Isla of Paradise

One place I had heard all about was Isla Grande. There are two hostels right on the beach that everyone stays at and they are a taste of paradise. Each hostel is always packed with backpackers and each contain BBQ dinners, a bar, dance floor, and live band every night. One thing to know about Brazil is their pluming is very old and no paper products can be flushed. Signs are posted everywhere, but apparently the people staying in our dorm room before us didn't obey. I had met up with the Swedish girls on the Isla and after moving into our room we went downstairs to grab our fresh fish BBQ. While we were eating our toilet overflowed and soaked all the Swedish girls clothes (thankfully my area was spared from the flood). I am talking clothes dripping with toilet water. So the girls had a huge bag of clothes to wash and we got a free BBQ dinner and free drinks, caprinias, for the next couple nights.
There are amazing beaches on the island and the most famous is Lopez Mendez. It takes a two hour hike through the center of the island to get to the other side and this wonderful beach. I was with the two Swedish girls, Sanna and Matis, and Ben and Kate, the two English mates I met in Rio. We enjoyed a glorious day at the beach and took a sunset boat ride back to our hostel. That night the owner of the hostels decided to get a DJ and turned the two packed hostels into a club. While we were there the island had a fair in the main part of town to celebrate the spring harvest festival. There were stalls selling any and all the treats then you could imagine, outdoor bars, live bands and it seemed all the people that lived on the small island were out to party.
We wanted to take advantage of the beautiful day so we grabbed some kayaks and paddled out to explore some of the more remote beaches on the island. While kayaking, Ben decided we needed some music so he set up his iPod speakers on his kayak and we paddled our way jamin' to good tunes. After ansuccessful attempt to find a waterfall we were told about we landed on a small deserted beach nearby what we thought was a hotel. We were all by ourselves and walked up to the hotel to buy a drink when we are told by one of the many workers that this place is not a hotel but a huge house. This resort had five employees running around, a grand buffet spread full of fresh fruit, drinks, and other snacks- where was the owner who lives in this amazing house??! After sometime we suddenly saw a helicopter flying over head and land on the yard of the house. Clearly the owner or the resort had arrived. We watched in awe as a young waiter sprinted out with a tray full of drinks and the owner showed someone around the property, spending about an hour at the place before getting into the helicopter and he was off on his way. Now that is the life for me.

After a couple more days on Isla Grande I was off to the south of Brazil to enjoy my last few days of this trip.