Sat 26th Aug: We left copacabana on sat and headed south in the direction of Ilha Grande (Big island). we took a 2hr bus journey from Rio that brought us to margtiba where we got a fishing boat for another 2hrs. The boat trip itself was amazing...All we could see were mountains and clear blue skies and of course sea sea sea. Our little fishing boat that almost topsided evertytime someone would stand up looked tiny as we past massive tankers in the middle of the ocean. we were told ilhja grande was surreal and when we got there it was excatly that. it is an island almost the size of ireland with only 5000 inhabitants and completely untouched commercially - no macdonalds, no Tesco, not even an ATM machine. We arrived around 4/5pm and found a hostel pretty easy. the hostel was great and was surronded by what can only be described as jungle....with beaches just litterally 2mins walk away. After we checked in we went for some dinner on the beach - nad i mean on the beach!! it was so dark - all there was, was timber lanterns on the beach as a marker so people didnt walk into the water. after dinner we walked up and down the place - we found a basketball court wtith flood lights and goal posts so we decided to get our our football for a kick. when we came back with the ball the place was pitch dark - then all of a sudden the lights came on and kids came from everywhere - about 10 of them. they asked if they could play with us so we set up teams and had a game for an hour - it was great fun and they were really sad to see us go - i think that was because we were taking the ball with us. after that we went for a couple of beers locally and went back to the hostel to sleep.