Paradise…AKA Ilha Grande

After going to bed after 2am (which will be a recurring theme on this trip), we awoke to get ready to head to the island of Ilha Grande. But first we had to find an ATM so I could take out some extra cash for Justin. We found a Citibank office and I exchanged $500 USD which converted to 850 Brazillian Reals for the both of us. Then we grabbed a breakfast of stuffed crepes before heading back to the hotel to get ready for the 2 hour busride to Angra Dos Rios and 1.5 hour boatride to Ilha Grande. We departed the hotel in Copacabana and docked at Ilha Grande around 5pm. Imagine paradise and you have Ilha Grande. It's beautiful. There are 2 vehicles on the island, a dump truck and an ambulance. The police ride motorcycles. Otherwise transportation is by bicycle or good old footpower. The town is a few square blocks full of restaurants and shops. Most of the streets aren't paved and the ones that are are paved with stones. It makes for walking without spraining an ankle a challenge. We checked into our hotel and took a look at our rooms. Double bed and bunkbed with a decent bathroom and ceiling fan for us and headed back down to town to get dinner. We ate at a little Italian restaurant (Italian food/pizza is really popular here). I ordered lasagna which was the strangest lasagna I've ever had. It was pretty much the contents of lasagna (meat, tomato sauce, cheese) baked in a dish with 1 piece of pasta laid across the top with melted cheese on top. WEIRD… But it was pretty tasty. Then we headed to one of the local hostels since drinks there are much cheaper than at the bars. It was true. 3.50 Reals or about $2 US for a beer. The hostel was crazy. When we arrived, they were playing live music and the guys playing and singing were pretty good. Then they started playing music from an iPod and Andrew somehow ended up behind the bar to DJ. It was hilarious. We finally left around 4am to try to catch a few hours of sleep before getting up to go to "the beach" the next day. Day 2 in the books and other than the terydactyl sized mosquitos, it was a pretty damn good day.