Considering that this is the only hotel on our trip that we´ve made an effort to return to, we thought we should do a review! Pousada Laguna Blue is about a 15 minute easy stroll from the historic centre of Paraty, but the walk is very pleasant and ensures that we don´t get the noise from the bars and clubs in town at night. There is a large, modern supermarket only a few hundred metres away and the local buses stop at the corner of the hotel´s street if you want to go to beaches further afield. The staff here are fantastic - all very friendly, willing to help and the reception staff all speak excellent English (some also speak German, French and Spanish). A delicious breakfast is included, as is afternoon tea of cakes, biscuits and coffee/tea/hot chocolate from 4-7pm. In general, the hotel is exceptionally well-run, is NOT a party venue but rather ideal for a relaxing stay, especially for couples. Sitting by the pool with your afternoon coffee is a terrific way to end a day of sight-seeing. The only down-side is double beds instead of queens, but we can live with that for the other benefits. Re: price, we checked other similar standard hotels in the town centre, and found that the deal we got here was very reasonable, in some cases considerably cheaper, no doubt due to the location, but we enjoyed walking home in the evening after a nice meal out. We made our arrangements by email, and found everything ran very smoothly, see their website for details.

Spent a fairly easy day today.  Walked into town after breakfast and dropped our laundry off (it was ready 2 hours later, so pretty good service!).  Then walked up to the old fort that sits just above the town.  It was actually closed today, but we were able to walk around the grounds and see the view.  The restored building is now used as a cultural centre.  Wandered back down through the old town to have a drink, then had lunch before heading home.  Went back into town tonight for our last dinner in Paraty - a most enjoyable 4 days.

Spent a lovely 5 hours today on a schooner cruising the bay of Paraty.  We left at 11am and immediately saw a large group of dolphins frolicking in the water - reckon there were about 50 of them.  They played around for a while, and then disappeared.  We then headed out to a small island where we snorkelled and swam in the 8m water.  Lots of sergeant fish here, attracted to the boats as soon as they anchor, because they are used to being fed.  The water was a bit deep to see much, but lovely and warm to swim about in.  Also stopped at two secluded beaches during the trip, but there were plenty of other people as the boats seem to all follow the same route.  Saw some turtles at the second stop, they were swimming around and then popping their heads up for some air - quite big ones.  The water didn´t look too clean at one of the beaches, so we took the little dinghy to the beach to avoid swimming in it - saw a huge blue butterfly here, but too quick for us to get a photo!  At our lunch stop, we saw little monkeys and a school of long, skinny fish with pointy nose (no idea what they´re called!), they scooted around the boat the whole time we were stopped, waiting for tidbits.  Had a really enjoyable day, lounging about on deck, reading, chatting to fellow travellers and generally relaxing.  The trip cost R20 each, but included snorkelling equipment, coffee and fruit - you paid for lunch and drinks, but the meals were a good size and the prices no different to in town.  All up, we thought it was very good value.

Did a jeep tour to the surrounding hills today.  Collected by our driver at 10.30am and headed along the old gold trail with the other 4 in our group.  Our driver didn´t speak English, but between POrtuguese and Spanish we worked it out.  At some points, he would speak Spanish to explain something and we would then translate into English for the two Greek guys on the trip - quite funny, actually!  The trip took us to 3 lovely waterfalls with swimming lagoons, but the water was absolutely freezing.  At the first pond, a small snake slithered across the foot of the Brazilian guy in our group, so we decided we would seek other locations - amazing how quickly the water cleared of people, though!  The last swimming hole was actually called `Surf the Rocks`because the local lads would go sliding barefoot down the slippery rock face into the water at the bottom, all at breakneck speed and incredibly dangerous-looking.  Don´t think our travel insurance would have covered us for this activity.  Also visited a 17th century fazenda, now run as a restaurant, museum, pinga distillery and adventure centre.  The museum is very good, lots of everyday items from the past couple of hundred years, and we could also look at the animals on the small farm.  Interesting to see the old-fashioned way of distilling pinga, next to the modern way, and see that the only thing that has really changed is having a stainless steel vat instead of a ceramic one.  Had lunch at a restaurant tucked away in the forest called Villa Verde - lovely home-made pasta, we just had a simple butter and sage sauce.  A spectacular setting, so very pleasant way to pass an hour.  Last stop was another pinga distillery, where we bought some local sweets and chewed on raw sugar cane. 
Went into a little restaurant in the historic centre tonight for dinner - another lovely pasta dish for Melissa, with so many prawns in it she almost couldn´t find the pasta!  A lady was singing and playing guitar - very nice, although the R5pp cover charge is a bit steeper here than in Ouro Preto.

