defining island time

📍Ilha Grande📍

This week I realized the true meaning of “island time.” I woke up when the sun shining through the curtains and the sound of the birds chirping woke me up and from there I went straight to the beach. I got food when I was hungry and took a dip in the ocean whenever I felt like it. After watching the beautiful display of colors as the sun set, I would finally go inside when the bugs came out. From there I showered off the salt and sand and went to dinner in linen clothes. Island time is really just not having a clue what time it is and following the flow of nature and the cycle of the sun.

Carnival went all night, and so did we. This means that when our bus arrived at 6 AM to take us to the coast outside of Rio we somehow had all fallen asleep. We were awoken by a friend and frantically packed up all our stuff, threw it in a van, and headed towards Angra dos Reis. I woke up periodically on this bus ride and every time I was amazed by the colorful towns and vibrant green jungle along the coast. We took a boat to Ihla Grande, personally, I hadn’t done much research on where we were staying but we arrived at a very run-down, yet beautiful sleepy island.

We asked our hotel owner about his favorite restaurant and we went directly there. After eating Argentine food for 4 months, I am loving Brazilian cuisine and fresh seafood. Nayeli and I couldn't help ourselves any longer, we quickly got in the water at the closest beach we saw but then we took a little trail around the coast and through the rocks stopping at every bit of open beach. We stopped to swim in a cute little quiet cove for a while. The water here is crystal clear and the way the water glistens is so inviting. We see rows and layers of blue mountainous islands. It seemed like a painting with how many shades of blue and layers were presented. The sailboats all floated happily in the sun in front of this beautiful landscape. We decided to take the trail a little further and we arrived at a little grassy patch leaning over the ocean, perfect for two. We had to move two palm frawns to make room for our towels at this perfect spot. The clear blue water lightly crashed up against the rocks under us, creating the best atmosphere for a nap. When we woke up the sun was setting behind the jungle and creating the most beautiful orange landscape over the sailboats. We took a dive in the inviting water and then we walked to have merienda on the swings over the sand.

The following day we rented snorkeling gear for $1 and got on a boat that would take us around the island. The first stop was at a small, private, uninhabited, remote island that was insanely beautiful. We were obviously the first to jump off the front of the boat because we couldn’t contain our excitement to be in the water. We put on our snorkels and started swimming around the island, we were followed by many types of fish and we hunted sand dollars. We swam over to a rocky area and got up on the island to admire the water around us and the jungle behind us. There were coconuts floating in the water and not a house in sight. Just us, our boat, and all the sea life. When we got back on the boat the captain served us fresh melon and pineapple, I have never had such incredible fruit. The weather was perfect for this boat tour and I spent the majority of the time looking off the boat in awe of the creation around me, it never ceases to amaze me. Our captain brought us freshly picked and thinly sliced melon and pineapple to snack on before our next stop. The next place we stopped at was a beachy area so we jumped off the boat and swam to shore. On the way to the shore, Nayeli found a sand dollar which we deemed as good luck. Our captain threw pool noodles at us and we floated around this beach in peace.

The next stop was lunch. Neither I nor Nayeli speaks Portuguese so we ordered something not knowing what it would be when we got to the restaurant they served us shrimp empanadas, Brazilian style. We decided to walk along the beach and we ran into two açaí stands, so we got one of each. Açaí is native to Brazil which makes it really fresh and really cheap, this is why we get it 3 times every day. We walked back to the dock where we were dropped off and the children were just getting home on their school “boat.” I can't help but imagine a life where you get to school by boat. It may sound luxurious but it is actually a pretty poverty-driven area. The kids were jumping off the dock and having a flip contest. Even though we could barely communicate, we joined their contest and had the whole dock chanting for us. The clouds started to roll in so in fear of a storm they took us back to Abraao.

We showered and then went to dinner on the beach, they served skewers of all types of meat, fish, and vegetables. Nayeli and I have a fun habit of forcing people to be the main characters in our story, we often eavesdrop and see what language they speak to see if we are able to communicate with them before we introduce ourselves. We saw two guys who looked foreign but they sat too far away to tell what language they were speaking, but we knew they had good vibes. They’ll fall into their roles tomorrow.

