OK, so I've been really lazy! SP to Rio

I know I promised more and underdelivered, but that's what happens when your having the time of your life. But more about life in Rio & Carnaval later, this is about what we got up to on our way to this out of control city.

So as mentioned we caught up with Felipe, who I had met in Patagonia, and his girlfriend our last night in Sao Paulo and they took us out to a Samba School's rehearsal for the Samba Parade. It was great to see the unfinished product and the craziness that goes on at these things. Thousands of people crammed into a shed, live music, dancing & lots of booze. We headed out to a different part of town afterwards to checkout the nightlife.


The following day we headed to the bus station to find out that allof the buses to Paraty (our intended next stop) were booked out until late afternoon but we could risk it by going through a small coastal town named Ubatuba and trying to connect through. We grabbed our tickets and thought about something Felipe had told us the evening prior, he had written down the name of a small surfing village and a guy named Mario's details who rented cheap rooms with a view and it all happened to be just outside Ubatuba. We had originally thought of backtracking a little from Paraty to check this place out, but now that the opportunity had presented itself we had to take it up.

After about my 12th attempt to get Mario on the phone (portuguese was still not so great and telephone system could not be more complicated) I thought that he agreed to pick us up from the bus station in Ubatuba - perfect; that's if I understood correctly. But sure enough he was there in his Boardies with the Combi van rearing to go, we jumped in and headed for Itamambuca Beach, a small village based in a cove on a beautiful beach. We were even more stoked when we saw the view from our room and the proximity from the beach, awesome!


After a night and day with Mario, it was time to keep moving north towards Paraty, a really old fishing village surrounded by some 90+ islands all with their own pristine beaches.


We spent our first day on an island tour to some of the better places for snorkeling and relaxing on the beaches and that night out enjoying some more Samba rehearsals throughout the streets of town. The following day we backtracked a little and headed to Trindade for the day where among some great beaches we also found this natural rock pool filled with abundant fish life and crystal clear water.


Fisherman Dudes

The following day we were off again to Ilha Grande - reported to have the best beaches of Brasil. It was a bus ferry combination through a small town before we got there, but we were finally able to find something that Lilla has been searching for since she got here; a big seafood BBQ. We dined and enjoyed wine on the beach to celebrate. The next day we were off on another island/beach tours on one of the infamous Brazilian Schooners where we meet 2 Swedish girls we met up with later that night for some drinks, the following day it was off to the 'Best Beach in Brasil' which really was spectacular and much less crowded than what we had come across so far.


I met a South African guy out body surfing and we decided to grab some boards and hit the waves, just to confirm that I am still as shit as I ever was at surfing, but it was great fun being out on the water again. Dinner and drinks with the Swedes again before heading off to Rio.........

I spent last night uploading some 600 photos so be sure to check them out with the Flickr link to the right.