Paraty, Bonito and divorcing Der

---

On The Road

We are finally on our way, travelling on a wonderfully yellow truck called Swampy and getting to know each other on our 10 week Budget Expeditions adventure. This truck, along with the tents it is carrying, will be our home for this whole time across South America. The bus is incredible huge with lots of leg room and two table areas at the front of the bus as well as a library at the back. We also have a sound system which we can connect up to our iPod's and MP3's, though a tv where we could watch films would be very useful for the long drive days! We left Rio de Janeiro fairly early and had a short (yes it is short) 5 hr journey to our first stop, a beautiful little coastal town called Paraty.

Paraty

This town was definatly the place where the rich Brazilians come. The weather was not amazing whilst we were there but it was still beautiful. It's a colonial syle town with lots of coloured buildings and the town itself is designed so that when the tide comes in, the streets in the town flood so as to clean them. Very clever idea but usually meant, and especially with all this rain, that our feet were constantly in puddles!

On the first day, a group of us just wondered from shop to shop looking at all the wonderful and beautiful things that we wished we could buy. From brightly coloured jewellery to jeweled stools there really was a lot. We had at first gone to look for some cheap cocktails that, according to Marc our driver, were being sold in the town square. However, we could not find them anywhere so we eventually sat out of the rain in this little cafe and had some warm drinks and a free glass of frozen Caiprinia's, which were delicious. We tried to visit the cathedral there as well but it was closed.

Our first night at our campsite was actually ok. We have a kitchen tent which is useful for cooking and after dinner we all sat on the bus and had a few drinks because of the weather. The bus though got really dirty and damp, so I can't imagine what it will be like towards the end of this trip. The sleeping part was fine though our tents were getting pretty mudddy from the wet campsite.

The following day we were supposed to have a boat trip around Paraty but again it got cancelled because of the rain. However, once it had eventually stopped raining it turned into a beautiful day. We went and sat on the beach for a little while and then descended in our hoards onto the town to use the internet there. The highlight of the day though has to be our ice cream lunch. In a little corner shop down the cobbled streets was an ice cream parlour. But not just any ice cream parlour. It was a self service ice cream parlour where you were weighed per kg. So we dived in and it was divine. I had two chocolate scoops & one strawberry with both dark chocolate sauce and the chocolate sauce that goes hard, hundreds & thousands and some smarties and whipped cream. And I am ashamed to say that that was only the first of my three portions for the day. However it was our lunch so I do not feel AS bad. Caroline is very similar to me and has a sweet tooth, so we were both very happy for the rest of the day!

Bonitio

It took us two very long days of driving to get to Bonito. One day we were on the road for approx 13 hours, with lots of short breaks though. We arrived into Bonito mid afternoon of the second day and after we had set up Der (our tent, no idea why it is called that) we went into town to drop off laundry, use internet and to buy alcohol as it was to be our first getting to know you party that evening due to a day of actually nice weather. So we got back to camp, showered and had a lovely Braii. We then challenged Joss, our tour guide, to go round the circle and name everyone. After a day of calling me Liz and Liz me he actuallt got all the names correct. We then just chilled out and chatted and I went to bed at about 1am and most people were in bed by about 2ish. Its amazing how two days of sitting on a bus doing nothing can tire you out.

Once we were all in our tents, thats when the fun happened....

The worst thunderstorm I think I have ever seen, let alone been in seemed to rain down upon us. I love thunder and lightening but there were some that were so close, you felt it shatter through your body. And I didn't feel at my safest being in a tent with 3 metal poles in a lightening storm. However it got worse. Kathryn felt her left foot getting wet but everywhere else was dry so we thought nothing of it. We then started to move around on our sleeping mats and it felt like we were on a waterbed. However, at that point it was still underneath the tent. 5 minutes later, our stuff was drowing. I quickly put some clothes on whilst Kat was just in her bikini. We grabbed our important stuff and legged it out the tent. After we had eventually woken Marc up, we attemped to rescue the rest of our stuff from the tent, but most of it was sodden. We also found Kat's iPod floating on a recently formed lake! So after giggling hysterically beacuse we probably wouyld have cried otherwise we hung up stuff under a shelter and surveyed the damaged. Our tent was in the tinest of depressions but the ground had flooded all around it and due to a tiny hole in the bottom of our tent, we were done for! All the other tents aorund us were in this flood, but due to no hole, they were ok. So Kat and I ended up sleeping the rest of the night on the floor of the bus. We have definatly divorced Der and are never sleeping with him again.

The following day was also not such a good day. As travellers I think everyone losing the track of time completely. So we all went into town to get lots of stuff done, forgetting it was a sunday so everything was closed! However, the day was slightly reedemed when we went to swim in the river at the bottom of the campsite. The current was really strong because it had rained but the waterfall there was beautiful. Milton, Kat and Charlotte decided to go downstream with the current, which was to take them on a big tour of the campsite, whilst Caroline, Mette, Liz and I just sat on some of the rocks and got refreshed. It was really enjoyable and made us all happy again. I then got out and went into town to pick up my laundry, as I was at this point borrowing clothes beacuse all mine were either wet or dirty. However, as soon as I picked up my laundry, it hailed it down once again. So we ran for a taxi and once back at the campsite, we waited in the shelter for it to calm down. But it never did. After watching everyone screaming and running back and forth from the tents to the bus we decided to make a dash for it to see what had happened. Turns out that everyone who was ok in their tents but on the flooded patch last night were all flooded in their tents. So thank God, Joss decided we could spend the night in a hostel. Extra money but by this point we did not care. So onto the bus we poured and down into town we went. The hostel is really nice and we all wet out and had some pizza before getting a good nights sleep. Amazing.

Unfortuantly, bad luck struck again the next day. The waterfall trip was cancelled beacuse there had just been too much day. They offered us the chance to go snorkelling in a river instead but seeming I do not like fish and that was all there was to see, I did not go. I was really disappointed beacuse we had such a good time at the waterfall yesterday and all our excursions have been cancelled so far. On a positive note it means I have a chance to sort all my stuff out etc before the pantanal and will have more moeny for excursions later on, but I think we al just feel we have been struck by such bad luck, especially as Joss said this has not happened to him on a tour before. Oh well, thats all part of travelling isn't it!!!!

So we are off to the Pantanal tomorrow for three days which will at least not involve any camping!! Am really looking forward to it, wetlands stuff is right up my street. Hopefully I'll see a Caymen and an anaconda!!!!!! Though apparently the latter would be an extremely rare event so do not fear mum. When we are staying down at the farm we get to sleep in hammocks too, all 35 of us in one dorm! Should be fun. So I shall write again next when we are down at Iguazu falls and about to leave Brazil for good!

---

Photos

The beautiful beach at Paraty
The view from just outside our campsite

DER
Our infamous flooding tent looking at its best

Parrot
Several parrots flew by and landed on the trees above us as we set up camp in Bonito

Happiness
Our happiness that the electricity came on just as we walked into the Pizzaria