Woke up to a glorious Paraty day today, it´s really warm and the sky is clear blue.  Walked into town this morning and crossed the river to the other side of town, where there´s a lovely little beach we didn´t spot last time.  Had a drink at a little kiosk and watched the kids playing in the sea, then walked slowly back to the hotel for the afternoon.
Went into the pinga festival again tonight, but a bit more controlled on the drinks front!  Did try another cocktail at our favourite stall, then got some food at the food stalls - yummy chicken kebabs, but fried in a sort of batter and then covered with cheese.  Wandered back through the streets, got a sweet from a mobile cake stall man then home to get ready for our tour tomorrow.

Today we have been in Paraji, which is also situated in Brazil. It is a little bit like Bocca da Valeria, but more crowded and modern. Over there it seems that the time stopped in the 19^th century. There are no cars, only coaches driving around and people walking. They have a couple of fishing boats at the pier and the streets are made of huge cobblestones. Even people with a wheelchair would face some difficulties if they would try to move around there. It has a portugese touch. The houses are colourful and I went out with Holy, Nathalie, Rachel and Chris. We had a nice lunch over there. I took another Club Sandwich (since I went to the Seychelles I guess I am addicted to Club Sandwiches) and afterwards we went to a small ice cream hut. It was amazing. They had at least 20 different flavours, very delicious ones by the way, and it was made like a buffet. You started taking the icecream and afterwards you had to choose between chocolate and strawberry sauce, marshmallow sauce, chocolate balls, marshmallow sticks, melted chocolate, M&Ms, etc. For sure if you couldn’t decide you could also take everything as a topping. ;) suppose that would have even been too sweet for me. At the end they will just weight your cup and you will pay. It is not that expensive and very, very delicious! Whenever we are coming back to this place I need to have another ice cream over there. Otherwise there is nothing much to see to be honest. Its nice for a couple of hours but I wouldn’t like to spend my holidays over there.

Had a lovely sleep in this morning, then spent a few hours apart.  Melissa walked into town again and ambled around the streets in the lovely sunshine.  Got a few supplies at the supermarket on the way home, for while we are in Ilha Grande.  Noel caught the bus over to the nearby beach of Trindade with a couple of girls from our group.  The beach is a lovely horseshoe inlet with lots of rocks to explore and climb over, but also beautiful sand.  Noel and the gang spent the afternoon indulging in high-scale civil engineering feats - building sandcastles, river systems and mini townships.  Melissa spent the afternoon sitting on the sun-lounger reading Vanity Fair and eating her leftover Thai from last night.  Tonight we had a wonderful dinner cooked by our guide Juliana, lentejas and rice, with salad, bread and lots of drink (soft for us!!) in honour of our last night in Paraty before heading further north tomorrow.

Melissa woke up feeling decidely iffy this morning, only 2 1/2 caipirinhas, but they had a kick!  Decided to just wander around the town then come home for a siesta (an extremely civilized innovation).  The old centre is lovely, all cobbled streets, and pedestrianised too.  All the buildings are old whitewashed, high-ceiling´ed affairs, and many are decorated beautifully inside.  The port area is full of boats ready to take tourists beach-hopping, diving etc. - the pilots sit on a deck chair in the boat touting for trade as you walk past, what a life!  There are plenty of churchs, but most are quite simple (refreshingly).  We heard lovely piano music coming from one as we walked past, just before the bells chimed the hour.  The town sits right on the coast at the foot of mountains, so in daylight the view is spectacular.  Filled in the afternoon sleeping and reading by the pool, then went out with the group for a meal at Thai Brasil in the old town (it is Canadian Dave´s birthday today).  They did us a cake and we all sat around with party hats on, so a bit tragic really!  The food was very expensive, much more so than in Australia (eg: pad thai cost almost A$25!!) and was nowhere as good a quality as we´re used to at home, but guess it´s more unusual here.  As we´ve only just recovered from the other night´s antics, we decided to by-pass the after dinner drinks and go home to bed - our heads will thank us in the morning.

