The moment we were dreading, a killer 24 hour bus ride. This would be 18 hours by public bus to Sao Paulo and 6 hours by private minibus to Paraty. We were given the option to do the first 18 hour stint on a more luxury bus for an extra £20 each...surely the amount we paid for the tour we shouldn't be on the cheapest bus anyway?! The offer was irrelevant though as everyone had to agree to the upgrade and since we were all on different budgets it was never going to happen.

Although deemed a night bus, being travelling for 18 hours it is also a day bus! After spending a countless amount of time on buses you get use to it, so it is not as bad as it sounds even if it was not great. However it does seem that since we left Peru that the quality of the buses have had an inverse relationship to how developed the country is, it doesn't make sense. Once at Sao Paulo we were given a short city tour. This was so not worthwhile given the cost and effort of putting our stuff in storage to then get on a metro to walk around one square and come straight back. Oh well it didn't look that inviting of a place anyway!

The last 6 hours to Paraty were largely uneventful. However it was now evening and we were yet to eat. Unfortunately Sara was feeling under the weather, so she missed out on the yummy Thai food. It was a shame as we have both really missed this food - I had the spiciest green curry in her honour! Before returning we were also treated to sampling some of the different types of cachaca in a local liqeur shop. The local drink of Brazil, caipirinha, is made up of this spirit cachaca mixed with lime and ice. So to keep up appearances with our previous guide JP (he was here with a different group), we both played barman and to the many of us who drank caipirinhas to the early hours of the morning.

This turned out to be a taster for the next day, where we went on the conveniently named caipirinha boat. No surprises that this is a boat that you go out on and consume caipirinhas to your hearts desire - I saw this as a great challenge to obtain value for money! This was a lot of fun as we stopped off at various points to jump off the boat (only a few metres high but still exhilarating) and also the option to swim to the beach (or get the dingy to shore as Sara did). At one point we stopped to see some monkeys on an island. When swimming to this island a dog appeared from nowhere said hi and then just disappeared, god knows how it got there or where it went. We continued to climb up this island to a small cliff edge, before freefalling back into the ocean. The best part was Kenneth's face, which was scrunched up with fear the whole 5m to the water! Back on the boat I had a yummy chicken stroganoff before the caipirinhas were free flowing again. With everyone merry, it ultimately ended in a free for all lime fight!

On returning back to land us guys thought it was a great idea to go in the not so hot tub in our hotel. Alcohol fuelled we derived a soon to be olympic event which involved throwing flower petals to stick to upper parts of the anatomy for varying points! A very skilful game to say the least. After the majority of the ill affects of the alcohol had worn off, Sara and I went for a stroll around the cobbled streets. It is quite a cute, tranquil place and the colonial architecture stands out. There are a few old churches dotted about and it is not uncommon to see a horse and cart. What is unique are the streets are arranged in channels to allow the sea to wash the streets at high tide or when there is a storm. I must admit though, although my sense of direction is usually good, this is the first place I have got truly lost as it seems that they only adopt a partial block system. Oh well a first for everything! Later that evening we all piled in a VW camper for a bumpy ride across town for dinner. The place was quite hippy there were a few guys playing some well known tunes on the stage which was on top of the bar. It was a random place but a good setting for a chilled night before our early start in the morning.

Xx