Pousada das Canoas Paraty

Quick stop for the day at Paraty, on the mainland close to Ilha Grande, an absolutely idyllic and laid back cobblestoned, whitewashed village by the sea, with beautiful beaches around, little restaurants and bars, and brightly painted schooners that take people out for the day around the coast. Yep, tick this place too for our next short trip with Ilha Grande and Rio for sure.

We headed out of Rio on a rainy day and were so happy with the weather Rio had put on for us during our time there - sun, sun and more sun! We made it to the bus station eagerly anticipating our first solo bus ride, seeing whether this could be done without the all important tour leader and speaking little to no Portugese. There needn´t have been any worry as Eugene had it all sorted, I was positioned at a place in the ...

... movie, Man on Fire, three times (the first two in barely audible Spanish and the 3rd in English. It´s not a great movie - and I don´t care how it ends). The big drama of the bus ride was when were stopped by the military police only about 2 hours into the journey. Six big military police officers with guns drawn got on our bus, asked us to take out our passports and proceeded to go through our bags. Apparently buses that come out the Iguazu (and more specifically the ...

... on. Watching all the tourists trying all the different machines in the bank one by one and cheering if they manage to get money out is just like the slot machines! In the end we were able to get some money from our credit cards which will have charged us ridiculous amounts but at least we have enough for our next big outing&#8230;<br><br>We&#8217;re on our way to Bonito at the moment and currently are stuck in a traffic jam going through Sao Paulo which will no ...

... drama of it as the sky caved in under the thunder and then came alive with the most spectacular lightning display I have ever seen, and 2) because it was the best power shower any of us had had since coming on board. Suddenly bodies were creeping out of the cabin like inquisitive meer kats with shower gel in their paws! Was a very funny sight. The next day we made it down the tropical fjords which looked like glass and are very reminscent of the ones ...