Trindade, dealings with police and adenture hikes
Day 15 Mon 13/9, Ilha Grande/ Trindade
Breakfast and goodbyes again. Aboard the ferry to Angra dos Reis at 10:00 sharp. 1.5 hr boat ride leaves a bunch of us tourists in Angra with a lot of locals. Most of the tourists head to the bus stop to catch a bus to Parati. Luckily, it is but a 30 min wait before the bus arrives.
I was lucky in that the bus to Trindade was at the station in Paraty when the bus got in at 14:00. Trindade is a small village with a hippie feel to it and plenty of beaches.
Check in at the hostel was supervised by a Brasilian from Santa Catarina who spoke English with a German accent. I thought she was German given she was tall and blonde till she told me otherwise. Elena was working on her thesis on marine biology while working at the hostel. There are a lot of Brasilians of Germanic origin in the south.
I head to the beach for an hour and run into the Irish lasses on the way to the beach to their surprise. Got back to the hostel to find Jordi and Buck waiting for me. We head off to the next pousada for about 1.5 hours of ping pong, joined by a couple of our Brasilian hosts. It was a lot of fun! I was amazed that nobody at the pousada complained that we played there even though we werent guests.
Dinner with the Dutch trio at a pizza place. Back to the hostel for a few games of cards with the girls.
Day 16 Tue 14/9, Trindade
A 30 minute hike up to a natural pool – all 6 of us, the Hostel Holandes group. A bit of adventure to get the blood flowing early in the morning. Jordi and Buck had gotten ahead of us. A police car went past us and then stopped. Two policemen got out and called out to the Ducth guys. Looking for “drogas, cocaine”. Jordi, Buck and I have our bags searched. Buck didnt have a bag and they searched his pockets. Poor Jordi and Buck: they had a similiar experience with police on a hike in Ilha Grande. The police werent very friendly and a bit rude. I am used to polite police in Seattle. They didnt even bother searching the Irish gals and sent us off telling us to be careful in the beach with our money! I guess I have to stop looking oh-so-very-dangerous!
Had a lovely time swimming in the pool and sunning on the boulders to rest. Off to the beach to dry and get a suco.
Lunch was a snack. I head off to the hostel since I feel a cold coming on, while the rest of the crew head to the beach, Jordi and Buck with surf boards. Watched a little bit of Indiana Jones movie in which they feature Indians eating snakes and brains of monkeys. Fall asleep and dont wake up till about 17:00 when it is time to play ping pong. 7 of us around the table. Great fun. Dinner with the folks finds us back at the pizza place where the Dutch duo continue to regale us with their (sometime tall) tales. Round off a good day with a game of cards with the girls.
Day 17 Wed 15/9, Trindade
Say goodbye to Jordi and Buck as they head off to Sao Paulo and Iguacu falls. I enjoyed meeting them and hope to run into them in Amsterdam.
Next up is an adventure hike with Elena as our guide to the waterfalls. We hike up not up the usual path, but take the adventurous route, climbing over rocks. Elena leaps from one rock to another like a gazelle. She is very good at getting everyone over the tough spots. She even pauses to point out some interesting birds, an insect and a pregnant beetle.
It had to be the coolest thing I have done in ages. Climbing up over rocks, going down a natural slide – side of a rock where there is a trickle of water, walking into the waterfalls into a cave, jumping into water from a rock! I probably did not do my cold much good, but it was a fabulous morning of adventure; well as close to adventure as it gets for your average, midldle-aged, book-wormish software developer!
The afternoon found all of us bundled in bean bags in front of the TV. It rained all afternoon, and there isnt a whole lot to do in Trindade when it rains! I managed to fall asleep and was told that they moved the bean bag I was on without me realising it at all!
Dinner was pancakes cooked by Mauricio. The food was so good that one contemplated proposing marriage 🙂
Tags: Travel
Damu