Long day today, left the hotel at around noon for our 1.30pm flight to Sao Paolo.  Flight took abuot 1 hour 20 minutes with Tam, and got a sandwich and drink, plus an interesting magazine to read, so pretty happy!  The bus from the airport to Paraty, about a 5 hour drive away, took a bit longer.  The road is very windy and goes across a mountain range to the coast, and as it got dark couldn´t see much until the coastal lights appeared - very pretty.  As soon as we arrived at our hotel (gorgeous, Laguna Blue) we walked the 1km into town for dinner at a per kilo restaurant.  It was a bit ordinary, probably because it was quite late, so the food was cold and not very fresh looking.  We then walked into the old town and spent a couple of hours at Che Bar drinking caipirinhas.  Noel and Melissa enjoyed this drink mightily, however our budget did not and the room was spinning when we lay down afterwards!!

So I decide to head back down to Parati with the new group for a couple of days to escape the madness of Rio. Andy and I head out to pick up Freida (that's the name of the truck) from truck park and head back in to pick up everybody else. There's a few goodbyes to be done from the rest of the group before we head away. My navigation skills are put to use as Andy and I try and get out of Rio, after one wrong turn we manage to get on the right road and head to Parati. Stop at a wee lookout for lunch, then it's a quick stop at the supermarket and the to the camp site. Help set up tents etc and then it's dinner and drinks.

The next day it's off on the boat cruise again. This one is a lot quieter as everyone's a bit reserved as it's the second day of the tour as opposed to the last one like ours. But it's still a good time. Get back and Mel, Andy and I do a BBQ for dinner with the obligatory beers. Then it gets a bit messy with drinks on the EOE truck and Zane, Kat, Will, Jo and Drew. The party goes on a bit late and we annoy a few people with some pretty bad singing. Sorry Mel and Andy!!!

The next day it's up early and help Mel and Andy pack up the truck before saying our goodbyes. And then watch as Freida leaves. Man would have loved to stay and kept on travelling. Head in to town and do a bit on the internet before heading back and helping pack up the EOE truck. Go and check into a hostel for the night and chill out for a bit. Then meet up with EOE guys for dinner then it's back to the hostel and some cards with some random before heading to bed.

So after the luxourious night in Tres Lagoas in a hotel it's off towards the coastal town of Parati. We have a couple of days on the truck and the first night is at a campsite where we have a quiz night. The quiz is questions all purtaining to what's happened on the tour so is quite amusing. My team comes second but I think we were hard done by with a couple of the umpires decision!!

The next morning it's up and of to Parati once there we have a quick supermarket stop to stock up on food and beer before heading to the campsite. Once there it heaves it down. So all the tents etc are put up in the rain and everyone and everthing gets quite wet! Hamish and Katie turn up and a few of us head across the road to the beach front bar, to keep dry of course!! Then it's back for dinner and bed.

Up and Alex cooks me breakfast and then it's into town to catch the boat for a day trip round the islands. Of course we take a chilly bin full of beers with us and the gimp(funnel). The day is spent sunbathing, drinking, swimming and drinking. A fe of us join the el litro club which means 1 litre of beer through the funnel. Wicked! We get back to shore around 4pm and head back to the camp for general shananigans and dinner. Lets just say the night went on and I went to bed a little worse for wear!

Now we know what everyone is raving about when they talk about Brazilian beaches (and not to mention the horrendous prices here)!

We arrived in Paraty from Sao Paulo (the most dirty and disgusting looking city we have seen this far) at about 10pm. We wandered around for over an hour looking for somewhere to stay and thought we would be sleeping on the streets and no where had room, although it did help us to condition to the fact we would be paying about $120R ($70NZD) for a room! We went back to the bus station and a local lady tried helping us, and because we have little communication skills here (why dont they speak Spanish instead!!???) another tourist helped us translate. In the end, she called a friend who had a hostel and we had a very nice room for $100R. Not too bad really.

