Ilha do Mel - February 29th
Today we are off to Ilha do Mel, or Honey Island, which lies
just off the coast of Parana state in the mouth of the Paranagua river. While the destination sounds good, the way we
are getting there is just as interesting.
We are getting the train from Curitiba to a town called Morrentes, from
where we will get a bus to Paranagua, and then a boat to the island. We could get a bus and a shorter ferry ride,
but the train ride is the most spectacular in Brazil, or so the local tourist
board says.
After an early breakfast and checkout, we go to the station
which conveniently is located beside the bus station. The train pulls out at 08:15 on schedule and
we set off. For the first hour we are
not too impressed, the train snakes its way out of Curitiba and our main sight
seems to be the busses for which it is famous (Curitiba has as part of its
famous bus system, the largest busses in the world, with a capacity of about
280 people, in a big bendy bus on dedicated express lanes, and it must work
because they are all packed). After a
while though we leave the city and the journey starts to get interesting. We are descending 850m to sea level and are
going through the Serra do Mar mountains, the mountain range that lines this
part of the Brazilian coast. There are
12 tunnels, dozens of bridges, and a section that just seems to be hanging on
to the side of the hill with a great view across the valley and down to the
see. It is an amazing journey, and lives
up to its name, the Serra Verde Express, because we definitely get to see many
mountains and they are all green. The
train journey is punctuated by stops as we allow massive goods trains to go in
the other direction. These all appear to
carry maize and soya beans and need 4 locomotives to get up the gradient. This results in our train being half an hour
late, but this is one train that nobody complains about if it takes too long.
After this we take an hour transfer to Paranagua, a large
port at the mouth of the river, although we only see the old town thankfully. From here we get a ferry to the island,
although confusing schedules mean we end up sitting on the dockside for a
couple of hours first. It’s not too bad
though as the view is wonderful. The
ferry journey itself is about 90 minutes, and brings us through mangrove lined
islands out to Ilha Do Mel.
It is a relatively big island, but only 10% is available for
use because the rest is national or state parks. It still leaves about 20km of beaches for us,
and the 500 inhabitants, and judging by the fact that half the hotels are
closed, we are likely to have a lot of space to ourselves. One of the advantages of travelling in Brazil
after Carnival is that it is low season.
Once we have checked in we take a walk to one of the beaches before exploring
the village (which takes about two minutes) and having a very big helping of a local fish
stew meal for dinner.
Today we are off to Ilha do Mel, or Honey Island, which lies
just off the coast of Parana state in the mouth of the Paranagua river. While the destination sounds good, the way we
are getting there is just as interesting.
We are getting the train from Curitiba to a town called Morrentes, from
where we will get a bus to Paranagua, and then a boat to the island. We could get a bus and a shorter ferry ride,
but the train ride is the most spectacular in Brazil, or so the local tourist
board says.
After an early breakfast and checkout, we go to the station
which conveniently is located beside the bus station. The train pulls out at 08:15 on schedule and
we set off. For the first hour we are
not too impressed, the train snakes its way out of Curitiba and our main sight
seems to be the busses for which it is famous (Curitiba has as part of its
famous bus system, the largest busses in the world, with a capacity of about
280 people, in a big bendy bus on dedicated express lanes, and it must work
because they are all packed). After a
while though we leave the city and the journey starts to get interesting. We are descending 850m to sea level and are
going through the Serra do Mar mountains, the mountain range that lines this
part of the Brazilian coast. There are
12 tunnels, dozens of bridges, and a section that just seems to be hanging on
to the side of the hill with a great view across the valley and down to the
see. It is an amazing journey, and lives
up to its name, the Serra Verde Express, because we definitely get to see many
mountains and they are all green. The
train journey is punctuated by stops as we allow massive goods trains to go in
the other direction. These all appear to
carry maize and soya beans and need 4 locomotives to get up the gradient. This results in our train being half an hour
late, but this is one train that nobody complains about if it takes too long.
After this we take an hour transfer to Paranagua, a large
port at the mouth of the river, although we only see the old town thankfully. From here we get a ferry to the island,
although confusing schedules mean we end up sitting on the dockside for a
couple of hours first. It’s not too bad
though as the view is wonderful. The
ferry journey itself is about 90 minutes, and brings us through mangrove lined
islands out to Ilha Do Mel. 
It is a relatively big island, but only 10% is available for
use because the rest is national or state parks. It still leaves about 20km of beaches for us,
and the 500 inhabitants, and judging by the fact that half the hotels are
closed, we are likely to have a lot of space to ourselves. One of the advantages of travelling in Brazil
after Carnival is that it is low season.
Once we have checked in we take a walk to one of the beaches before exploring
the village (which takes about two minutes) and having a very big helping of a local fish
stew meal for dinner.
No comments:
Post a Comment