23. Ilhabela, Brazil

Ilhabela, Brazil          Hot, humid weather.  

It’s the Friday before Carnival arrives in 2018…. anticipation is high

This Island is very close to Rio de Janeiro, our next and main stop. The Island would not exist if it were not for tourism. We tendered with a small boat from the ship to the pier and it was terrible. 

Tenders

The organization of the tenders and the crew’s helpfulness left a lot to be desired. It took us 90 minutes to leave the ship and land ashore. Passengers were fuming; the incompetence of the crew was obvious. 

We were told that a ‘medical emergency’ had to get off the ship first and then some person fell getting into a tender and had to be seen by the Doctor. Yet I have a hard time believing that with 4 tenders’ running back and forth this would take an hour and a half. Well, maybe I am cruel in judging the crew, but the return trip proved me right, the crew had no experience with their shuttle tenders.

Very Clean Streets, Lots of Shops

The Island is set up for tourism. The streets are clean, there are stores everywhere, in fact they are packed right next to each other, enticing you to come and shop. They only forgot one thing… the merchandise they offer is boring. I saw very few people actually getting into the shop to buy. We tried finding items we could buy but no such luck. The weather is hot, 88 F and humid.  I guess I get cranky in humid weather.

Pretty Little Church

We visited the church in town, Carol likes churches.

The Black Madonna

Inside the Church

Most people coming off the ship just walked around then looked for a restaurant to sit and eat. And yes, they had restaurants that offer dinners, but this is the middle of the day… there were not that many that just had snacks or just drinks where you could sit and watch the crowd. The outside temps were too hot to sit in the sun; nobody wanted to sit outside at a café style coffee shop in this heat. What people were looking for was an air conditioned place with windows overlooking the outside activities. 

Well, they did not have those.

More Shops

We found a place, after scouring the small town that had A/C and Wi-Fi but it was on a side street, away from the view, away from the main ‘happenings’ of the Island. This place had no view at all.

The Wi-Fi was not working properly, so we just sat, cooled off from our walk through town and window shopping and then decided to call it quits. 

Waiting to Get Back On the Tender, At Least Water Was Offered

We went back in line to get back to the ship. Standing in line was almost as bad as getting off the ship. 45 minutes standing in the sun to board the tender. Long lines of people were herded into walk ways to get back on the ship. For me this made it a bad experience. I do not like the shuffle in a queue line, shuffle forward a little, and then wait, only to shuffle a bit more to wait again. For 45 minutes?

I make a bad tourist.

The sanctuary of the ship appealed to me more than the heat. The A/C on board worked well all over the ship. 

Carol was hopeful of ‘winning’ a give-away at Effy's. She went there whenever she sees a promotion to put a coupon in the box and hoped her name would be drawn. So far she has won an emerald necklace but I am sure it is not worth millions. Or even thousands!

But she was having a good time.

I understand that we are all different…  some folks will absolutely love Ilhabela, it is a weekend getaway for many people from Rio, It‘s just that I might be jaded having seen so many tourist towns. 

Schlock For Sale

Those towns do not seem ‘real’ to me, no real town has so many shops next to each other selling t-shirts, bandanas or plastic toys. It’s not real; it’s not what ‘normal’ towns look like. 

I am now looking forward to Rio, and Carnival……  let’s go there!