Ok hello again! Sorry my blogs are so infrequent lately. I'm getting a little sick of blogging to be honest, but I still feel I need to finish it up! I'm almost done my trip after all! Since I last blogged, if I remember correctly, I have been to Paraty, Ilha Grande, and now I am in Rio.

I met my friend Jasmine on the bus to Paraty, she ended up sitting beside me on the bus and was staying at my same hostel in Paraty. I met Jasmine in Florianopolis. We met two other girls from England on our bus to Paraty, Matilda and Charlotte, and ended up hanging out with them and another guy, Jeremy (from Quebec!) the whole time in Paraty. It was a good group and I had a lot of fun with them. The first night we arrived it was already 11 pm so we just checked in, got settled, and went to bed. My first impression of the hostel was really bad because when we walked into the dorm room you couldn't walk a step. People had set mattresses up on the floor and were laying on them together and had stuff everywhere in an already crowded dorm room. At first I thought they were trying to sleep more people than they should in the dorm but it was just the people staying there who moved stuff around and the next day when they all left it was much better. We also woke up to the most amazing breakfast yet! They had two tables absolutely filled with breakfast food. They had baskets of every fruit you could think of (I had about 5 pieces of fruit every morning), fresh squeezed fruit juice, buns, bread, cake, scrambled eggs with bacon, ham, cheese, avocado, tomato, fancy cheese and hams and basil and parsley and other toppings. It was soooo good! I had planned to go to this waterfall that you could slide down like a waterslide but the other three girls were going to Trindade beach so I decided to join them. I was really glad I did because a few days later a girl staying at my hostel went to that waterfall and fell and broke her three front teeth! So we got the 10 o'clock bus to Trindade which is a tiny town about half an hour away. The bus was totally packed but we luckily got a seat on the way there. The bus is super old and there are lots of big hills going to Trindade. The bus was so packed with people that it could barely get up the hills. When we told our hostel manager this that night he said sometimes they have to get out and push the bus up the hill! When we got to Trindade we walked past a tiny beach, through a little river and up a 10 minute trail through jungle to get to another bigger and nicer beach. We parked our butts on the sand for the next 4 hours and I finally got some colour back! At 3 we walked down the beach to a little beach restaurant and got fruit salad and a caipirinha. A caipirinha is an alcoholic beverage made with distilled sugar cane, called Cashasha. They have different fruit flavours but lime is the most popular. Then we made our way through another trail to some natural pools and had a swim before taking a boat taxi back to the bus. We got the 5 o'clock bus back so of course it was packed again and this time it was standing room only for us. I was really happy to be back in a tropical environment in Paraty. Hot weather, beautiful beaches surrounded by green hills covered in jungle and clear blue water. Paradise! That night the hostel owner made dinner for everyone (Mango Chicken and mashed potatoes) which is where we met Jeremy. That night there was a moon party on a beach about 25 min walk away. We drank at the hostel until about 11:30 and the headed to the party. I expected the party to be more rowdy but it was more calm and was really nice. They had a bar and a rasta band playing and a big bonfire going. There were a lot of people there! We stayed and visited for a couple hours and then went back to the hostel. The next day I had a schooner boat trip that was part of my big South America pass. Unfortunately all my friends were going to go the next day (the day I left) so I was on my own. I thought it would still be lots of fun but when I got to the boat it was all couples! I was the only single person :( so it wasn't that great people wise but it was a really beautiful trip! We spent 5 hours on the water and made 4 stops at different islands to snorkel, swim, and lay on the beach. At one point I was on the dingy back to the boat from the beach and the boat driver guy pointed out a jellyfish in the water! Then he scooped it up so we could get pictures! It was pretty neat. After my boat trip I went back to the hostel and met up with my friends. We went out to dinner which turned into a lot of drinking! The restaurant owner or manager took a liking to my friend Charlotte and kept buying her caipirinhas. He bought her like 8 drinks and she was sharing them with all of us at the table. Then he came over to our table with shot glasses and a bottle of banana cashasha and we all finished three bottles! We got a lot of free drinks! So that was a pretty fun night. The next day I left Paraty at noon and headed to Ilha Grande!

