Firstly, I?d just like to point out that I know I?m going on a bit, and writing nearly every day, so I don?t expect you all to read every word I write! (except you Mum and Dad, I expect you to hang on to my every word!). I?m probably getting more fun from writing it than you all from reading it, as I?ll have lots of nice memories to look back on! Spent thursday on a nice little boat trip around the many islands in Paraty Bay. Not quite what we?d expected, as we thought we?d be pitching up at idyllic beaches and it was more a case of stopping in a sheltered bay and us all jumping into the water, but it was lovely. Unfortunately, we weren?t quite careful enough with the sun lotion and as such I am now burnt to a crisp! Oh well, I suppose it was inevitable - I should probably be impressed that I lasted over a week before I did it! The weather started to turn towards the end of our trip - by the last stop it was drizzling a bit and none of us really felt much like swimming again. And unfortunately, the drizzly weather has pretty much continued since then! Yesterday (Friday) we were planning a trip to Trindade, which apparently has some of the nicest beaches around and a nice sea pool to swim in, but it was pretty overcast when we got up, and although we did give it til after lunch to clear up, it didn?t really get any better. We spent the day wandering really, we had lunch (and build your own ice cream sundaes) with Caz and Mike that we met on the boat trip. Mike, scarily enough, is from Crawley - not exactly what you expect when you?re as far away as Brazil! We managed to while away most of the afternoon wandering the shops with them, but about 6ish it started to rain - really really rain. After a couple of hours hunger forced us out into the wet, and we had dinner and then a few drinks with Caz and Mike again and some others from their hostel. No early nights for us - the light has gone in our room so we can?t see what we?re doing to read or anything like that. Despite our best efforts to convey this to the adorable little lady that runs the Pousada we don?t seem to be any nearer to getting it fixed, so its probably a good thing we?re leaving tomorrow! Today is Carnamar, Paraty?s warm up to Carnaval that takes place on the tourist boats that do all the tours. We were planning to go on a boat - you pay 50 reais and you get a special t-shirt and all your drinks thrown in, but when we woke up this morning, the rain had not even nearly stopped. The clouds are practically resting on the town, you can?t see the hills or the jungle that surrounds the town. It doesn?t seem to have put off the Brazilians though, we decided to wander down to the quay anyway and the atmosphere was pretty lively. Most of the tourists have been scared away by the rain so we decided to give the actual boat trip a miss - sitting there in the rain not understanding a word all day might have grown a bit tiring after a few hours! We?re with Caz and Mike again (our wet weather buddies!) so we?ll just have to find a way to entertain ourselves around the town instead......did someone say caipirinha?!? Off on the bus to S?o Paulo tomorrow, overnight there then off to Curitiba - last stop before the Igua?u falls which I am really looking forward to. Hopefully the sun will have come back out by then!! Caroline x