Ilha Bela

On the plane from New York to Brazil, we sat next to a super cool guy from Sao Paulo who told us all sorts of places that we should visit, and helped us with our pronunciation of Portuguese. One of the places he mentioned was Ilha Bela--he said it was one of the most beautiful places in Sao Paulo state. So, although we'd purchased bus tickets to a different town, when the driver hollered, "Ferry to Ilha Bela" we decided to grab our bags and hope it was in our budget!

On the ferry--a yucky, cloudy day.

This place was beautiful, despite the weather.

Off season rates and visiting during the week lowered the cost by two thirds--it was an amazing deal. We decided to stay all week, and finally unpack!

View from our room

We stayed at Pousada Manga Rosa It was beautiful, looked like a crazy tree house. Ilha Bela is full of Pousadas, which are nice little bed and breakfasts, generally without very many rooms. If you decide to visit, we highly recommend it!





Very good breakfast!

Tavo is a fan of the ham and cheese wheels

He loves to be photographed while eating

They put out papaya for the birds

And there were books upstairs--we found books in 6 different languages there!

Sitting in the "tree house" with cafezinho and a book

View from the upstairs of the Pousada

Lets walk around the island





I want to live here.








Neat architecture and accents





Bananas!

There is supposedly a waterfall up this path, but due to the stench of doo doo, the sign that says no trespassing, and the GIGANTIC OX! Lini was too nervous to venture up the mountain.



Dune buggies everywhere

mmm, beer time

Downtown


and we're off to our next destination