Me and Nayeli never really have a plan, I think that's the magic of our friendship. Every day we walk to the beach and decide how we will spend our day by the hour. Today, we walk to the beach and are immediately swarmed by boat drivers offering to take us to other parts of the island. Every time we take a step toward the beach they have a panic attack and scream at us in Portuguese. We finally decide on a boat and get on it without knowing where they're even taking us because, again, we don't know Portuguese. Our boat driver wants us to get on first, and sit next to him by the wheel. Anyways, we arrive at another part of the island, just as beautiful as the rest but nothing more special. We wander around the island for a little through rocks, bamboo, and lots of bugs. We quickly realize that we have lost everyone on our boat and then our boat driver sees us and whistles at us, pointing in another direction. We decide to go in the direction he pointed, even though we were happy just adventuring in our flip-flops. We take the trail ahead and it starts to get a little hard. It's through the thick of the jungle, it's hot, and it's a 98% humidity rate. We stop because we see little chico monkey things that were precious. They just stared back at us as we stare at them. We continue to walk this trail wondering what our destination is supposed to be when we run into our waiter from the previous night. He is caring camping gear and sweating profusely so we ask him where we’re supposed to be going and if we’re prepared because he looks like he's been hiking for hours. In our oblivion, we ask what is at the end of this hike. He looks at us in a daze, almost confused about why we’re asking these questions or why we don’t know where we are. Once we got to the end of the trail we realize why he looked at us like this. What was lost in the Portuguese translation was that this is one of the nicest beaches in Brazil and arguably the world. The jungle opened up and we see white light which turns into white sand and clear water. After 30 minutes of hiking through the jungle in our Birkenstocks, we arrive at the most beautiful beach I have ever seen in my life. The waves were huge long breaks that tunneled over and the only business on this beach was surfboard rentals. Pictures or words would never do this beach justice. I have never been this in awe of a place. The last time I saw water this blue, I was at the glaciers in Patagonia which is an entirely different kind of beauty. We put our stuff down and went swimming and spent hours basking in the glory of this mysterious place. After braving the massive waves for a while we went to the beach and conked out, we woke up to the guys that we deemed as main characters on the towels to our right. We watched them play soccer for a little before their ball came over to me so I kicked it back and he said “thank you” which was such a relief that he *might* speak English. When we arrived back at the starting place where the boat dropped us off we realized that the same two guys were on our boat back so we finally decided to approach them and asked if they spoke Spanish or English. In which they answered “both.” We did a quick fill-in of how we ended up here and the first thing that the blonde one asked me was “what have you learned about yourself since starting this trip?” I was taken aback. I didn't know his name and yet he asked me such a great question was the confirmation that he had good vibes. The boat got too loud on the open water so he politely said “as I was starting to enjoy our conversation” and turned around.

When we arrive back at our port they waited on us to hop off the little taxi boat and asked what our plans were for the evening. We confirmed that we had none and they requested we go get food. We walk to the cutest bar/cafe on the beach and ordered fruit juices. We passed them around trying to guess what ingredients were in them. Once we tried every juice at the little shack, the brunette suggested we move on to the next place, which matched my energy perfectly because I always suggest we try dessert from different places. We learn their names and listen to their stories that inspire us. The blondie is from Germany, the brunette is from Italy, and they met at grad school in Portugal. They're here in Brazil for a friend's wedding, what a great place to celebrate. We arrive at the next restaurant on the beach and they request that we sit on the beach by the waves, the waitress looks at us like we're insane. She asks if we’re serious and we all four at the same time agree, "yeah of course." They brought us our drinks on a little small table to accompany us under our tree. The fruit from the tree kept falling around us and we thought it was the funniest thing dodging these mysterious falling fruits. Nayeli and I have never met anyone who has met our energy so perfectly since we tend to have no concept of time, just want to swim, look a the sky, and eat good food. Somehow they managed to convince us to do a hike at midnight with them to the sunrise summit. The thought process went through so many obstacles but we finally decided it would be worth it to fulfill the YOLO mentality that they reminded us of. We waited in the town square for them and they ended up sleeping through their alarms which we could’ve expected because they said, “late people give positive vibes.” Regardless of them bailing on the hike, meeting them was such a blessing, these two random men that we met on the little island will stay on my list of all-time favorite humans. They had no ill intentions just genuine wholesome good energy, that radiated through wanting to have smoothies on the beach under the stars and falling fruit.

It was a blessing that we didn't go on this hike because the 10:00 AM boat we had banked on, canceled on us last minute and we wouldn't have made the only other boat at 9 AM had we gone on the hike. We took the boat back to the mainland and said goodbye to the unbelievable scenery of the blue water, colorful landscapes, and mountainous island. We arrived in Angra dos Reis which greeted us as a lively vibrant port town. As I said goodbye to Nayeli in the port I was reminded that what could be considered slight inconveniences are really just blessings in disguise. If Nayeli’s friend got on her flight like expected we wouldn't have been together in Rio for Carnival, a shared dream of ours. We also wouldn’t have ended up staying together in Ilha Grande because I had an Airbnb on the other side of the island, only accessed by boat. Nay and I really needed quality time together back in our island girl element. We had the best week together because of little inconveniences and I couldn’t be more grateful for them.

We, unfortunately, had to split at the port because Nayeli heads back to Rio and I am headed to São Paulo to catch a flight to Lima, Peru. I woke up from a nap on the bus to São Paulo while we were driving over a bridge. The sun was setting, creating a light pink sky with a few blue rain clouds that were dispersing and a little rainbow over rows of lush green mountains. These few seconds of beauty before entering a tunnel were such a great way to conclude the week in Brazil. Next up, Peru!