Well since my lastblog i have found sun and my skin in no longer white, it is slowly going froma bright red hue to off brown colour. My nose was soo redtheother day that Santa rang me up wonderering would i guide his sleigh !
So i left Rio on an overland truck with 19 others on boardmade up of mainly ozziez, but also english, dutch, american and 3 other Irish and drove a short drive South Paraty. Paraty is a reaklly sweet village with cobbled streets, white washed buildings and coloures doors, just outside the town is a long stretch of golden sandy beaches. Although we didīt get to enjoy them till the 2nd day from the momentwe arrived it rained solid until the nextmorning,which meant we had to put our tent up in the rain and trek through the mud to go to the communaltoliets,so it was īgreatīintroduction into camping in Brazil, but twas a great adventurte !! Luckily our tent remained bone dry for the entire night.
Our 1st full day in Paraty it was dry so we got to explore the small village, which didnīt take long. In the afternoon I went on a 3 hour kayak trip aroundthe small islands by the beach. I was in a double kayak with Jason,one ofthe guys from the truck so it made it a bit easierto share the workload, although my arms still ached for days after, although it really didnīt help that they got burnt too,cos it was overcast i didnīt even think of wearing sunscreen, but iīve since learnt my lesson. Anyway we kayaked out to a big island we went swiimng in the warm sea ( well i guess from now on any sea willl be warm to me after swimming in the Antartic waters ). On our way back to the beach we were surrounded by 60+ dolphins all around us, some swam as close as 30m away from us, it was amazing, they were porpousing in and outr of the water and doing jumps it was really idilliac.
Back at camp it started to rain, thunder and lightening ! Which is nice when ur inside looking out,but not when ur in a tent! but it was all good. Day 2 in Paratry the whole group went on a boat cruise for 5 hours around the other islands of Paraty,stopping off and swimming in the claer waters from the boat. The weather was hot and sunny, but no taking any chancesi kept my self covered up the whole time, even when i went in the water to swim.
It was 6am start the next morning to leave for a 2 day drive to Campo Grande where i am now. after 12 hours of driving we were meantto be free camping on the side of the road, but were all pleasently suprised when we arrived at a lovely campsite that was mud free, had toliet paper AND soap in the tolites ( not the norm around here ) and also had a swimming pool. yes definently better that stopping on the side of the road with no facilites. It was another eraly start yesterday and a 14 hour drive later we arrived to a.... HOSTEL ! in campo grande. I was shocked when i saw my room .. a double bed, a tv a fan and my own bathroom !! yes the simple luxuriues of life.
well iīm off into the Pantanal now for 3 days ...
till next time ..
ali
Brazil's Flag
Map of Brazil