Pousada Paloma.
Susie and Sebi.
First stop on the boat trip we got to climb some big rocks.
Cool restaurant I snorkeled by on the boat trip called "Reis & Magos."
Susie is a stylist and owns a vintage shop in London, we had lots of fun talking about vintage clothes and also finding a job you truly love.
The fabulous island retreat of Ihla Grande is only a few hours journey south of Rio- it is incredibly picturesque with most places on island only accessible by boat (no cars allowed), plenty of palm-studded beaches, and minimal development. The only setback to our four days on the island was a few days of rain which makes the island's only options (hiking and sunbathing) a little more difficult. Nevertheless, we had a grand time. We switched from the island's hostel- which was a little too "hostel-ish," loud and kind of dirty to a Pousada Paloma which actually ended up being cheaper and a much better choice. As we were half dragging, half carrying our rolley bags down the beach we met a group of five late twenty-year olds on holiday from London who were staying at the house on the corner. They became our new best friends and were absolutely "brilliant!" Most of them had done the "travelling on a shoestring" thing in their early twenties and were happy to offer us the extra spots they had on a speedboat they had chartered to take them to all the secret spots around the island. Even with the gloomy weather, the trip was fantastic. The second day of showers didn't stop Linnea and I from going to Lopes Mendes- which is ranked the 7th prettiest beach in the world and suppose to have great surf. We were both incredibly optimistic about the sun coming out, but ended up getting dropped off in the pouring rain on a deserted beach with the next boat not coming till late afternoon. We found huge leaves for umbrellas but mostly ended up swimming in the ocean to stay warm. I guess few people can say they had the 7th prettiest beach in the world all to themselves. After meeting a few of the locals and the great group from England, neither one of us wanted to leave, the rain ended up being the only thing that made us stick to our original plans.
