Introduction
We arrived the 02 January 2020 at our friends in Joinville. After they picked us up from the bus terminal we went to their house and chill there all afternoon and evening.
We had planned with them 3 nights out in Ilha do Cardoso, a secluded island near the national park.
We will never be thankful enough to them for the amazing time we had with them in Brazil and everything they did for us. Sab, Rod, Obrigado. Looking to see you in France 😊
Table of Contents
Getting to Ilha do Cardoso - Road & boat trip
The 03rd, after waking up at 5am to get breakfast ready and prepared our lunch, we left around 6h30 from Joinville to Cananéia by car. Along the way we made 2 stops to stretch a bit and used toilets. We arrived around 12h30 at Cananéia. It was a pleasant road trip where we got to chat a lot with our friend and discover at first hand the road of Brazil. One thing is that truck drivers are driving like crazy and we saw two truck that crashed and where on their side.
First, when we arrived, we first meet our friend’s cousin and boyfriend, so we were 3 couples.
Second our friends had already organised an accommodation and by doing so they received the contact of a parking area to leave the car for 4 days and a speedboat to bring us to the island.
The speedboat to reach the island took around 50min. There is also a cheapest way to get there is by ferry, but it would take 4h. So, we went for the speedboat and reserve one for noon. As we were late, our friends reschedule it on the way for a bit later. Another tip is that we used Cananéia as our departure port but if Paranagua could also worked.
We weren’t sure that we will have a supermarket on the island, so we first did some grocery in Cananéia. Which was a good thing because on the island the options were limited.
Then, we took the speedboat around 13h30 and arrived one hour or so later. The boat ride was super cool, the nature and landscape of this area are amazing. We even saw red bird flying around and dolphin jumping from the sea.
The weather this day was rainy, so we had from time to time shower on the speedboat. Also, it was quite windy on it, but we got ourselves protected with a huge plastic cover. It was lots of fun.
Accommodation in Ilha do Cardoso
We had booked a guesthouse called “Pousada de Debora” which was apparently really great. When we arrived, well, let’s say the pictures we saw must have been quite old. As the place was really used and a good maintenance wouldn’t do any harm here. But anyway, we were lucky and had the main place in the house with the kitchen for ourselves and 2 rooms. One with a double bed a 1 bunk bed that we got and one with 3 bunk beds. Each of the room had a shower and a WC.
First day around Ilha do Cardoso
Once we set up, dropped our bags, changed clothes for the beach, we went out to discover the island. After 5min, it started raining! As we weren’t too far, we headed back to the guesthouse and when it stops a few minute later we went back on.
We first encountered a little church and then the beach. We explored the left side of the long sandy beach and went all the way till we couldn’t no more for a good one hour.
Along the way, we had heavy rain and ultimately, we all ended up completely wet. At first, it was on our back and was some 5 to 10min rain showers. But on the way back, it was against us and we would take the rain on our face. At a point the rain wouldn’t stop. The landscape was gorgeous when we were able to open our eyes to see where we would step.
The return was bit long and cold but, in the end, that was the first time we walked under such a heavy rain. We tried to make a small video, but the rain was too strong that it was impossible to out the phone.
Positive point is that it allows us to prove that Tina’s daypack was really waterproof as our stuff didn’t get wet.
Back at the accommodation, we were all looking for a good shower and we would apparently have hot water. We went to our shower and discovered that there were 4 valves? hUhuh? How are you making this thing work? After a while checking out with our friends, we went to ask the owner and ultimately figure out that there is a combo of 2 and 2 valves. One for the cold water and the hot water from a boiler, the other for cold water and hot water from the solar panel heating system. Well it worked for 5min after what it became cold.
The other shower worked better, most probably as it has the boiler directly in it, but the funny thing was that it was made with 2 showers hahaha.
Those are probably the funniest shower we’ve ever seen.
To keep warmed up, we made coffee and enjoyed some bananas and snacks before going to rest.
First night in Ilha do Cardoso
Later, at night we decided to make some food but at this time, we water wasn’t working properly so we went outside to see if we could still find something to eat. Some of our friends are vegan so we tried a few places, but the only possible outcome was a 30 reals buffet. But that didn’t really look that yummy.
We ended asking from place to place where we could find food. We bought some bottles of water along the way and ended up finding a bar that was also a market. We bought some tomato sauce there decided to go back to the house and try to cook pasta.
Fortunately, the water was back on and we all started to prepare the sauce, cutting onions, washing broccoli and so on. At 22h30 we succeeded in making some delicious pasta.
“A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes
