Leaving the desert for the humidity

So the following day we returned to Santiago for yet another sleep over before leaving the country. It was a long travel day and somehow the long road in Atacama seemed more beautiful this time. We arrived in the afternoon to Santiago and had an early dinner at an Argentinean steak house. Very generous portions and waiters, we got a shot each before leaving the place. Probably one of the best meals in J's opinion, I also liked it but I think Chupa Libre was more fun. If taking about restaurants in Santiago.

I ordered ONE glass of wine. They are always very generous in Chile. 

Great meat

Anyhows we went to a marketplace near St Lucia and found the similar stuff as we found in San Pedro. Some even more expensive and little room to haggle so we didn't buy anything else but fresh juices.

We had an early flight to Rio taking off around 6:30 am so there was an early night. Despite this early hour you still loose some time because of the different time zones and we also had to get all the way to Ilha Grande. Our paradise island chill stop in the end of travels.

We had booked the transfer a long time ago and been upgraded to a private taxi (from a joined shuttle). So everything went very smooth with the driver meeting us in the arrival hall and getting to Ilha Grande. When arriving at the pier someone told him he was late and grabbed our luggage from the trunk. He placed it inside an agency and we guessed this was the guy we were to go on the ferry with. Our cab driver left quickly having other passengers to attend to.

Inside was two young women working with little to no English speaking abilities. We waited for a while but then tried to find out when we were supposed to leave, we flew with sky and hadn't eaten for many hours. It seemed to be an hour wait and I double checked our voucher where it actually said that we would board the next available ferry. So we waited. Some people came in and got tickets which we hadn't but J did show our voucher and got it confirmed by another in the staff. Or so we thought since she nodded.

When it was time for the ferry to leave we had to drag our luggage out the pier just to be greeted with a guy that wouldn't let us enter the ferry. He said a lot of stuff on Portuguese, knew no English or Spanish and waved somewhere. After a while he took up Google translate and it seemed like we were supposed to be with an agency next to the one where we'd been sitting and waiting. Although we were not quite sure due to really bad communication although he did try. I got extremely upset thinking this was some sort of scam where they look at our voucher and let us wait an hour at the wrong agency. J also had enough and asked what it would cost for them to take us on their ferry. Not what I had in mind but after we reasoned about it, it was the best option. We didn't know the harbour, it's Rio, and we didn't even know if maybe the last ferry that we were supposed to be on had left. Talk about a bad first impression returning to Brazil.

On the brighter side we were greeted by a nice hotel staff at the little Pousada that we stayed at once getting to the island. A kirky sweet little hotel in many colors. After settling in we went straight for dinner and had a typical grilled dish, Picanha.

Pichana. Always a safe choice but a little bit boring without any specific marinade or sauce. 

The heat was striking at the island. 34 degrees and around 88 % humidity when arriving. Still the humidity makes it more bearable than the dry warm air I must say. But yes you stay in the shadow or in the water around here :p

Let's get ready for some beach days

Clouds for the evening, we welcomed them since we hadn't acclimated to the heat yet

Main pier to the left. Cozy restaurants at the water.