Ilha Do Mel

Yep, you guessed it. We found our way to an island named after me! Only a 13 hour overnight bus ride + another 2 hour bus ride + 30 min boat journey away (I suppose we´d better get used to these long distances) and we´d arrived in Ilha Do Mel.

The island is relatively small, with an intricate web of winding paths that take you in all directions over this sandy strip of land. There are no cars there, which all add to the allure of the place, and many Brazillian surfers populate the pousadas and campsites. We had read about a great place to pitch our tent, just a short distance from the getty. Unfortunately the signs took us the long way around, and 30mins later we were still trekking about the island in the sweltering heat with our backpacks firmly strapped to our backs. When we finally got there we discovered that we couldn´t actually camp there, and the rooms we extortionate!




So, off we trotted to the nearest place that we could find. It wasn´t so much of a campsite, rather just a family who had decided to let people sling up their tents in their back garden. The facilities we basic to say the very least, and we could hardly believe that the family actually lived like that permanently. The one thing that the place had going for it was that it was central to the island which meant that we could explore.

We went for a stretch out on the quiet beach nearby and for a swim in the warm waters, and later went for dinner at a really dinky little place. Luckily I´d packed the torches, as there were no lights to guide us back to our tent.


Those of you who know me will know that I´m a creature of comfort, and that the idea of spending any time in a tent isn´t particularly my idea of heaven. However, as we´re on a budget I agreed that it would be a good way to save the pennies. Our tent is an incredibly small, incredibly light trekking tent, which is great for when it´s being carried around (by James, god bless him), but this means that when it´s erected that it´s pretty darn small also. We made the mistake of also trying to fit our backpacks in there too. So we´re cramped, hot and sandy, with the family´s TV blarring out and their young child crying the house down every 2 minutes, not to mention the deafening sound of the crickets and the raucous laughter of revellers. James is catching Zs already, but my eyes are pinned open. I daren´t open the tent to let the air in due to the fact that the mossies had already made quite a meal of me in Rio (apparently I´m quite a delicacy). I think you can guess how much sleep I had. OK, moan over!




The next day more than made up for it though. We went for a walk up to the lighthouse to see stunning views of the 3 beaches around us. We then walked along the length of one of these, and finally settled to eat lunch and sunbathe on another. That night I slept a lot more soundly as we evicted our bags and I bathed in repellent in order to have a bit of ventillation in the tent.







On Tuesday morning we awoke early and packed up. We were on our way to Foz, and the promise of one of the most stunning sights in the world... The next entry should be coming from the up-till-now silent Mr Wilcox, and he´s got some good subject matter to sink his teeth into.