Hey friends & family it´s me reporting in again from a new location which is either spelt Paraty or Parati depending on your mood I guess.

Rio - it appears it´s all about the beaches, the beautiful bodies and the bars - seeing as the beaches and beautiful bodies go hand-in-hand, guess what our (that´s moi et Jon) preference has been for Actually we´ve sampled so many of Rio´s finest establishments that as yet we´ve still got to get out in daylight to see the two main sights, namely Jesus on the Hill and the sugar loaf hill - but we will get there....!

Right so after all the revelling in Rio we felt we owed our livers a treat so we tried to book on Ilha Grande but it was full and instead opted for Paraty(i). This georgeous little town is 4 hours drive away from Rio going south (mad bloody bus drivers here btw) and the town centre is a world heritage site - little colenial buildings, cobbled streets, wooden shutters and Bossa Nova. But that´s not all... behind the town is lush green rain forest and in front of the town is a beautiful sandy bay and the wonderful warm Atlantic Ocean... But that´s not all - Paraty also has 65 tropical islands to boat-hop around which in fact, Jon & I have spent today doing... but obviously not all 65.

We´re here until Friday, so tomorrow is a day of kayaking through the rain forest river which runs right past the bottom of our hotel. Then Friday we take the bus back to Rio for the big party in the form of Carnaval (WOW!!).

Oh sorry got a couple of Parish Notices....

1. Everyone who has mailed/left site message - thanks I will reply very soon (working my way down the list and internet here a bit frustrating at the best of times).

2. Photos - hope to have some up soon - see note above, but also not taken that many snaps yet as you don´t tend to take much out with you in Rio if you want to end up with it at the end of the night.

Well that´s all for now - will try to report in during Carnaval but that´s subject to the fun-factor

x