So, we arrived in Ilha Bela on Tuesday evening, around 7pm, after a short boat ride from Sao Sebastiao. It was very dark and the both of us were a little nervous, as we somehow had to find a taxi driver that understood english, and find the pousada that we'd had recommended, but didnt have a reservation for yet!!! As we docked we followed the crowd, which was all locals, no tourists at all. Thankfully the taxi rank was right outside and although the driver did not speak english, he knew the pousada we planned to stay in, and charged us much more for being english!!! We arrived at Pousada dos Hibiscious and even in the dark it looked very pretty, like a little spanish house set in beautiful garden surroundings. The first thing that hit us both was the sweet smell of the hibiscious flowers growing all around the pool area, it was a lovely smell. The guy on reception spoke a little english, and were very thankful that they had a room for us to reserve for 3 nights, at 30 pounds a night. The room was nice, not the marriot, but i'm sure we'll come across much worse. We had 2 bathrooms, a bedroom and a lounge area with a fridge and another bed, not bad! So we dumped our backpacks, after a lot of moaning at how heavy the damn things were and how many times we'd put them on, took them off, on, off, on, off, all bloody day. The guy at reception told us to turn left out of the pousada and head to Villa (downtown) for food, and we were more than starving by now. It was a pleasant 10 min walk past a lovely beach which had these metal statues dotted around, mermaids, giant faces, fish, knights, pirates etc etc, i thought they were excellant, but tom didnt share my excitement!!!!! The first thing we saw in Villa was a huge church, on the top of a hill, with doors wide open and jesus on his cross lite up. At the bottom of the hill was a giant cross with jesus on it, it freaked us both out as it was pitch black and we seemed to be the only ones around, very scary! Our choice of restuarants that were open was limited, to two! The first one looked more lively, but was very expensive, so we opted for the german restaurant. OK, so first lesson we learned, do not go out eating without your portugese phrase book, if you cant speak the language!! We had ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what was on the menu, not a scooby, we couldnt work anything out, so had to guess.... I was getting a little worried when they put a full bottle of olive oil on our table before the meal arrived. With great anticipation we waited, and waited, and finally our food arrived and put us out our misery! Tom had managed to order steak, rice with brocilli and chips and fresh veg. I had managed to order chicken breast cooked in a sweet garlic sauce, rice, chips and fresh veg :o) we high 5'd at our guess work and tucked in to a beautiful meal. All was well, until the bill arrived, and they didnt take VISA yet, and we had no cash on us... argghhh, panic, none of the waiters spoke english at all. Thankfully a couple had seated themselves behind us and the husband was american, tom had spotted the accent a while back. So they told us there was an ATM at the end of the road, we were saved :o)

The next morning we woke for breakfast, but was surprised to see the lack of sun, and far too many grey clouds for our liking! We had breakfast at the pousada, which consisted of bread, ham, cheese, jam, cereals and cakes :o) the staff were so friendly. During breakfast we spotted a hummingbird just a few tables from us, tom was very impressed!!! The guy who owned the pousada had met up with us, he spoke very good english, having lived in the UK for a year. We asked him what the best things were to do on the island, especially with lack of sun. He booked us on to a jeep trip the following day but today he suggested we hire bikes and head north to a beach which apparently was amazing. So we hired bikes for 6 pounds each for the day and head off. What he had forgotten to tell us was exactly how far this beach was, and that it was all UP HILL!!! 2 1/2 hours it took us, through dirt tracks and rainforest, up loads of hills and down not so many hills. We had set off with 2 bottles of water, 1 flap jack and 4 bars of cadburys caramel between us, and this we rationed between us throughout the trek. What was worse was that we had no idea how close or how far we were to this beach, so we kept going, and going, and going... I was absolutely shattered, more than i've ever been in my life. Tom looked after us well, keeping us fed and watered at the right times. I managed to accumulate 18 sand fly bites, which are nasty cos they bleed :o( but FINALLY we made it to the beach, and, well, it really wasnt worth the trek to get there!!! It was empty and grey and we spent all of 10 minutes there, not impressed, and DREADING the journey back. I really didnt think i had anything left in me to get home, but we had no choice, we hadnt seen a soul in hours! The ride back was actually a lot more pleasant, with long stretches of down hills, and knowing how much further we had to go, remembering shacks and buildings along the way. The views were actually breathtaking, and we had more energy to appreciate them on the way back, and realise what we'd actually just done!!!! We got home around 5pm and literally collapsed in our rooms... the guy on reception offered to order a pizza for us, which arrived an hour later. We were SOOOO hungry, and scoffed it down quickly. That night we slept very well.

The next morning we headed for breakfast and noticed the sun was beaming through the clouds, it was gonna be a nice day. Our jeep trip was booked at 10:30am and we were the only people in the jeep, and the driver spoke very little english! We headed through the shanty towns and started climbing the mountains in the middle of the island. It was a 2 1/2 hour drive up and down the mountain, through rainforest and muddy dirt tracks, reaching 800m high. We saw some great sites, and the roads alone were a sight. You'll see the picks as the jeep struggled to get through some tracks which were over a metre deep! The beach at the end i am pleased to say was definately worth it this time, a long stretch of beautiful white sand, sun shining, surrounded by palm trees and rain forests, and looking at to the atlantic ocean. It was like a seen from Pirates of the carribean, though i wish johnny depp was there with me! instead i had to make do with tom, and the young guy serving us drinks and food, who knew some english, like Spice Girls, Beckham and Manchester United, but not Arsenal! We had pineapple juice, which was literally pineapple chunks in water, and salad, rice and chicken, although he insisted we try the fresh fish as well, which was actually very nice! After we took off on foot, through the rainforest, upward a trail about as wide as my backside (so not awfully wide!!), over tree roots, over boulders, over stepping stones crossing streams and made our way up to a waterfall in the middle of the rainforest covered mountains. It was a tall thin waterful, and worth the trek up there (which i actually enjoyed more than the waterful, and reminded me of my childhood days in the forest back home!!!). After that we picked up some guys and 2 girls who were filming and taking pics on the beach, we think the girls with models or porn stars, and the guys were filming and taking pics of them!!!!!!! we headed back up the mountain and back down the other side and arrived home with much more energy than the night before! It gets dark early in Brazil at the moment, as its their winter! That night we ate at a local restaurant, and took our phrase book this time, but the waiter spoke good engligh, typical! We had steak and mash to share, was very nice.

The next morning we were dreading our journey back, to Sao Paulo and then on to Foz. We were to spend the next 24 hours travelling, in the blistering heat and with our dreaded back packs. As we had been ripped off with the taxi on the way to our pousada, we decided to take the bus this time, BIG MISTAKE! It made its way slowly and crowded through the back shanty towns, and almost an hour later we arrived at the ferry dock dripping with sweat! At Sao Sestabiao we waited 30 mins for our coach, which a young local lad helped us find, and headed 4 hours back to Sao Paulo, were we had a 2 hour wait before our next coach to foz, a 15 hour journey :o(

Ilha Bela is a lovely island, a little expensive but very relaxed (if you dont cycle 5 hours) and pretty