After having fun at the pre-feriado holiday disco at ACER, I packed up a bag and headed to Tietê bus station to meet Vanessa. 7 hrs later, having caught up on a lot of sleep, we arrived in Angra dos Reis to catch the 30 minute speed boat to the island.
I felt all the stress of bustling São Paulo instantly disappear as we pulled up to island's colourful harbour. After checking into our brilliant hostel, we ate a much needed snack at the padaria and headed off, on what we thought would be a short hike, to Lopes Mendes beach - recently voted as one of the 10 most beautiful beaches in the world.
3 hrs later and having done rather more exercise than intended, we arrived, hoping to find some food but we were too late, all gone! After relaxing for a while and becoming increasingly more hungry we took the taxi boat back, treated to the most beautiful sunset from the water.
The next morning - after the best hostel breakfast I think I have ever had, I definitely made the most of it, we boarded our our speed boat to start the tour of the island. On our boat there was a Czech couple, French, Argentinian and Brazilians, needless to say my role for the day was designated interpreter! We stopped at lots of good snorkeling sports and had the best day. That evening we also went to island's Festa Junina which was good fun. Our last full day on the island was divided between hiking and beach, a perfect combination for me.
The bus ride home was surprisingly traffic free, very unlike São Paulo, topping off the the perfect weekend!
One last week of work here and then on Saturday morning I leave for Colombia - lots to look forward to but also will be so sad to leave, it really has begun to feel like home.
