Pousada Valhacouto Paraty

... there about 9pm the first night the first lady seemed genuinley p*ssed off that we were there and we felt like we had to convince her to give us a room. The next morning at breakfast she was the same and Nadia even cleared her plates and started asking about some of the pictures on her wall to try and cheer her up but without luck.<br><br>When we had tried to get some cash at every bank in town we went back ...

... he wishes every hostel would be managed during his past travels. With only 14 beds, its small, but full of character. There´s nice Brazilian redwood decks, a modern TV with satellite reception and stereo with inputs for traveler´s MP3 players, bean bags -- although missing quite a few beans -- and friendly staff -- whom do have all their beans still remaining. The only problem with the place -- although more a fault of the location than any ...

... smaller Hawaiian islands but is a steep mount of the relatively small amount of Atlantic rainforest remaining on Brazil's East coast due to the urban sprawls, harvesting redwood and sugarcane. It's about 4pm on arrival -- still time for a quick swim. It's when I realize the water is quite cold -- it's their wintertime after all. Our hostel and it's older next door neighbor are owned by the same guy and alternates nights for where dinner, live ...

... Perfect. We hiked through the woods with our boards to another beach which did have surf. We heard legendary stories of clean waves, barrels, and no people. The no people part was right. The wind had picked up and the waves were really sloppy. Plus it was really cold (the water and the air). We went in and had fun getting pummeled and ripped around by the current. We did manage to catch some waves too. We walked back to the beach and tried out ...

... a liking for it &#8211; just needed to kill off a few taste buds initially.<br><br>One thing we defiantly underestimated was how good the food was going to be! We have been eating like really greedy kings!! Considering we are camping and making everything just at the side of the truck with basic equipment it&#8217;s hard to believe the quality of what we have had. The whole tour had been divided up into 5 groups who are responsible for a different set of chores ...

Monday 18th May - Wednesday 20th May<br><br>Paraty provided a soothing effect to my woes - proving to be a good place to chill out and relax for a few days. We checked into a hostel called Misti Chilli, which was a great choice - as people here spoke good English (in fact, English people were running the place). Unusually, there were virtually all girls here - so single guys take note! The hostel was across the road from the beach, where I sipped ...

... dog underfoot! We made it to the waterfall and the hotter few stripped and jumped into the wonderful cold fresh water that was flowing from above. I wasn´t so bothered to take my shoes and socks off and preffered to sit back and soak it all up (the view AND the rain..). When we decided to head back the heavens thought they would put on a real tropical shower for us. You have NEVER seen such fat blobs of rain - ever.. the fat blobs would also accumilate on ...

So finally I reached the sun and sand that had been in short supply high in the Andes. After a long bus ride and dull 7 hour wait in Sao Paulo bus station (as much of that city as I wanted to see), I reached Paraty, a few hours west of Rio. It was a really nice little colonial town with narrow cobbled streets and set on a beautiful bay and lots of live music and stuff at night so it had a ...

... wouldn't get robbed! Anyway, you don't really need to do that on Ilha Grande, and we were the source of much amusement when we explained why we were all dressed up on a night out, and carrying carrier bags...so I splashed out and bought an actual handbag. Ilha Grande was gorgeous - perfect for working on the tan that was fading fast after all the rain!

... that to the locals who scoff at the comparison) and see how it is made. Derived from sugar cane they have hundreds of different types and flavours, all quite powerful, anywhere between 40% and 60%. Some are nice and some taste like fire water and make your eyes water, reminds me of a drink I once had up in the Troodos mountains in Cyprus. The evening we had a wonderful dinner in the house of our GAP Adventure guide's friend who ...