I've put Ilha do Mel as the location, but we're actually back in Paranagua having returned from "Paradise". Ilha do Mel was indeed lovely, but did have its small downsides - I managed to have a small but vicious version of a wasp fall down my top on the first day we arrived there and sting me - its obviously quite a common occurrence cos a waiter came running at me with a bottle of alcohol to treat the sting, but for obvious reasons I wasn't too keen to let him help! A rather unpleasant experience........! Getting there was entertaining - we were plodding along on a ridiculously slow boat when we saw another one careening towards us. I started to panic a bit when it didn't appear to be slowing down, as it was headed straight for us! Panic turned to fright when we gathered that we were going to have to change boats, mid sea. Of course, its perfectly safe, one of the boat hands sticks a foot on the other boat to hold them together.....great! We also saw some pretty intense weather - both nights we were there it stormed pretty seriously - on the first night while we were in bed but on the second night we witnessed what to me looked exactly like pictures on the news of hurricanes - palm trees bent over in the wind, horizontal rain! Not nice at all in our little wooden hut of a room, particularly as it meant we were confined to the hostel for dinner, and their rather unpleasant buffet! But aside from this, it really was rather lovely. The day after we got there, we wanted to spend the day on a boat trip to the Bay of Dolphins. The storm seemed to have disrupted the boats from the town we were staying, so we caught the slowest water taxi in the world to the other town to get the boat from there. Unfortunately it was just leaving as we arrived, but in true Brazilian style they called it back for us so we could get on! The lady in the tourist office had told us that there weren't really many dolphins in Dolphin Bay, and that we might not see any, and she really needs to learn a bit more about marketing cause we saw hundreds! Some of them came in so close, we could see them really clearly. I was a bit unsure at first cause I was feeling rather seasick on the choppy seas but it was more than worth it. I don't have time to finish this entry as I have to go catch a bus! I will finish it when we arrive at our next destination - Iguazu Falls! Caroline x Ok.....I take it back - I do have time to finish! We are on a bit of a mammoth journey at the moment, and the internet is a good way to pass the time between the different buses! It started this morning in Ilha do Mel, involved a boat back to Paranagua, a bus back to Curitiba (where we are now) and then another bus at 10.15 this evening - 10 hours overnight to Foz do Iguaçu, on the Brazilian side of the Iguazu Falls. Its going to take about 24 hours but I'm sure the falls will be worth it! Anyway, there's not really that much more to tell about Ilha do Mel, we managed to get a little speedboat water taxi back to Encantadas after the boat trip, which was much much faster and more fun! Then we were pretty much stuck in for the evening as I said before, didn't really fancy braving the hurricane. Mum, the packet of cards you said would come in handy did indeed! So, we're off to find some dinner and anything else we can do to pass the time til our buses. We left the backpacks in the left luggage at the station so at least thats one less thing to worry about! Caro x PS. Kristy - you can rest assured that had I known it would have involved any trekking through the jungle, I might well have reconsidered my footwear!! x