Cush & I – Lopez Mendes Beach, Illa Grande
En route to Lopez Mendes Beach, Illa Grande
After taking in the wealth of Rio’s famous sights and enjoying its action packed nightlife, we were ready to get stuck into some serious beach time as we headed to Illa Grande. This secluded island is purpose built for tourists, with beachside bars and restaurants interspersed with some small hikes and incredible beaches. With our newly adopted son Matty Pestell along for the ride, we set about exploring the island, the most impressive section being Lopez Mendes beach. Vogue magazine (apparently the unquestioned authority on the subject) recently voted it the 3rd best beach on the planet!! Certainly it deserves an award for the hottest girls I’ve seen on 1 beach. Ridiculous awards aside, it was a beautiful spot and after a 3 1/2 hour walk in scorching temperatures the ocean was pretty inviting when we arrived.
A day trip to the underwhelming former prison soon turned eventful as we were greeted by a torrential downpour while starting the 90 minute return leg. With little
Matty P & I racing down the rockslide
choice but to press on, our hopes the rain would ease were in vain and we were soon on a muddy track in ankle deep water. By the time we made it to the township, the streets had transformed into a shin deep river, as had our hostel. With no power in a beach town the only entertainment left was to sit and watch the ever rising waters wondering if our room would be consumed, which it thankfully wasn’t. We then pushed on back to the mainland, arriving at the nearby colonial town of Paraty, famous as the home of the Brazilian staple alcohol Cachaca and the house off some kids movie called Twilight. While we skipped the house, we did take full advantage of the distillery’s, hiring bikes and heading into the hills in search of a rock slide. This is basically a sloped waterfall, that’s completely smooth and slippery courtesy of type of moss growing on it. As is often the way with these things, after building up our courage to eventually go down head first we were quickly shown up by a 12 year old local kid who ripped down on his feet, doing a few jumps along the way for good measure. Not his first trip to the rodeo. After a quick picnic lunch we rounded out a very successful day by finding a huge
A fun afternoon crawling around the rocks in Trindade
rope swing before filling up on Cachaca shots to help power our bicycles home.
Our final stop on the beach tour was the tiny town of Trindade, a place with some beautiful sand that appeared to be inhabited solely by stoners who made wristbands and earings to sell on the streets. The main event here involved a trip to some natural pools, though a lack of research meant we ended up on a huge mission trying to navigate our way around some massive rocks. After a good hour of grunt work our chosen route became impassable and we were forced to return to the town and take the normal path which was a 10 minute walk. Beach time had been incredible, but it was time for the polar opposite as we headed to South America’s biggest city, Sao Paulo.
It was here that we struck the travelers jackpot. At the wedding in Florianopolis we’d been invited to stay with the brides family who live in Sao Paulo, and they rolled out the red carpet. With around 18 million people calling it home, the city is truly a concrete jungle and the chance to get a guided tour from locals
Chinese New Year in Japanese town – Sao Paulo
Cush & I with some random fruit at the Sao Paulo Market
allowed us to experience the culture in a way we never could’ve imagined if navigating it ourselves. With our chauffeur Marcos leading the way, we were given a guided tour of the local markets, where family friend Paulo; acting like he owned every stall, raced around organising us samples of the huge range of tropical fruits. We were then taken to ‘Japanese Town’ which was the home of the Chinese New Year celebrations, with a huge street parade and a host of market stalls and authentic foods. Next we got an up close look at Sao Paulo’s homeless community, who were having a solvent induced dance in the middle of the main square, quite the sight. Things were about to go up a gear though as we pressed on to another market to get what had been billed as a ‘really, really huge pork sandwich’. Eager to test this I was not to be disappointed, as I mowed down a feed that was instantly being discussed as an option for top ten of all time.
