May 30, 2010 - Paraty

May 30th Up early and taxi to bus station in Rio, then 4,5 hour bus to Paraty. Checked into Pousada and went for early dinner at the beach. Rio´s cool but glad to be out of big, dirty, rude city and in a much more relaxing environment May 31st Walked into and around old town - had lunch then afternoon at the beach June 1st Walked to and around the fort and spent some time chilling on the rocks - then the rains came... June 2nd Boat tour of Islands round Paraty - very nice...

Apr 25, 2010 - Paraty, Brazil

Good Morning - I am here in the lobby in Igussu. Left Paraty yesterday - Beautiful small village with cobble stone streets and the most amazing people. Paraty is over 500 years old and a very historic town. The village was built at sea level - so when the tides rise the village actually floods - back in the day with the village flooded they could easily move their boats and supplies to the incoming ships! It was so hot when we arrived - we trekked for 3 hours we were exhausted the weather to day has been mid to high 30's. Sabe shopped...

Apr 17, 2010 - Paraty and Ilha Grande

The bus to Paraty was six hours which by South American standards doesn´t even count as a journey... We arrived to rain, but our hostel was literally on the beach (this freaked Eliza out massivel). Our dorm was a bit of a nightmare as there were three 3 storey bunk beds in a space the size of my dorm room at school (ie really really tiny) so there was no floor space whatsoever. But we met our friend Geoff from Floripa as he was the new barman at Geko so that was very exciting. Paraty is a gorgeous town of white colonial houses and cobbled...

Apr 5, 2010 - Heaven is a beach

I arrived in la Paz last night sans luggage. My precious backpack is floating around South America at this point, hopefully intact. Though it’s only a backpack its absence is manifesting physically into a dull ache in the pit of my tummy. At least I’m sure it’s that and not the total absence of fibre in my diet over the last month. It’s a little unnerving to realize that my backpack has become a fairly central part of my travelling universe. I suppose, though, it is a trusty constant. As one moves from place to place,hostel to hostel,...

Mar 10, 2010 - First Blog!

Hi Everyone! We are just testing a blog page...so stay tuned...we have much to tell you about our trip so far...check out our pics of Paraty...let us know the quality of this blog site because we are trying to work out the best option to blog...if you have other ideas let us know... Love from us... xx

Feb 25, 2010 - Button and the Tower of Babel

Leaving the samba sounds of Rio behind us, we headed down the coast towards uncertainty. About 300 km South you reach the Costa Verde which, as it says in the title, is very green and coastal. With mountains on one side, rainforest in the middle, and white beaches overlooking many small islands, it is a stretch of coast that is pleasant to many of the senses. One of the most striking things is that, probably because of the abundance of vegetation and possibly because of the plankton-rich South Atlantic Ocean, the sea in many places actually...

Feb 2, 2010 - Paraty

Yesterday we left Florianopolis and headed on an overnight bus to a Brasilian coastal town called Paraty. Florianopolis was AMAZING! We spent our days relaxing on the beach, and our nights going out - not the most cultural of activites admittedly, but we finally got a chance to tone down the translucency of our skin! And met a big collection of wicked people along the way - the majority of whom were Australian, who seem to be EVERYWHERE in South America. On our second last day we went to an organised pool party which was literally paradise...

Nov 22, 2009 - Paraty, Brazil

Last night we went for a nice dinner, and wandering through the town. What I find odd is that we’re starting to run into restaurants that price a meal for 2 people, but if only one person wants to order it, they charge you 60-70% of the price. So for dinner we all paired up and ordered together to keep the costs down. Phil & I split a very tasty order of filet mignons with salad & fries. After dinner we wandered farther into town and ran into a band in the street that was celebrating the holiday Brazil was having over the weekend. We...

Jul 13, 2009 - one week left

Hi everyone i'm so sorry that i have been really bad at keeping this site up to date but it has been non stop as usual. Just a brief summary of what i have been up to ... Basically I left Bolivia and flew to Brazil arriving after a 30min flight it felt like i really was somewhere tropical. Hot and humid. First stop wasThe Pnatanal the wetlands/jungle, Saw loads of wildlife Camens, Monkeys, otters and millions of mossies, I havent taken the antimalarials that i was given cos seemingly this was not a malarial region. I hope not cos i had...

Jun 10, 2009 - Paraty (Par-a-chee)

We arrive in Parati after a lovely 6 hour bus ride. The ride was wonderfully bumpy and Karen´s gravol was under the bus, but luckily she did not hurl on me. The bus dropped us off at 10pm, and we were supposed to be picked up by the hostel. Unfortunately, we could not find the taxi, so we decide lets try calling them, ok phone, where are you. We found it, but could not figure out how to use it, a guy who spoke english tried helping us but to no avail. We decide to take a taxi which Karen was upset by because she could not negotiate with...

Apr 17, 2009 - Parety, Brazil

Parety is a beautiful colonial town of 3000 people, set on the coast. The surroundings are Brazilian jungle, bordering beautiful blue and aqua ocean waters. This time of year the days are warm and sunny, sunset is early, 6 pm, and the nights are cool. We arrived after 24 hours of bus travel, took a shower and hit the town. Buffet restaurants that charge by the kilo seem to be the norm in Brazil, we had a great dinner with lots of fresh vegetables, pastas, grilled meet, great, all for about 6-7 American dollars each. After we explored the...

Nov 12, 2008 - Paratý

After 33 hours of travel including a 4-hour layover in supercity Sâo Paulo, we made it to the coast, and were welcomed by a torrential downpour. In the dark and poor weather we were forced to take a taxi to the hostel, and were subsequently charged about 3 times the going rate for a 2-minute journey. I stepped out of the car into a puddle which went halfway up my shin. Fortunately things improved from here on. We stayed in a small, sociable hostel and soon built up a group of friends who we shared a boat trip around the islands with. The...