Pousada Marendaz Paraty

Day 10 - Didn´t feel great getting up in the morning, but decided to leave the island and head to the colonial town of Paraty. I sort of ***** around until the ferry back at 5pm, mainly as i had packed everything by noon. Got a bit of lunch with Julian and then read for an hour, having a beer on the beach. Would certainly recommend Ilha Grande for a couple of days if you are around Rio, lovely change and plenty of activities ...

... and I raid the pousade kitchen for ice and limes and make up a round of cocktails to kickstart the night. Our tour guide has been accosted by a former traveller who plies him with 4 bottles of red wine and herself decides to lose her handbag and vomit at dinner. Justine has been the victim of credit card fraud - we are all weeping tears of sympathy of course....so all in all an episode filled evening. Back at the same bar, we take in a couple of ...

... time. It took 2 hours to get there climbing up and down hills, so it was a decent exercise and we decided to take the boat back... *lol*
We were gonna take it easy the next day and did a little cultural hike. When we were halfway there was a sign saying there would be a waterfall and a beach if you get off the main trail for just 20 minutes or so we thought.. Well we got to the so called waterfall about 50 minutes of climbing later and were pretty disappointed ...

PARATY is a pretty colonial town which has a Jamaican touch of whitewash colour to it. There are pink, blue and green painted houses. The old town stands on cobbled streets and there`s a laid-back, chilled but actively happy atmosphere about it.
We were fortunate enough to be there at the time of the festival. It was the festival of a local Saint…and God firgive me but I`ve forgotten who now! On our first night we went down and checked out all the food stalls that had been set up ...

... chips, salad, rice, beans and barbecued fish. It was really good. Then we made our way back in the reverse, this time we took a signed shortcut, that cout our journey by 30 mins, still when we made it backed we were completly soaked, part of us thinking was it really worth it! We also went on a boat trip, on our final day in Ilha Grande, we woke up to see that it was finally sunny, so decided to make the most of it, and visit the nearby islands, lagoons and beaches ...

... rejoins un groupe de 3 Argentines qui peinaient quelque peu. Il faut dire que ces 3 señoras An Catalina et Sylvia, originaire de La Plata prés de Buenos Aires, n'étaient plus si jeunes. Pour la 1ère fois de mon voyage j'ai l'occasion de parler espagnol ! Je continue mon chemin avec elles et nous arrivons sur la Praia do Sono oú elles m'invitent à boire le "mate", le thé typique argentin qui se boit avec une sorte de paille filtrante. Je passe une ...

... the bus seats next to the locals. Mmm. We found it funny after we'd caught our breath and not nearly died of indigestion. And to help our digestion further we had the grand prix bus driver who clearly wanted to get back for something, and managed to clear the journey in 20 minutes rather than the hour it took us on the way. Dinner ended up being beers round the pool and we went to sleep happy and sun-kissed, ready for the next part of the adventure to Rio.

... Woeu aber Maentig isch xi het so zimlech aus wo mae het choenne ga aaluege zue gha! Tja. So, morn hei mr uesi letschti Boesfahrt vo derae Tour, 5h nach Rio de Janeiro! Wirde morn de grad nach dr Aakunft e Citytour mache und de am Fritigmorge bis i a Flughafe muess ar Copacabana lige, Caipirinha trinke, Beach Volley schpile und d Uusicht gniesse (...) Am fuef ab Sibni am Abe geit de mi Flug, zruegg nach Madrid und de witer nach Zueri! (Aankunft am Samschtigabe am 22:05) Bis denn! Simon