Ilha Garnde and Paraty

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So I am on my todd now as I think everyone I have met is on their way home!!! Oh well this is the week that is meat for chilling and relaxing after the madness of carnival..........

I get to the bus station and there are a lot of people all looking to get the same bus, funny as I seem to book the only seat yesterday!!! So I chat to a couple of Irish girls and it looks like they are every 15ish mins!! The good thing is I now have 2 new friends as they are in the same place as me - also a late booking and the only place left...........the bus is packed but a crowd of English guys that I met on the beach party are also on the bus and right opp me so that is cool a bit of entertainment for the journey. I do, however, realise that we are running late and there is only one ferry a day and it really does not look like I am gonna make it.........bugger!!! OK so I rock up at 3.45 and the ferry left at 3.30.......Not to worry there is a cat is just is a lot more exp, well in ratio it is not really all that tho and it is leaving in 30mins so bonus not even have to wait for it!!! As I get on Keava and Karen (the Irish girlies) are on the cat as well so it all sort of worked out well!!! OK so this is going to be an interesting visit I am sharing a bed with a girl I met about 5mins ago as the 3-bed dorm is a double and a single.......oh goody, she seems like a real nice girl and also a Nicole so cannot be bad hee hee!!! Not really a lot of time for much so just go for dinner with a few girlies a quick drink and an early night!!!!

OK so today was - erm, interesting............I set out with Karen and Keava and go for a short stroll to the natural springs which is really cold but pretty cool and meet up with Tim and Nancy also from the hostel.......now we have the option of going straight to the beach as planned or to carry on walking to the waterfall - hey why not it cant be that far...............can it!!! About 3hrs later we make it there after basically doing a full on hike in flip flops and basically climbing trees - looking back it was all pretty funny and the waterfall was pretty cool to go to and there was a loverly small beach at the end. Needless to say we did get the taxi boat back hee hee!!!! We get back to the hostel and they have totally mucked up and put 4 people into our room - not sure how they thought we were going to sleep like that but in the end after quite a large discussio they put one of the girls in another private room so not too bad!!! Went to dinner with just Keava and Karen it was nice and then hit the beach where we bump into a few of the others we all go in different directions, boat party, beach party and Nikki and I hit the hay!!! Yes I am getting old but I am also knackered its been a long few weeks!!!!

So today we get the ferry to Lopez Mendez a different beach that can be walked to but it takes 4hrs - not again I am meant to be relaxing!!! ;-) You still have to walk a mini hike to get there but it is sooo worth it the beach is loverly really long and pretty empty which is really good!!! The waves, however really know how to knock you about it was mad I think I nearly drowned a few times!!!! Hee Hee!!! We got back basically in time for dinner and went to one of these places where you get whatever food you like and then weight the plate to see how much it is - pretty cheap and real good food..........we all went for a few social beverages but I am being good and still having pretty early nights!!! Hee Hee!!!

OK I am a sad person but today I spent a lot of time on line as I had to see the Carling Cup Final and they dont seem to have TVs in the bars here........It really was not worth it and I cannot believe it went to extra time and pens what is that all about!!! Oh well at least I still have 100% record at wembley and we dont have to worry about the expense of European footie next year!!!! As I did not have a huge amount of time I just went to the local beach to read my book for a while and then met with Bonnie and Joe for dinner and drinks as it is my last night in Ilha Grande..........Was pretty cool as I saw the last group I was with and had a catch up and a few drink with them - today was a late one I got to bet at midnight!!! Hee hee I do need to get up early tmw tho as I need to pack and off to Paraty tmw!!!!

So I get the cheaper ferry over to the mainland which was all very smooth met Alice on the other side who was also going to Paraty so we were going to get the bus together which is good as these are the chicken buses and not the big ones!!! She has not booked anywhere so is going to head to the same one as me to see if there is any availability as well.........as normal in these places she is whipped away to go and see a Posada and I keep going to my place............Oh my goodness what is with my bookings and it not going smoothly - this one has totally gone in my favour as they mucked it up I have a double en suite room to myself for the first night and then I have to move into the dorm tmw and I have decided to stay here and just get the bus to Sao Paulo on the day that I get my flight. Went for a wander around the town and its pretty small but really nice I can def cope with this!! I find where the hostel is that the guys from Ilha Grande are in as I have Tim and Nancy´s swimmers as they left them behind, not surprisingly they were not there but I left messages for all that I will be back at 8 for dinner hee hee!!! It all worked out well and I am glad I went there in the daylight so i knew where I was going!! Bless em tho I got bottle of wine for bringing all their gear so obviously we opened that up and had it before dinner!!! Had a pretty good dinner and all pretty reasonable since leaving Brazil its been pretty good not spending as much at all!!! Went and had a few drinks as well - well it would be rude not to after all!!! ;-) was real nice to see them and we are off to Trinadade so we are all meeting at 11tmw at the bus station!!!

Was a real nice day to head to the beach hee hee I really have been doing a lot of this at the mo but they are all def worth it!!! Well I kill 2 birds and get my bus ticket to Sao Paulo at the same time - well I def have to go as there is a plane to catch!! Well we cannot get on the 11 bus so wait for the 12!!! When we got there we went for the closest beach first and it was pretty cool and nice after being stuck on a pretty busy bus getting there.............scarily we are sitting there and Alice turns up which is cool as i could not remember where she was staying and was wondering how she was doing so that all went well............we moved to the other beach for the rest of the afternoon and pretty much just had lunch and chilled there for the day - oh how time flys when you are really not doing a lot hee hee!!!! We all met up again for dinner and bumped into Nikki (from Ilha Grande that I shared a bed with) so we all stayed around in the bar just chatting really was a nice night as they are all heading off tmw to Sao Paulo..................

Today, 4/3, Alice and I went on a boat trip around 3 different beaches - well we were swimming in the sea basically but it was a real nice day and met Dan and Matt who have also just started their travels - seems a bit unfair as I am coming in the last part of min boo!!! We all met for dinner that evening although as we had a massive lunch none of us were that hungry so just got some empanadas to share!!!! Was really funny as we were just sitting there having a drink Niamh, from my hostel in Mendoza, walked by so we met up later for drinks............well its my last night here so I made the most of it and even went to their idea of a club although I only stayed for about 10mins was pretty sleepy!!!

I took today easy as I had to go and get a bus to Sao Paulo this afternoon so walked around the town and saw all the history of Partay, it was really nice esp by the pier and the lake its all so natural.........well off I go at about 3ish to get the bus.............it was a good night I got to the airport at about 11.30pm ish and my flight is not til 6.20am................it will be a long wait but hey bring on Ecuador!!!!

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