Paraty was random stop for us, we´d never heard of it but it was in the lonely planet, it was in the right direction and the Swedish couple (David and Stina) we met were going there. It turned out to be a really good stop.

We were in a really nice, friendly hostel opposite the beach, actually we were almost in the hostel. When we arrived they only had one room so David and Stina had that one and we stayed next door in a room above a friendly Granny´s house. She was very bubbly, spoke Portugese to us a lot and kissed me every time we left the room!

Paraty was a nice colonial town, we spent a day wandering round the cobbled streets and taking in the view from the fort. We went for a night out with some of the people we met in the hostel, it was meant to be a samba night but ended up being a random mix of samba, house and euro pop. Local guys couldn´t afford the 5 reals entry fee so they leant in the windows. An English lady who was with us chatted a couple of them up and paid their entry fee. They turned out to be half her age but I think they all had a good time!

The next day we went out with the guys from the hostel again to the waterfalls nearby, there was a big smooth rock like a slide. The locals went down on their feet but tourists weren´t quite that brave!

After Paraty we headed to Foz de Iguaçu on a 22 hour bus journey with Stina and David.

Love Vicky x