Ilha Grande, Brazil

I don't need to translate that, do I?

We're aboard ship now, and have left the city of Rio de Janeiro, but are still in the state of Rio de Janeiro --- RdJ is both a state and a city. Brazil has 26 states and one administrative territory.

Pristine Atlantic rainforest sweeps down the hills to the beaches. Everything is green, and humid. We've been lucky with the weather but some rain is now tracking south.

Ilha Grande is an island to the south-west of Rio the city. It's a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Note that the cruise ship you can see at the start of the video is *not* our cruise ship. That great behemoth is an MSC vessel, with 5000 passengers. We are more elegant, with only 630 passengers.

All the land on Ilha Grande is protected from development, other than in the town called Vila do Abraão, where buildings up to two storeys can be constructed only to a distance of around 100 metres from the water. It has a 155 km hiking trail that goes around the island; you need at least a week to do it.

Ilha Grande is a holiday island and a popular weekend escape for Cariocas (residents of Rio de Janeiro). It’s a relatively short trip from the capital by road, then a regular ferry crossing to the island. Of course we just hopped off the ship (by tender) to explore the island. There are only 20 vehicles on the island. These are all government vehicles, including a tractor, a rubbish truck and two police vehicles. Here are the boys in blue on Ilha Grande. That's the extent of the police force.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Ilha Grande was used as a quarantine station for immigrants to this part of Brazil. Cholera and yellow fever were rife, so disembarking passengers from Europe had to spend two weeks on this island in the quarantine facility. (Been there, done that.) When vaccination emerged against these diseases, in the mid 20th century, the facility on this island became a jail for political prisoners. The best (revolutionary) minds in the country were incarcerated here. Then, apparently, the government decided to send hardened criminals to the same prison. The result? As our guide said, ‘brains plus brawn’ created the biggest criminal enterprise in Brazil, Comando Vermelho (Red Command), which continues today.

The patron saint of the Rio de Janeiro state is Saint Sebastian, whom I describe as the perforated martyr. I needed to refresh the reason for his sainthood; apparently he was shot full of arrows ('like a hedgehog' says the source) but survived only to be cudgelled to death later on. Here’s the local church, with gorgeous flowers in homage to the patron.

We are now in pirate territory. In the early 18th century French and English pirates were ravaging the Brazilian coastline, attacking merchant ships, sacking towns and taking booty. Ilha Grande has a permanent water source, a natural spring high up in the hills of the island, so the island became extremely attractive to marauding pirates. The pirate narrative will continue as we continue to sail down the coast, so remember this snippet of history.

We walked up to the old aqueduct, which is still standing, that carried water from the spring to the town. It was constructed with local stones cemented together by crushed seashells, coconut husks and whale fat. Yes, this is a whale migration route, so the inhabitants could hunt whales on their doorstep.

One needs sharp weapons to hunt whales --- it's believed that the rocks in the photo below were whetstones. The theory is that thousands of years ago, Neolithic people used these rocks on the island to sharpen their tools, leaving these depressions in the rock. This can't be proved or disproved, as there's no organic material that can be used to date the site, but it's a good story.

Like the rainforest, the sea around the island is also protected. We had an afternoon snorkelling in the Lagoa Azul, the Blue Lagoon, travelling by schooner. The water temperature was great, about 25 degrees C. Ken saw a fellow traveller in trouble in water, so performed a heroic rescue while I yelled (from the water) at the crew for help. All's well that ends well, with a very grateful elderly American man, but we were surprised at the nonchalant attitude of the crew and their non-surveillance. You'd think that with a boat-full of older people (surprise!) there'd be better monitoring of the swimmers.

Our journey continues down the coast of Brazil. Most of the ports we visit are tender ports, as the water is too shallow for the ship to dock. So we have become very adept at hopping on and off tenders --- although one passenger on this trip (sorry) mis-stepped and got his leg firmly stuck between the tender and the ship's gangway, and had to be hauled out by two beefy sailors. Never a dull moment.

Next: Paraty and Santos, two more Brazilian ports