Trindade

---

Oi again,

Greg and I are now in Trindade, a small town of 700 on the beautiful costa verde. Its only 40 minutes from Paraty, a nice short travel. We originally had planned to to stay 2 days in Trindade and then the other two (before heading to Rio) at Ilha Grande...but, as soon as we got into this quiant town with its beautiful rolling hills covered in green jungle and bright flowers over every fence, we started to think we might not want to leave so soon. This became a definite when we got to the hostel (Kaissara Hostel); a beautiful wooden cabin/house with jungle surroundings, a great group of people and great owner (George).

The first day, we hiked for an hour to a natural pool created by large boulders separating the ocean from this small turquoise pool. We happened to get lost at one point after taking a wrong trail and were practically bush wacking to get through this tiny overgrown trail. We got to the top of the hill trying to decide if we had taken a wrong turn and I happened to be standing on a fire ant hill. I looked down and my feet were brown with hundreds of fire ants all over my feet. These things bite and are NOT pleasant, I ended up with 50+ bites on my feet...a nice reminder of my bad sense of direction. However, the correct hike and the pool were both stunning and the water was nice and cool on my bites 😊. We relaxed on the big rocks reading for the day.

That night, the hostel was holding a leaving do for a Canadian girl working at a hostel in town. They made a big BBQ (complete with chocolate/coconut cake) and everyone lounged around the hostel with a few drinks, it was great company.

The next day, we spent doing not much different, lounging and reading on Praia dos Ranchos, once again another beautiful beach. We walked to another beach lined with small bars for Brazil's first World Cup game, a truely fun experience. Brazilian futbol fans are very serious about the game and everyone was ecstatic with each goal and their ultimate win.

Our third day, we went with some people from the hostel and George to a waterfall. George knows the ins and outs of this waterfall and took us into a small cave behind the waterfall, another one farther down stream and 'the rock that swallows' (a slide inside a cave that you can go into/down). The water was chilly but very refreshing and the best part was it was fresh water from the mountains (awww we miss fresh water!). We climbed down the rocks dispersed in the river to the beach where, again, we lounged/read/relaxed. That night, we ate in and watched a film with some people from the hostel.

Our last day in paradise, Greg and I hiked an hour to a secluded beach on the other side of town, Praia Brava. We had the WHOLE beach to ourselves for the day! Needless to say....relaxing!!

This stop has us all RELAXED before our last 11 days in Rio de Janiero, which as you can imagine will likely be a non-stop party (especially with the World Cup!). We will be able to see 2 of Brazil's group stage matches as well as one in the elimination if they qualify as planned.

We can't believe that we are at the end of trip! Bittersweet never had so much meaning!

One more stop, one more blog and back to the homeland in 12 days!

Laura and Greg

---