It took a bus ride, a coach trip and 45 minutes on a catermaran to get there but it was worth every second of the trip. The Island is about 193 km² and has the same rainforest as the Amazon (and is completely protected and roadless so no driving) just to give you a rough idea the Isle of Wight is 384 km².
We stayed in a small pension and spent the first evening wandering around trying to find a half decent tour to go on the following day - which was the only day we were there for. We gave up half way through after speaking to a total idiot and had a drink on the beach front, the bar was playing some decent reggae and it was very relaxing although we managed to end up talking about homeschooling our future children if we ever ended up in a location with no educational facilites! Afterwards we found a tour operator who knew what they were talking about and signed up for an 8 hour speedboat tour of the island which stopped off at 10 different places where we could get off and swim or snorkel. That done we had dinner which was immense, we went to a recommended place by the girl at the tour operator and were not disappointed. I can't remember what it was called but it was empty (not the best sign) but man, it was delicious. It was all freshly cooked seafood dishes and we helped it down with a couple of beers which went straight to our heads. The walk back to our hotel was not without effort, feeling totally fat and a little bit tiddled we waddled back the long way round giggling most of the way.
The next day we were up early and raring to go, the boat was loaded up with no more than 8 and a half of us and we set off to the sound of Justin Trousersnake crooning Summer Love which has totally made that song for me! Listening to it while I'm writing, bringing the memories flooding back - wind in my hair trying not to land too hard on my butt when we crashed back down wave after wave in the boat... The places we visited were all gorgeous, I can't remember all of them but the beaches were all the same (in a gorgeous tropical way!) pale golden sand, blue skies and clear green water. We went snorkelling from the first stop and saw some schools of fish, baby squid, sea urchins and bigger fish. I must admit at this point that on more than a few occassions I got quite a bit scared - and acted like a big girl, to shore as fast as my un-exercised legs will propel me.
Unfortunately being scared did not stop me from going into the water and the resulting burns on my back, legs and rear end lasted for weeks, it was 4 full days before it was painfree although still uncomfortable to sit down again. Before I realised the full extent of my stupidity we managed an ice-cream before going back to our Pension to rub some pink cream into our backsides and take pictures of it. The night was awful my sunburn hurt so much and every time I tried to move I woke Djalma because of my wimpering and crying (what a big girl). The next day we managed to miss our boat back to the mainland and got the next one instead, we then got a coach and made it back into Rio where we still had a few hours to kill. Settling on a film, 2012, we got our tickets and a big milkshake and relaxed for 3 hours. Whoops! A wee bit too much time as we then missed our bus to the Airport for our flight back to Campinas. We didn't realise how hopeless it was to actually make our flight at the time, so we jumped into a cab and asked him to drive as fast as was humanly possible to the airport. Despite this guy having an awful stutter, Djalma kept a conversation up for most of the way (whilst I tried to keep my burnt self of the back of the seat) despite our taxi driver's style matching his delivery of speech - not the smoothest. On the way to the Airport we realised that we weren't going to make our flight and we were dropped off at the bus station instead. Joy. A 6 hour coach ride back to Campinas. Over cobbled roads.
We made it back in time for the wedding - the original reason for coming. It was beautiful and late, the bride Candoca took her sweet time getting to the altar. Apparently the day of the wedding is called the Bride's day and she does what she wants. In this case it involved the day at the salon with all her girlfriends, chilling out, getting their hair/make-up/nails done and generally NOT rushing. Cripes, I was more concerned with the start time than any of the wedding crew! When it did happen and they were making their vows, I tried but couldn't help a few tears escape, it was lovely. And the party afterwards was brilliant, although I did have to peace out and take 5 for a couple of hours, during which time I had my photo taken as Snow White (should've been Snow Red) and the Seven Dwarfs crowded round my 'bed'. The party finished up and we headed back home and gave in to sleep.
And that about concludes the trip, we had one last dinner with the family at an AMAZING Churras restaurant and then got the Metro to the bus station and from their a bus to the Airport. We had a lovely afternoon in Madrid on the way back, meeting a recently divorced Brazilian guy and eating a lot of gorgeous tapas. And then back to Moscow to start work all over again. Not the happiest ending but an amazing trip!
No comments:
Post a Comment