We returned from a lovely weekend in Paraty with the Wards today, Sunday 1st June.

Yesterday morning we jumped in the family car with the Wards and headed south west along the coast to Paraty. The drive was beautiful, with picturesque beaches and the winding road ribboning its way around the coastline sandwiched between the ocean and the mountains. The drive was dotted with shanty towns, a floating oil platform and even a nuclear reactor that reminds you this is Brazil, a developing nation, and not the Great Ocean Road, although the two drives are comparable in many ways.

Paraty was founded by the Portuguese in 1667, but pay day really started when the world's richest gold mines were found in the mountains of Minas Gerias twenty years later, around the turn of the century. The gold was mined about a 1000 kms away but was transported to Paraty to be transported and traded around the globe. Paraty's wealth blossomed during this time and the reminants of that wealth is what brings people to Paraty to see.

The weather wasn't great, although the rain held off long enough for us to arrive in Paraty, find and Pousada to stay at and have a walk around the historical old city. The towns have the most ricketty old cobblestoned streets I have ever seen, but as no cars are permitted to drive in the 'Old City' you can navigate the path whilst gazing into the many shops and craft stores that are throughout the old city. The town almost has a feeling of Greece about it, many of the old buildings are painted white, or some bright alternative, and the sills of the doors and windows are painted by a brightly contrasting partnered colour. The shop fronts also might have three doorways about a metre from each other that gives the shops plenty of bright colours and a wide open entrance that is awfully enticing.

Sunday was spent with a slowish morning at our homly little Pousada, as it was drizzling outside. But we needed to get going not to late to get back to Rio before dark, to minimise any risk on the roads and Russell was required at work on Monday, naturally. We found time to visit a little waterfall near that Paraty that was mostly accessible by car, so we didn't get drenched trekking in the rain. The waterfalls were pretty and the falling rain created a beautiful setting as the green moss and leaves sparkled with the recently fallen water droplets.

The drive home was safe and uneventful as we all slept some of the way, except Russ as he was driving and its not safe to sleep at the wheel!

We now have a week or so in Rio de Janeiro, before onto the Pantanal for a safari then onwards through Bolivia.