in the hammock and wrote this blog (which has usually been written on buses and planes) before our packing up for the final time (didn’t take long, practice makes perfect). Not needing to leave until 6pm for our 10.30 flight, we headed back out into the crazy carnival streets. We had sandwiches and beer again at Cafecito surrounded by throngs of people in fancy dress, many of whom were just resting or topping up from the night before. Being a weekend, everyone was now out in force and after getting today’s fill of carnival feeling, we had to battle our way back to the hotel, past samba-dancing supermen, aliens and Mexican wrestlers.

Once back at the pool, the party actually passed under our terrace so our last few hours were spent swaying to the drums followed by an early dinner on the pool side terrace washed down with champagne (courtesy of mum and dad fitzjohn). We toasted the end of great adventures talking already about where to go next – good times!

21st – 27th February

On Friday, we reluctantly checked out of the Miramar, took some final pictures and were picked up for our transfer to the island at 10.30. Two hours later, having circled Copacabana within a 2 mile radius of our hotel several times over, we finally left town. Our bus was mainly made up of Europeans and we spent a fair bit of the two hour journey to the port chatting to two girls, Milly and Holly, from Clapham who had arrived on holiday the night before and who were getting some rest before Carnaval. Just as well as on the island we pretty much saw them every night! In sweltering heat we were then taken (after our relaxed-to-the-point-of-horizontal escort had picked up his lunch with everyone waiting and sweating with their backpacks in the baking sun) to our boat, the Aquaholic. An hour’s crossing and we we finally arrived on the island of Ilha Grande, surprised to see a bustling beachfront with a queue stretching down its length (not what we’d imagined for our idyllic island stay) but breathed a sigh of relief as we found out it was temporary traffic from a cruise ship anchored nearby for the day. As we learnt, things were a lot quieter after the weekend…

Alighting on the dock and a 100 meter walk later and we were at our beachfront Pousada – Recreio De Praia – and checked in for our six night stay (our longest of the trip!). Unpacked, we did a quick circuit of the small village – Abraao – before settling at a cafe/bar on the beach for Lula (lightly battered shrimps) and beer. The remainder of the afternoon was spent lazing around the pool before we showered and had a dinner of grilled fish (having had enough of steaks for a while) at a place on the beach where we were to become regulars (so much so the waitress chuckled every time she saw us coming).

And from there we settled easily into island life and the days fast merged into a blissful blur with our time on the island consisting of:
– Our daily stroll to the nearby Praia Preta beach for a couple of hours sunbathing and swimming in the cool sea (any more than 2 hours and it just got too hot though one day we did venture for a walk in the forest to see a natural pool and ruins of an old aqueduct.)

– Settling in poolside at the end of day one to grab what we thought would be a couple of hours sun before it set, only to find out it went down fast just after 5pm. In the following days we realised the best way to fill this pre-dinner period was with beer, crisps and books instead
– Listening to the hourly bells from the neighbouring church, except at noon and 6pm when it belted out a classical number

– Jason averaging 4 decent naps a days – it’s very tiring doing nothing. (Pictures available on request)
– Dining out on local dish moqueca (fish stew with rich and porridge). Delicious.

– Nightly entertainment listening to the samba drummer band in the little square, one bar playing a rather bizarre Brazilian version of Rod Stewarts ‘If you think I’m sexy and the wristband seller making the same bad joke every night
– Watching kids and adults gather each night to try and walk the tightrope between the palm trees. You could definitely spot the locals, their balance unaffected by the caipirinhas that everyone else (including us) were drinking

– Being followed down the road by a pack of dogs on our first night before they finally settled at our feet as we ate (first having peed against the seat)
– The crepe place being closed every time we’d geared up for having one (even on pancake day!) We felt obliged to squeeze one in on the final night
– Playing our wedding playlist for the first time since we’ve been away, only to realise it was exactly six months to the day since we got married!
– Tottering down the beach to have a rare late night out at the party (I.e. hostel) end of town, only to realise we only had enough cash for one drink each – though luckily the crazy brass band playing pop songs provided great entertainment. The only downside was listening to some very drunks Brits and a GAdventures tour guide talk rubbish
– And finally saying an emotional goodbye to the genuine Roy Bens sun glasses that Charlie had bought back in La Paz that fell apart with just five days to go, plus a lot of other (very smelly) clothes that had served us well on our travels but we had just got fed up of seeing each other in.

So on the final morning it was time to say goodbye to Ilha Grande and board the Aquaholic back to the mainland for the long slog by mini-bus back to Rio for our final few days.