It is so hot here in Paraty and it is buzzing with tourists, Brazilians mostly. The town itself is gorgeous, it is very colonial with gorgeous golden sand beaches and palm trees. We didnt do a lot here, sit on the beach and tried to get a tan (which somehow failed, believe it or not!)  and read. Very nice.

On Sunday morning we left Rio and headed off to a costal town called Paraty a 4 hour bus journey from Rio. Again we made it on a local bus to the main bus station with a little help from some locals, I tell you our sign language and pointing skills are now very impressive and knowing Thank You in portugese seems to get us quite a way!

The bus journey itself was pretty impressive, the winding costal roads had views out of this world and at times it was so green and tropical it was like being in a jungle. Paraty itself was pretty small but somehow we managed to get lost in one of the seven streets, my sense of direction is still not improving as I hoped it might.....well maybe by the time I come home but I wont hold my breathe.  The town was very laid back and a proper little tourist town ( the Tenby of Brazil!) which is just what we needed after the hustle and bustle of Rio.

We spent yesterday (Monday) by the beach, which was a short hike over a mountain (well a walk up a hill but it felt like a mountain). The views were once again fab. I have taken loads of photos so now need to get some put up on here. Last night we had some drinks in the hostel with some English people and ended up going out until 2am, not the best idea when you have a 6 hour bus journey leaving at 9am. I didnt feel too bad, Russell on the other hand was a different story..... as Im sure you can all imagine!!

Today we arrived in Sao Paulo and made it to a youth hostel after changing our minds a few times about which one to go to....unfortunately we didnt make the right choice. The location is good as it is really near the centre but the hostel itself isnt up to much so we are moving next door tomorrow to a Formula One hotel for a couple of nights.

The plan is to spend the next few days in Sao Paulo as its Russells birthday on Thursday and on Friday we are heading off to Foz de Iguassu where there are lots of waterfalls and then crossing the border into Argentina for the last few weeks of our South America ......

After only a  few days in Brazil I can already tell that it is my favorite.  I was pleased to see that the Brazilian coast delivered the landscapes that I had envisioned of south america  prior to arrival.

Parati is a beautiful colonial  town with eye candy around every corner.   Lush tropical green forests, white sand, aqua  blue waves; paradise.  Roaming the carless cobblestone streets lined with stark white building with bright colorful doorways ate up a fair chunk of my time here.

Parati also gave the tour its first taste of crime.   Two people had their hand bags  stolen out of their tents at night while they were sleeping.  This was a bit of an eye opener for several people.  This made us a little more aware of the potential dangers as we would soon be in the notoriously crime ridden Rio de Janeiro.

The main  group activity here was a day boat trip to a few of the hundreds of islands that were just off the coast.  We had a beautiful sunny sky to bake our sun deprived bodies all day long.  We stopped at four islands to snorkel, dive, swim, suntan, and frisbee the day away.

There was not much of a nightlife here so we spent out nights listening to ipod  playlists blaring out of the truck and sitting around the campfire.

One thing that I don't like about Brazil is their billing methods.   Anywhere you can get food or drinks including large convenience  stores uses the  same method.  They give you a card,  usually electronic and then they scan every item you purchase onto the card.   Then you have to  stand in a second line to pay your bill.  In the bars they either use punch  cards or you   have to prebuy drink tickets similar to a uni party.  I find the whole deal pretty annoying.

The town is very picturesque, the kind with cobble-stone street and set by the sea.

We headed out for some dinner and we cought a street Capoeira performance. Man they could move - we had to record a few short videos an the camera. After a nice dinner and some caprinias, we then headed out for a dance and we just so happened to end up in the same place as some of the previous Capoeira boys, having to mop up the trail of drool let by the girls on the dance floor.

The next day, we went out on a boat trip to check out some of the smaller islands. Unfortunately the weather was not its usual  bright sunny self, but it was still ok. we so determined to go check out these islands, we did let any possible looming clouds spoil our fun.

after the boat trip, we strolled through the shops, and later had dinner. After that we spotted a great ice-cream shop, but just as we started to get stuck into our double choc chip and cookies & cream on the outside tables, when it started to pour. And the rain continued to pour and pour, we probably waited for about 30-45min, with it only easing ever so slighty. when we finally decided to brave the rain (it wasnt cold afterall) and jumped in some taxis home.

the ice-cream was great anyway!

cas :P