Readers' travel with a Beach holiday

          IIha Grande's only town in Abraao. It is an assortment of low-level buildings scattered beneath the foliage-choked peak of 982m Bico Do Papagaio . It's also known as Parrot's Peak. The streets were rivers when we disembarked, and we walked to our pousada ankle-deep in muddy water streaming down from the hills. In the shop fronts dripped rainwater curtains, Umbrellas jostled. But the deluge was warm and it is almost blood temperature. The Mata Nativa pousada is a gathering of A-frame huts amid banana, palm and jackfruit trees. Each hut has a hammock to string across its front, but we sheltered inside and listened to the hammering rain as darkness fell. The might have felt bedraggles and morose, but we were excited. This was tropical, apocalyptic rain. Our shelter was warm and dry. Dawn came with chirrups, cries, whistles, rattles, sirens, warbles, and chatters, the forest alive after the downpour. About 10 inches of rain had fallen overnight. Breakfast in the big wooden hut was the usual brazilian fare is cakes, crackers, cereal, sliced meat and cheese. It's the fruit that's unbelievable is mangoes, pineapple, passion fruit, papaya and the remarkable guava that make their relatives in British supermarkets look pale and sickly in comparison.
                               The Island is a protected area, most of it part of the IIha Grande nature reserve. In that beach, there are no cars, no ATMs, intermittent internet access and phone signals and occasionally no electricity also. Tourism only began here in the 1990s and development remains slight. At least for now, but for the how long given  the island has 193 sq.km of pristine Atlantic rainforest fringed by wild beaches and criss-crossed by 150 km of jungle pathways. A waterfall is a good place to cool off ans soothe any bites. After dark for the day, the cobbled streets  of the centre offera low-key night out. Live music seems to come from every bar aand the kilo restaurants do a good trade. At these, you select what you want from a buffet and pay by weight. We went to the Biergarten restaurant, where the selection included good fish, meat, salads and desserts that encouraged us to pile the plates high and finish them with gut-busting gusto. It was also in Abraao that we first experienced cakemobiles, large wheeled boxes with a perspex lid, containing about 10 different desserts. Cakes of heart-seizing calorie content, made variously with syrup, coconut, chocolate, nuts and sponge. Prince among them must be the brigadeiro, a ball of choclate fondant covered in chocolate sprinkles.Exerting its own gravity, this oozing chocoholic bomb melts on the tongue. At least for now, but for how long given the island has 193 sq km of pristine Atlantic rainforest fringed by wild beachees and criss-crossed by 150 km of jungle pathways.