Sao Paulo to Ilha Do Mel

We arrived in Sao Paulo early Sat. morning and all went smoothly....the flight was a little bouncy but we arrived safe and sound, the worst part of the trip was the huge queue for customs on arrival and the hour long taxi ride from the airport to the city; Sao Paulo is one huge concrete jungle. While the people were very friendly we were surprised at how much money we were getting through, Sao Paulo being a lot more expensive than the rest of Brazil. A couple of days here was quite enough, thank you.

On to Curitiba, a 6 hour ´convencional´ bus ride that took us up and down hills with fantastic luscious greenery all the way. Our journey was unhindered, except for the slow crawl for the last 30k or so, as the driver was concerned that we had a flat tyre (all the men got off the bus, rubbed their chins a bit, got back on again......).

From Curitiba, which was just a pit stop, we took a 3 hr train ride (the Serra do Mar "express" - the bus takes half this time) down from the high plain to the coast. The locals kept us entertained, with singing and dancing the whole way (and beer drinking before 9am). In fact we even had a rendition of the conga. Funny for the first 1/2 hour. Less fun after they all squealed through the 7th or 8th tunnel! The scenery was great on this trip, with the mountain side falling away to show huge swathes of jungle and rivers at the bottom. A mini bus ride (air con, yay!) and a boat ride later and we arrived at our idyll of a beach get away at Ilha do Mel.... if only it would stop raining!

Hannah & Robin