BraZish Paraty

We left the island and headed down the coast to Paraty, which is a really quaint old town which used to be one of the biggest Ports in Brazil - but its now really quiet and doesn't seem to have changed in a few hundred years! On our first full day here there was a thunderstorm brewing, but me and Dave (the Aussie guy) decided we hire some bikes anyway and we biked 10km ...

... to this very spot as he just couldn´t get enough. I think we´ve done well yet again, were especailly spolit with the weather today as places like this are all so dependant on the sunhine. It is forecast to drop in tempure and rain tomorrow but be warmer down south so its obvioulsy time to think about moving on again. Might have to look out at the sky tomorrow first as it is so nice here it might be hard to leave.   <br><br>Until the next stop<br>Ciao from us<br><br>Ian 

... loud volumes - of course Michael Jackson being the order of the day. So Katia displayed her dancing skills some more. <br><br>The hardcore scots and myself made our way back to the pousada at about 2 but not before spotting a little bar which looked like it might do the trick. Intending to have a beer, we ended up with a bottle of Malbec and ordering rounds of nibbles - amazing chorizo, cheese chips. We lambasted the charming local owner for his lack ...

... and gigantic boxed starfish. It was also good to practice, I was a little rusty with my breathing and buoyancy, and we had a nice hour-long dive. That evening, we relaxed in our room and Mary watched Scarface for the first time.<br><br>On June 20, we went diving for real. The boat worked, the sun was out for most of the day, and we would dive our first shipwreck. The wreck was the Pinguino, which was a commercial ship carrying flammable palm wax from Panama to ...

... The boat was expensive but the snorkling equipment was very cheap!<br><br>I particularly loved the full breakfasts as we sat on our balcony watching the prawn fisherman in their canoes using basic nets. <br><br>Our lesson for Paraty - we should have spent more time here and at Isle Grande so we will have to come back in summer.<br><br>

... dreaded R word I´d say is having that effect although they are not in a recession here in Brazil. The breakfast was huge, lovely scrambled eggs, bread, cheese, yoghurt drink, lime drink, fruit and nice cake so it filled us up lovely! They had bikes in the Pousada which we could borrow so off we went exploring!<br><br>The town is really laid back - loads of people cycling around and on mopeds. We cycled into the town and went to the old part which was lovely - it ...

... although today we did manage to go the the waterfalls for a spot of swimming and cliff diving. the group is a good mix of you and old(me) and we all seam tyo get along with each other. That may not be the case after 46 nights but we will give it a go. Tomorrow we are off to our next stop, another campsite in Brazil.

... Someone hand writted numbers on them, starting from 12 in the one more down-hill. This way you get an aproximate idea of how much climbing you still have in front of you.<br><br>I am gonna be a bit arrogant here to tell you ...

... naturally assumed we had arrived in Sao Paolo and grabbed our bags dashing off to find a connecting bus to Paraty. We started to become alarmed when we noticed in the ticketing area that most bus services offered Sao Paolo as a destination which seemed strange as weren't we in Sao Paolo??? After locating an information desk the harsh realization was upon us that we had disembarked our bus a little early.... Sao Paolo was still an hour away and we were in some place ...

... to stay out and play but no-one was up for it. The Island was gearing up for the weekend and there were more people about and the energy was building and I really wanted to stay and enjoy the atmosphere as a young single lady. I have really really enjoyed the company of the group,they have been TOPS, however as a group of mainly couples, they don't have the same desire that I do to go out and meet new people especially boys and a girl needs a wing woman or a wing man, so ...