A mere 3hrs west of Rio, we took a bit of chance coming here as there was v.little written about it in the Lonely Planet. The town itself was nothing special and neither was the hostel, which was empty of guests and expensive.

Anyhow, the national park was definately worth it. A mixture of Atlantic rainforest, waterfalls and ice-cold pools. Stu went for a dip first and got straight out, and after a while of basking in the sun I couldn`t resist the temptation of the refreshing water. Stu reassured me it wasn`t that cold, but oh my god, it was freeeeezing! I screamed and got straight out.

The sound of insects in the forest was so loud at first we thought it may be a chain saw....but no! Don`t the insects know about noise pollution?