We left Rio on Thursday, heading two hours south along the coast to Paraty. The town is famous for it's numerous nearby beaches as well as its well preserved colonial streets and is a popular spot for Brazilians to visit for the weekend, as we noticed on Saturday.

Friday was a bit overcast, so even though there are dozens of beaches only a walk or a bus ride away, we decided it wouldn't be worth it so went on a bike trip instead. We took the bikes out of town and uphill - there was lots of sweating with the humidity. We stopped off at a waterfall to cool down, before more uphill cycling towards Penha to reach our highlight of the day - the rock water slide.

A short walk from the roadside, through the woods, took us to a massive boulder, as big as a house, with a thin stream of water running over it, making it the perfect slide. But first there was a warm up - we walked safely across the slippery rock and ducked our heads under a waterfall where you can sit beneath the gushing water. When you've had enough you can give yourself a little push and you slide along the rock, through the waterfall and into a little pool.

Now that you're suitably warmed up, you're ready for the big one. Walk gingerly until it gets too steep, then sit and you will slide all the way down this giant rock into a large pool of water. The local guys do this standing up and jump into the pool - how they don't crack their skulls I dont know!

Friday night was spent drinking Caipirinhas and beers from very large stubbie holders - I was extremely excited to find a creperie that served cider; cold, delicious cider! Saturday in Paraty was an admin day - that means laundry, phone calls home and writing journals. Why? Because it rained pretty much all day, stopping in the evening for us to get some dinner in the old town, each step carefully taken to avoid the many puddles between the cobbles. The weather definitely spoiled our time but it was still easy to see the charm that the town of Paraty has. An overnight bus on Sunday and we were to arrive in another gorgeously set hostel, one that rivals Ilha Grande; that of Barra Beach Club.

Ilha de Santa Caterina is an island that lies further south down the coast and is very close to the mainland. It is connected through the gateway city of Florianopolis, which straddles both the mainland and the island. Two local buses from Floripa later and we were at the little town of Barra da Lagoa, which sits on the eastern side of the island, facing the Atlantic. Our hostel was the BBC and it had a spectacular view of the beach (see the picture), which was exactly where we spent our first day. The second day was spent lying out at a different spot on the coast and jumping off huge rocks - some more successfully than others!

The staff in the hostel were great and it also had a resident chef, Laura, who gave us fantastic meals each night. We enjoyed ourselves there so much we stayed a day longer than planned. The weather wasn't great everyday, but it was a relaxed, chilled out few days.

It's funny that while writing this blog, I've only given two paragraphs to one of my favourite places on the trip. C'est la vie!