Managed to travel a whole two hours down the coast by public transport....the first tricky non Englasiee independent travel in months after sitting on our arses all Christmas and the easy life in Oz....quite strange being back to having absolutely no idea where we are going to sleep or what bus we need to catch! Anyway successfully reached Paraty in one piece.

It is a lovely little cobbled Colonial town famous for being the start of the Gold Trail and flooding twice a day when the tide comes in! Stayed in a very cute courtyard hostel with a pool cum spa....just what we need after 35 degree super sweaty days! Visited the cultural centre and the Gold Trail museum....and think we may also have spotted gold flecks in the mud!

Luckily we were there during the 340th town anniversary so we joined in with the street party and strange live bands while munching on local unidentified street food...before catching another rammed local bus to a tiny village called Trindade where we trekked again through the rainforest for a dip in the natural sea pool......lovely!