Ilha Grande

Ilha Grande or as we like to call it 'dog paradise island'.

After checking out, we stood in front of the apartment and didn't know exactly how we would get to Angra dos Reis. After about 2 hours and several phone calls and conversations on the street, our guide (who took us to Pedro de Gavea) agreed to drive us down. In addition, a friend of his also drove, as we couldn't transport all our luggage.

When we arrived at the harbor, we quickly bought the ticket and took a rubber boat/speedboat to Ilha Grande. After about 30 minutes of bouncing, we arrived and felt as if we were on the Jurassic Park island. The weather was partly cloudy, the mountaintops were slightly foggy, breathtaking. No paved roads, only dirt roads. Cars? What is that? We didn't see a single car, but plenty of dogs. It truly was a dog paradise. They all ran around freely and everyone was happy about a little cuddle. The beach is full of cute little restaurants, you sit at a table to eat and your feet are in the sand. You feel like you're in Jamaica.

Not so funny was the fact that we didn't have a hostel yet. The first place we asked said that the whole island was fully booked, bravo! Of course, that wasn't true. Some of us stayed with the luggage while the rest went on the search. After about 700 inquiries and several creepy rooms with cockroaches saying good night, we decided to split up. In the end, we had two cute hostels and it was simple but great.

On one day, we went on a boat tour. We were picked up at 10 in the morning and were on the way until 4 in the afternoon, for 35 CHF. Among other things, I went snorkeling for the first time. Muriel quickly gave me a crash course and then it was a lot of fun.

Now we are already on our winter trip to Paraty and are curious about what awaits us. We are taking a regular bus for about 2 hours, for 4 CHF.