Corinthians Game, Sao Paulo
Feeding our Brazilian hosts a proper ‘Kiwi roast’
The highlight for me though was a trip to Pacaembu stadium to watch a Brazilian soccer game in the flesh. As luck would have it we got to watch the Corinthians; current Fifa world club champions defeat Oeste in a 5-0 romp. This was handy both because all the goals meant the crowd were in great voice and because the Corinthians fans are notorious for destroying things when their side loses. The atmosphere at the ground was pretty special and while they didn’t do much work off the ball, the skill level of the players was out of this world. In amongst all the touring, we were treated to a never ending feast and some incredible hospitality from the Matsura and Tanaka families. When you’ve been on the road a long time it’s a great feeling to have people open up their homes and welcome strangers as family. As a small token the three of us set about cooking everyone a ‘Kiwi Roast’ on our final night. While they all looked on suspiciously at the gravy, the Apple Crumble dessert was inhaled in minutes.
Carnival Street Party, Florianopolis
Julia, Haydin, me and Matty P – Fatboy Slim pre drinks
We now just had the small matter of Carnival to participate in as we headed back to Florianopolis to stay with Haydin and Julia. While the South has less street parades than the more traditional Northern areas, Flori put on one hell of a party. This pretty much required us to become nocturnal animals, though we did make it into the city for a couple of the street parties during the day. Matty P again proved his worth introducing a frisby game that will undoubtedly be bought at future beach trips. By night we hit Fatboy Slim, who for an old fella still knows how to throw down one hell of a set, and attended what felt like an extremely exclusive party for models in an amazing club. Carnival was an amazing experience and with some old friends and new ones we had a blast. It was with weary bodies and severely damaged livers that we boarded the bus for the Iguazu Falls.
Nights Stayed: Ilha Grande: 5, Paraty: 2, Trindade: 2, Sao Paulo: 4, Florianopolis: 7
Quote of the week – “They have new law in Brazil. If I drink the whiskey and drive my car they take me to jail. It’s very bad.” – Our host Ruben lamenting Brazil’s ever
Cush & Matty in Paraty
increasing safety standards
Most ridiculous pricing we’ve seen – A 750 ml of Smirnoff vodka just 28 real ($14). A 4 pack of redbull cans in the same store cost 32 real ($16). How this works is beyond me
Beach wear – It really is amazing how much skin is acceptable on a Brazilian beach. For the ladies anything more than a g string bikini and you’re overdressed. For the lads, budgy smugglers are the order of the day
Best idea I’ve ever heard – Girls pay half prize (or nothing) to attend events in Brazil, so while it costs me $70 to see Fatboy Slim it only costs Cushla $50. The result, is that all of the events are packed with girls. So simple it’s stupid.
Best feed – The enormous pork sandwich in Sao Paulo
The world class Pork Sandwich, Sao Paulo
obviously takes the cake, but on Illa Grande they frozen juice iceblocks for 1 real (50c) are the closest thing to a frozen jucie I’ve ever come across
Interestingly – Brazil is comfortably the most developed and wealthiest country we’ve been in since leaving Europe, and our incredible hosts in Sao Paulo and Florianopolis aside, it is also the least friendliest country we’ve visited. Rio and Sao Paulo also had more homeless than anywhere we’ve been
Don’t miss – the Museo do Futebol (football museum) underneath the stands of the Pacaembu stadium in Sao Paulo. For about $3 this is the best museum of it kind I’ve ever visited
What grinds my gears – Our first flight in Brazil we were treated to supermodel quality air hostesses. So you can imagine my disappointment when our later flights were hosted by girls who’d struggle to get a run with Jetstar. Come on TAM airlines lift ya game
Cush can’t get enough of Haydin & Julia’s new puppies
Stay at – Backpackers House in Paraty. A great atmosphere with the best breakfast we’ve had anywhere. Don’t stay at Overnativa Green Hostel on Illa Grande, overpriced lodgings with the worlds rudest staff. Not a great combination
We got here – From Rio to Illa Grande and Sao Paulo on some pretty average bus rides. From Sao Paulo to Florianopolis on a cheap flight with TAM
deanandcush
deanandcushadventures 
Good to see the rest of the Brazil leg went well, especially the soccer game and puppies!
Yeah you were missed at the football mate. Great laugh and some nice touches. I mean it wasn’t up to the standard at the wedding but a near thing