The backpacking official begins, since arriving in South America we haven't had to carry our backpacks, but today Im sure i will be cursig my 18kg bag.

Super early morning start to catch a local bus (not a taxi :( ) to Rodoviara (bus terminal).

The busses here have a barrier as you enter where you hve to pay the conductor, bit of a struggle squeezing through a tiny barrier with a huge backpack on. Of course the passengers on the bus just stare and watch in amusement.

Many confusing moments later we arrive at the terminal where we had to find the ticket booth for a coach to Angra dos Reis. With 10 minutes to spare we all ran around searching high and low for the company ticket stand.

Hot, tired and unfortunately sweaty after walking back and forth, up and down the terminal we had our bus tickets in out hands and safely managed to catch the coach.

Coaches here are called luxury busses with different reclining seats according to the length of the journey.

Ilha Grande (big island) has some of the worlds most beautiful beaches (over 100) and hillsides covered in lush forests. What's great about the island is no cars are allowed.

Success! Mission to get from Rio to I.grande by bus, coach, ferry completed. Were pro backpackers now!

Unfortunately for us, as soon as we got off the ferry it started to pour down with rain. Being the unprepared chicks that we are, we were scrummaging through out bags lookig for our waterproof clothing and covers!

Armed and ready for battle we walked around the island searching for our hostel case verde! First impressions of the hostel was 'girls can we find somewhere else please!' but it soon became home.

The owner Nia is crazy! The rest o the guests and Nia had a good laugh at our expense as we spoke no portugese and very very little spanish! As we were having a tour of the hostel we went passed the boys room and said 'yuk' 'bleugh' which Nia interpreted as us girls don't like boys when infact we were trying to say boys room smell and are always dirty! So now she thinks were lesbians!! I'm enrolling in a crash course Spanish language right now!

But wait, it gets even better...after being laughed at Reena decided to get our her Spanish translation book and the first thing she decided to learn in typical reena fashion was 'how much do you charge per night' and just as she said that the whole room went quiet so everyone heard us and burst out laughing! Not only do they think were lesbians, were also into prostitution too!

It had only been 30 minutes since we arrived and we'd already left an impression.

I.grande even with the rain is a picturesque place, small cobbly sandy streets, beach from seafood restaurants, cute gift shops and then there's the gorgeous landscape!

As half day was gone we decided to do the Abraoo trail around the island. Through our hike we saw Acqueduct (colonial engineering that supplied water for the old Lazareto community), Lazarendo ruins (used to sort and quarantine passengers arriving from other parts of Brazil).

Tanna had het first fall over a slippery rock. Most people fall in the tide area and run away from the sea, but our Tanna just stands there as the waves comes and soak her walking boots!

Halfway through our cold wet walk Devi said she heard a rattle snake which at this point I started to run down the hill bulldozing the others!

Showered and freshened up we were ready for a night out, but this soon turned into a boozy night in. Jasmine and Araceli two Californian girls studying in Brazil asked us to join them in a whisky shot. Everyone knows I'm not a whisky girl, but after speding day cold and wet a strong drink sounded appealing.

What was supposed to only be one drink ended up being a whole night of it with even the owner joining in (I'm pretty sure Julie the dog had some too as she was running around super speedy and crazy)! Us girls ended up running through thefaeta island to get a top-up bottle and of course takeaway pizza for practically the whole hostel! Perfect chick night, girls were deffinately coming to california!

Quote of the day:
'i'll wear my waterproofs when we get to the hostel (umm how is that going to help you, we have to walk in the rain to get to the hostel! They must be some special waterproofs if they keep you dry when you put them on after the rain!)'