Don’t you hate it when travel shows use the phrase “….is a world of contradictions”?
In my book it’s up there with the all too common misuse of the term “ironic”. “Hey, isn’t it ironic that I want orange juice and we only have apple” ….umm no!
In any case, it is for this reason, I shall try to stick to the more hick phrase “It’s kinda strange” that way neither you nor I will be forced to punch each other or our respective computers.
We traveled to Ilha Grande on Saturday morning and were welcomed by a sun drenched island paradise with no cars and only a handful of vehicles ( 1 backhoe and 3 motorbikes to be precise) which were either used by the police or for general maintenance.
The island itself was originally used as a pirate hide way, later became a prison and, at a some stage, a leper colony. It was these facts that meant the island was left unsettled by “Rodrigo Average” and has become one of the last remaining slices of “forest type x” in the region.
So how does it all work? Well, as you can imagine, after looking at your average tropical paradise post card, the island has amazing beaches, fruit hanging from every tree and sun drenched happy people swimming, tanning and getting happily sozzled on the beach. But there is something kinda strange on this island, something as peculiar as my daily breakfast at the hostel. When walking on the beach you are very likely to find vultures, on mass, flying over head and bouncing around on the beach. I’m not sure if they are waiting for people to die of pleasure on the beach or if they’re simply waiting for sun drenched Yanks to begin peeling due over exposure, providing them wafer thin morsels, but they are bloody everywhere….it just doesn’t seem to make sense.
Similarly strange is the need for the local tour companies to drive you 2 hours to a “special lagoon” for swimming, only to find it is the same as the seventy three you passed on the way and almost identical to the one you can fall into from your bed if you’re not too careful.
This boat trip also elucidated another strange fact and that is the presence of an enormous oil rig, about 100m from the shore of this world heritage site. There is nothing more bizarre that happily bobbing past 194km2 of pristine wilderness only to find a hulking great oil rig around the corner, 3 or 4 tankers, a pipeline and a disused rig which is being left to, shall we say biodegrade, at it’s own rate. I don’t get it!
To be honest the place is pretty cool, but in keeping with the place we were rained out of our island paradise and thus after eating our all too familiar breakfast - 1 slice of ham, 1 slice of cheese, 1 roll, 1 piece of pineapple and some chocolate cake (breakfast of champions) we left swearing that we would return.
I know you may have been hoping for slightly more exciting stories, but the truth is, now that life is settling in and I have tightened the purse strings (I’m sure some of you are wondering how I could tighten them anymore) the shenanigans have slowed down for now. I’m looking at heading to the Pantanal (wildlife area) sometime next month and may even have a crack at fishing for piranhas…but this still a little way off now.
In my book it’s up there with the all too common misuse of the term “ironic”. “Hey, isn’t it ironic that I want orange juice and we only have apple” ….umm no!
In any case, it is for this reason, I shall try to stick to the more hick phrase “It’s kinda strange” that way neither you nor I will be forced to punch each other or our respective computers.
We traveled to Ilha Grande on Saturday morning and were welcomed by a sun drenched island paradise with no cars and only a handful of vehicles ( 1 backhoe and 3 motorbikes to be precise) which were either used by the police or for general maintenance.
The island itself was originally used as a pirate hide way, later became a prison and, at a some stage, a leper colony. It was these facts that meant the island was left unsettled by “Rodrigo Average” and has become one of the last remaining slices of “forest type x” in the region.
So how does it all work? Well, as you can imagine, after looking at your average tropical paradise post card, the island has amazing beaches, fruit hanging from every tree and sun drenched happy people swimming, tanning and getting happily sozzled on the beach. But there is something kinda strange on this island, something as peculiar as my daily breakfast at the hostel. When walking on the beach you are very likely to find vultures, on mass, flying over head and bouncing around on the beach. I’m not sure if they are waiting for people to die of pleasure on the beach or if they’re simply waiting for sun drenched Yanks to begin peeling due over exposure, providing them wafer thin morsels, but they are bloody everywhere….it just doesn’t seem to make sense.
Similarly strange is the need for the local tour companies to drive you 2 hours to a “special lagoon” for swimming, only to find it is the same as the seventy three you passed on the way and almost identical to the one you can fall into from your bed if you’re not too careful.
This boat trip also elucidated another strange fact and that is the presence of an enormous oil rig, about 100m from the shore of this world heritage site. There is nothing more bizarre that happily bobbing past 194km2 of pristine wilderness only to find a hulking great oil rig around the corner, 3 or 4 tankers, a pipeline and a disused rig which is being left to, shall we say biodegrade, at it’s own rate. I don’t get it!
To be honest the place is pretty cool, but in keeping with the place we were rained out of our island paradise and thus after eating our all too familiar breakfast - 1 slice of ham, 1 slice of cheese, 1 roll, 1 piece of pineapple and some chocolate cake (breakfast of champions) we left swearing that we would return.
I know you may have been hoping for slightly more exciting stories, but the truth is, now that life is settling in and I have tightened the purse strings (I’m sure some of you are wondering how I could tighten them anymore) the shenanigans have slowed down for now. I’m looking at heading to the Pantanal (wildlife area) sometime next month and may even have a crack at fishing for piranhas…but this still a little way off now.
Island paradise
but what's that on the horizon?
.....oh how lovely!
THe entry to acaia Climb through this hole and down the tunnel and...
THe glow of the ocean is really intense and this photo doews it no justice. It's pitch black and all you can hear is the roar of the ocean echoing through the rocks and the deep green rippling light as it bounces up into the cave.
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