The Death Train

We wake early and grab a bit of brekkie before catching the early train. The station is mental and I can't believe we are going to get on the train, but after a long wait we board and before we know it the train is chugging out of Curitiba. The journey will take 3-4 hours but we are in Brazil so it will be at least 4. As we are leaving the city there are people on the side of the track waving and probably taking the mickey out of the gringos but I am more than happy to wave back and as I hang my head out of the window an older guy spits straight in my face... I swear that if I hadn't been so shocked I would have spat back at him. Sarah and Marseille are also on the train and a short while in join us. We are handed out a small picnic and then happily join the guys with a flask of vodka and orange, really .....???? Its 9 oclock in the morning and i am drinking vodka. What has happened to me? The train journey is not as good as i had expected it to be , there are a couple of really great views along the way, but with good company everything is ok. We attempt to have a cigarette on the train but the conducter tells us it is dangerous to do this because of the snakes and monkeys lol. We all laugh togetheer about the anti smoking snakes that might get us, but on numerous occasions we attemp to have a sneaky one but always getting caught. We finally arrive at morretes and have an hour to kill before our bus to parangua. We grab some more beers and sit under a tree in the shade. A guy has told us that our bus leaves at 2.40 so we take it easy and head back to the station at 2.30 just as we arrive the bus is pulling out. I don't panic as nothing leaves on time here let alone early, but when I go to the kiosk and ask , yes that was our bus -the guy had told us the wrong time . I turn into a complete stress head and Mark laughs that the guy who told us the wrong time has a boat that he's now going to charge the earth for lol. Another hour later and the bus pulls in, mark and I have to stand with our rucksacks and they have a turnstile as more people get the bus were literally knocking people over or standing on their feet, yet again the locals hate the gringos. We arrive to the boat where I find out we now have a 2 hour journey to the island. (EITHER THIS BOAT GOES BLOODY SLOW OR THE ISLAND IS MILES AWAY) There is a huge storm above us and we're in for a bumpy ride but as we get dropped off on the pontoon I realise the effort was worth it. Ihla de mel has no cars or bikes and you can even smell the tranquility in the air. I love it and decide we will alter our plans and stay here a few days (will we ever leave Brasil ?We arrive to the hostel at about 6 and literally grab a shower change and head out to the communal area. We get chatting to some really nice Brazilian people and they invite us to head out to the cove with them .Its a 20 min walk and they are well equipped with a torch , walking along the beach at night listening to the waves crash in gives me such a feeling of calmness, and when we arrive to the cove it is still quite light. This place is huge and inside a candle flickers at something similar to a shrine. A little creepy but also breathtaking. After a while here and several photos we make the walk back , one of the guys says look and before we blink mark has stood on the crab they were trying to show us, marks new name is now the crab killer, stopping at the local bar, literally only having one as we have been invited back to party here later. Arriving back at the hostel Diego and Morrella invite us to join them in a drink. They get a saucepan from the kitchen slice the pineapple throw in some sugar chop in some limes , give it a smash about top up with rum ad we play pass the saucepan. There is something quite strange about drinking from a saucepan but I quite like it!!!! Well the process was repeated until we'd got through a bottle of cacacha a bottle of vodka and half a bottle of rum. I am afraid to say at 2am I did my little shuffle to the toilet and never came back.Read more