Ilha Grande & Rio de Janeiro
11:24 AM
Howdy again
What a fabulous last few days of my holiday I've had.
After leaving Paraty, we hit an island off the Brazilian coast called Ilha Grande. After a one hour boat ride to the island, we all took in a late lunch/early dinner and spent most of the night partying. The next day we took a hike around the island to Lopes Mendes beach, which took us about 3 hours and past three very beautiful beaches. We took a boat back from Lopes Mendes back to our Pousada.
The next day we hired a boat, along with another Intrepid travel group and a GAP adventures group and went snorkelling and cruising around on a BBQ tour. All drinks were included so more partying was the order of the day. Lots of fun in the sun and in the water. We had a pizza night at the Pousada where we were staying which we also invited the other tour groups to. This was our last night on island.
A few sorry faces were in our group the next morning when we met to take a boat back to the mainland and a bus to Rio de Janeiro. Upon arrival, we checked in to our hotel in Copacabana then headed straight up to Christ the Redeemer statue, situated 710m above Rio city. It was a bit cloudy unfortuantely but we still got decent enough views. We had our final group dinner that night with our tour leader, Gustavo as the next morning was officially the end of our tour.
Sugar loaf mountain was the next tourist attraction which we hit up first thing the next morning. We took two cable cars up to the top and were awarded with great views over Copacabana and Ipanema beaches. After lunch, four of us decided to go hang gliding. We ran off a platform 520m above Rio and had near perfect weather conditions for our flights. It was really beautiful flying over Rio and quite peaceful. My pilot and I made a perfect landing on the beach below after about 12-15mins of flying.
That evening, I caught up with a former Deloitte colleague and his wife for dinner before joining the others for some more partying action in Ipanema. This was also the spot for our first goodbyes of the group, with some people departing the next day. Not so for me, the next day, I headed to Ipanema beach to try and get some last minute tan going on and to chill out. I met some others of the group and spent the day relaxing before saying more goodbyes at dinner.
Now, I'm sitting in the airport lounge waiting to fly home so this will be my final post for my South American adventure. Hope you've all enjoyed reading about it as I've had living it.
Cheers, adios, obrigado.
Dave
What a fabulous last few days of my holiday I've had.
After leaving Paraty, we hit an island off the Brazilian coast called Ilha Grande. After a one hour boat ride to the island, we all took in a late lunch/early dinner and spent most of the night partying. The next day we took a hike around the island to Lopes Mendes beach, which took us about 3 hours and past three very beautiful beaches. We took a boat back from Lopes Mendes back to our Pousada.
The next day we hired a boat, along with another Intrepid travel group and a GAP adventures group and went snorkelling and cruising around on a BBQ tour. All drinks were included so more partying was the order of the day. Lots of fun in the sun and in the water. We had a pizza night at the Pousada where we were staying which we also invited the other tour groups to. This was our last night on island.
A few sorry faces were in our group the next morning when we met to take a boat back to the mainland and a bus to Rio de Janeiro. Upon arrival, we checked in to our hotel in Copacabana then headed straight up to Christ the Redeemer statue, situated 710m above Rio city. It was a bit cloudy unfortuantely but we still got decent enough views. We had our final group dinner that night with our tour leader, Gustavo as the next morning was officially the end of our tour.
Sugar loaf mountain was the next tourist attraction which we hit up first thing the next morning. We took two cable cars up to the top and were awarded with great views over Copacabana and Ipanema beaches. After lunch, four of us decided to go hang gliding. We ran off a platform 520m above Rio and had near perfect weather conditions for our flights. It was really beautiful flying over Rio and quite peaceful. My pilot and I made a perfect landing on the beach below after about 12-15mins of flying.
That evening, I caught up with a former Deloitte colleague and his wife for dinner before joining the others for some more partying action in Ipanema. This was also the spot for our first goodbyes of the group, with some people departing the next day. Not so for me, the next day, I headed to Ipanema beach to try and get some last minute tan going on and to chill out. I met some others of the group and spent the day relaxing before saying more goodbyes at dinner.
Now, I'm sitting in the airport lounge waiting to fly home so this will be my final post for my South American adventure. Hope you've all enjoyed reading about it as I've had living it.
Cheers, adios, obrigado.
Dave