Pousada Laguna Blue De Paraty

Paraty is another old colonial town - originally the port for gold mined in Ouro Preto on its way to Europe. The cobbled streets are paved wiht huge irregular stones making walking along tem rather hazardous to ankles. Cars are not allowed in the old town (or maybe the suspension is destroyed too fast) so its just bouncing lurching bicycles, and ponies pulling carts - one of them ...

... hiking somewhere, since what´s a rainforest without rain -- just a forest I guess, and we already have those in California. We join up with another American -- Matt -- and the three of us head to the farthest, reasonable destination we can reach from our location. Matt has already visited the famed Lopez Mendez beach, so we head to a more obscure, rocky-outcropped beach -- and as we discover much more narrow and natural path to get there ...

... surroundings, consisting of one to two story colonial buildings, painted in light tones and highlighted by bright colored window trim, which front cobblestone streets. After early economic success in the 1700´s as the primary regional export port for gold to Rio de Janeiro, Paraty has stumbled through a few other sporadic periods of economic prosperity, one based on coffee in the early 1800´s, another on cachaca production in ...

... bus to Sao Paulo and then on to Iguazu Falls in the evening on an overnight bus that takes about 18 hours or so.. And that will already be the end of our Brazil trip as we will be staying on the Argentinian side.<br><br>All in all, Brazil is a really cool place from what we ve seen which isnt actually that much, the people were really friendly, food was great, the beaches amazing and the weather fantastic apart from today.<br>

... seriously my bum and arms have taken the brunt of this exercise!! We got up to another lovely breakfast (not as nice though this time as there was another couple in the pousada so we didnt get table service this morning!) We lazed around for the morning chatting to David and his wife Jimena - David is originally from Arizona but his wife is Brazilian. They are really nice and giving us tips on where to go. We hung out in hammocks and comfy chairs ...

... se regleze presiunea si sa-ti pocneasca timpanele, altfel iti pocneau de tot. Pana la urma am reusit, Cristina chiar inaintea mea. Ne-am scufundat la 12 m, dar parea imens, pana am ajuns la fund a parut o vesnicie.Ce am vazut nu pot sa descriu, dar avem ceva poze. Este uimitor sa pui mana pe stele, pesti, crabi si alte minunatii. Fiecare ne-am scufundat cu un istructor, eu - cu Leonardo, Cris cu profesorul (care nu erea deloc de lepadat, si mai trebuia ...

... the first day before setting sail and honestly, it was lucky we had our shades on as during the Captains welcome-on-board speech, our eyes were rolling in the back of our heads and 10 minutes later we were out like a light even missing the call for dinner ( I dont think Reemah or I have EVER missed a meal!!) Sad to say goodbye to the ship but so excited to get back on dry land, a normal bed and sadly, I was completely ecstatic about doing all my washing!! Hmm....

... and some Brazilians, and there was a great atmosphere there, people playing music on the guitar, and the owners making food for everyone to share. The island is completly covered by rainforest, there are no paved roads on the islands and the interior is only accessible by 4 wheel drive vehicles on dirt tracks. We stayed in the major settlement of the island, and our day to day existence was mostly governed by the weather, and the fact that it was terrible during our ...

... 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 ...

... that it was time for a sunset beer and headed back (the easier way) to one of the beach side bars. After waiting, Brazilian style (think Jamaica) for 2 Caparinhas that never arrived, we ran for the bus and missed it. Apparently it is the only thing in Brazil that runs early and we definitely weren't prepared for this. Finding it pretty funny we decided the hour wait for the next one was best spent eating pizza in a local restaurant. The even more ...