Headed Up The Coast

From Florianopolis we headed to the small colonial town of Paraty. It was much different than anything else I had seen in Brazil with it's white buildings with colorful doors and cobblestone streets. It rained pretty much the entire time we were there so we didn't get to explore as much as we'd like. On the one day that seemed promising we took the local bus to a nearby beach but on the way there it started to downpour so we just headed back. We got back into town, stopped by the fish market and the vegetable market to buy stuff for dinner and tried to wait out the rain but it didn't stop. Eventually we just braved it and were literally wading through the streets in water almost up to our knees.

Streets of Paraty.

Jules and I.

Pretty colonial church.

From Paraty we headed to Ilha Grande which is an island south of Rio that has no cars and no ATMs. The island was really beautiful and we had heard people raving but Jules and I agreed that St. John, USVI still has the most beautiful beaches we have seen. Unfortunately, the rain followed us and for the first couple days we just sat and watched the clouds set in amongst the lush green hills. It was still beautiful, but we were sick of sitting around the hostel. Eventually the rain subsided and we had a nice beach day. We took a boat to Lopez Mendes and still didn't do much, but at least we were on the beach!!

Out on the water, headed to the beach.

Lopez Mendes beach.

Yea a secluded island off the coast of Brazil is great and all, but what Jules and I really loved about Ilha Grande was the SWEET CART! For all you sweet tooths out there, this is true heaven. I had my sweet tooth under control at home, but here in Brazil they love their sweets!!They have these carts that are filled with all kinds of delicious treats. Jules and I visited the cart twice in one day. A little out of control...

Paradise = Sweet Cart

Us enjoying our sweets with our Irish friends

Kelly and Jac.

Old prison ruins on the island.

This cute Brazilian boy showed us

to the local water hole.

From there we headed to the fabulous Rio. I just left there and spent 11 wonderful days there. I will post those pics soon. I am headed to Quito tomorrow where I am going to be working at the Secret Garden hostel and studying Spanish for a month. It will be nice to spend some time in one place and really get to know Equador's landscape and culture. Being able to speak more Spanish will definitely help.