Through our hostel we arranged for a transfer to Ilha Grande
and were told to be ready for pick up by Easy Transfers at 8am. As the punctual
people we are, we were packed and waiting at 8. We had also arranged for Jana
to be collected in Leme at 7:30.
We were just relaxing at the hostel and catching up on
emails and before we knew it it was 9 and still no sign of Easy Transfers and
Jana also had not been collected yet. Now, this is where some fun began...
Things don’t really get moving in Rio until after 10am and that also meant that
there was a half asleep guy who didn’t speak much English at reception at the
hostel. With my little Spanish and his broken English I managed to explain to
him what was happening (I think). He contacted Easy Transfers and from what I
could understand they had lost our booking and we were going to be collected on
the next trip at 10:30. By this stage Jana had been standing on the side of the
road waiting for the bus since 7:30 (fortunately she had hijacked some wifi in
the area and was managing to stay in contact). Eventually we were collected at
11 by a man who couldn’t speak any English and his Renault Scenic and were on
our way to collect a very frustrated Jana. After a little traffic we were in
Leme and collected Jana and were on our way, or were we?? Nope, there was
another stop to collect another to travellers. We were all instructed to get
out the car and the driver proceeded to take all the bags out and from nowhere
another seat was set up in the boot and the bags were strapped to the roof and
we were off.
After lots of traffic and a never ending city we were on
what looked like a highway and were on our way! Not yet, another stop at a
petrol station but why is the bonnet open and what looks like the air pressure
pipe being inserted into the engine? After a few discussions we decided that
this was gas and that he was filling the gas tank.
We then joined the highway and this time we really were on
our way. After a while we reached some hills were the fun began. The driver (yes,
we didn’t even get a name out of him) kept flicking a switch which turned the
engine into a lawnmower which was stuttering and only able to go as fast a push
bike up the hills. At one stage Damien even suggested we jumped out and pushed
as that would be quicker. Along the way we even passed a bus with Easy Transfer
branding on it and after a short while it caught overtook us. Our driver then
got out his phone and called someone. We assume this was to the Easy Transfer
bus as shortly afterwards we passed it again on the side of the road and it then
followed us the rest of the way.
After many jokes and some interesting scenery (the most
notable being an abandoned theme park which could be a scene out of a horror
movie) we eventually made it to the drop off point to catch the boat to Ilha
Grande. Fortunately the boat sounded correct and also took us to the island
without much concern.
On the Ilha Grande we walked passed Jana just after we got
off the boat and then we made our way along the beach to find our house. After
asking a few people where it is we eventually found it only to find nobody
there to check in. After sending a few emails and trying to call Josephine
showed up to prepare the room and check us in.
After check in we took a walk around the town (all of about
4 roads with no cars) and booked a boat trip for the next day. Damien was still
in search of a barber which he eventually found so Jana and I made our way
along the beach to have a few beers at what was to become our local. After a
while Damien came walking along the beach with his head shaven. After more beer
we went to have dinner at an all you can eat braai and yes there were salads.
As one does, we ate far too much. The steak was done well but in the end it was
all a little salty which was rather surprising considering I always found I had
to add salt to the food in Rio. Jana then decided to go back to her hostel and
Damien and I continued with a beer or two before deciding that it was time to
break out the Klippies.
We bought a few cans of Coke and made our way back to the
house where we setup at the local and proceeded to have our Klippies and Coke
watching the passers bye and enjoying island life. By this stage we were
getting to know the waiter well and ended up sharing a few drinks with him and
keeping them open until 3 or so (yes, we closed the place).