I took a shuttle bus for a couple hours and then got on a ferry and took about a 45 minute ride out to the island. The weather was gorgeous during my whole stay! Hot and sunny,except the day I left, but that was fine! When I got to my hostel I met a great group from my dorm room and we all had supper and drinks together and then went out to a local night club. It wasn't really a night club but more like an old ugly room with a bar and a guy with a laptop playing tunes haha. There's not much nightlife on the island. But I got to watch some locals doing the samba which was really really cool. Next day I went to the famous Lopes Mendez beach, one of the top beaches in the world. It did not disappoint! Very clear blue water and gorgeous, deep, soft white sand. This beach can only be reached by walking a 3.5 hour trail or taking a boat and walking about 20 mins. I opted for the boat ride. I spent the afternoon there with some friends and then headed back to the hostel! More drinking and visiting with friends and then bed. The next day I went with two new friends, Dan and Jen, to Dois Rios, a village and beach as well as some old prison ruins 8.5 km away! We couldn't get a boat there so we had to take the trail. It was an hour straight uphill and then an hour downhill and the same on the way back. I was pooped when we got back to the hostel and had terrible blisters on my feet even though I was wearing my good hiking shoes. I hadn't walked that long in probably a month so my poor feet weren't used to it. The prison ruins were basically just a pile of cement because the president had the prison imploded 30 years ago. There was a museum there (all in Portuguese) but Dan speaks Portuguese so he translated a bit for me. The conditions of the prison sounded terrible. The prisoners were used for hard labour on the island back when it was just developing. They had to build roads and buildings and make shoes and things. It would suck to work in that heat (their summer gets to high 40s) and to be surrounded by these beautiful beaches and not be able to use them! The beach we went to was nice but the tide was really high that day so there was hardly any beach to lay on. It was the same way at lopes Mendez so I was glad I went there on a good day. We planned to head back at about 3:30 and just as we were leaving a huge wind storm picked up and brought in some scary looking clouds over the hills. We booked it out of there but still had a two hour hike back. But we made it back without running into any rain, we just saw some really scary looking clouds! Dan and Jen took me to a really delicious and cheap bakery they found where we had a burger, a dessert and a cup of açai. It was my first cup of açai I had and it was very good! It came in smoothie form with bananas and granola. Now I have it all the time hahaha. In fact I just finished a cup a couple minutes ago. More drinking and visiting that night. The next day I headed to Rio at 1pm. I did some shopping and then went back to the bakery before heading out. My trip to rio went smoothly and I actually arrived early!

I met mom at the hotel. It was very very good to see her! We went out for supper at a cool little seafood tapas place where they have all different kinds of seafood under a clear counter and you choose what you want and they give you a 100g plate of it. We had some garlic prawns, a seafood mix, and garlic cloves. We got all caught up and then planned what to do the next day! We decided to go see the Christ the redeemer statue. We took the bus and when we got to the bus stop I ran into Charlotte and Matilda (from Paraty) who were waiting for the same bus to also go see the Christ statue! It was very funny to run into them. I also ended up running into Dan and Jen at the statue. A popular place I guess! The bus took awhile to get there but it finally came and was totally jammed with people. We squeezed on and stood for the ride to the train station. At the station we were told it would be an hour until the next train so we took the mini bus up the mountain (same price and it stops at another lookout point before the statue). It was a good visit with some good views of Rio but really not that exciting. That night we went to a little pasta place for supper and went to a mall and did some shopping! Next day we had a bike tour booked! It went through Copacabana and flamengo areas, mostly along the coast. Our guide was super knowledgable and very personable. We learned a lot about rio. It is the most visited city in South America! Also we learned Brazil has the largest African population outside of the African countries because it used to be a huge slave port. Some of the cities in the north of brazil are almost completely African. We stopped at a really great stand for my first taste of coconut water straight out of the coconut! Our guide told us all about his life and all his job ventures. He has owned a cyber cafe, a bookstore, newsstands, a restaurant, and now he's started this cycling tour about 7 months ago. It was quite interesting! Also I found the university system in brazil interesting. There are some federal and state universities that are free for students if you can get it. You have to take a test and the highest scores are selected. There are only 60 spots in each discipline and thousands of student applying from all over Brazil so it's really competitive. Most people have to study for 2 or 3 years on their own after high school in order to get in. Then there are private universities but they are very expensive. After our bike tour we went to Copacabana beach for a few hours, then hit up a Churrascaria (Brazilian steakhouse). This is where they have a buffet with salad, bread, etc. and then come around with different meats on skewers that have been cooked over a flame. I ate a lot. I forgot before supper we went to Sugar loaf mountain! It is a famous landmark in rio and has great views from the top (supposedly). You take a gondola up to urca mountain and then a second gondola up to sugarloaf. We did have good views at urca and were there for the sunset so that was beautiful. But sugarloaf was covered in such dense cloud that when we got up there you couldn't see 5 feet away from you, let alone the view at the bottom. It was actually pretty funny. But we waited awhile and when it got dark we could see the lights of rio through the clouds. After supper I met up with some friends from Rio who I met in Florianopolis and went out to a true Brazilian party! It was really cool. They picked me up at my hotel and we drove about 30 mins out of the tourist area. I thought we were going to a little club but it was a HUGE party! There were tons of people, lights, and a stage with a DJ and then a live band playing. It was outside but had a roof overhead. I was definitely the only foreigner there. It was a pretty cool experience! Today I'm very tired from my night out so we just planned a beach day at Ipanema. 3 more nights in rio and then off to the pantanal for 5 nights and then home!! Can't believe it.

Until next time :)