So we headed down to Paraty, a lovely town on the coast of Brazil. We stayed in a fab place by the beach and I took a stroll into the old town which is quite touristy but very nice. Cuty little shops and art galleries. Some really nice jewellery to be purchased but I resisted. Me soooooo goooooood!! Met this guy but he didn’t say much 🙂 

 

The old town there is very pretty and is designed to flood with water in the evenings so it cleans the pavement stones. Can render you a little stranded though………

…….especially if you’re trying to avoid treading in water submerged horse poo!!! Ah well you gotta plunge in I guess?!

Had a few home-made Caiprihinas (brazilian cocktails) that night, thanks to Lynn and my berocca to assist with crushing the limes……

And a good old natter with Jeannette, Lynn and Alissa before we headed off to the pub with the rest of the crew. The following day a big bunch of us headed off on a boat trip which was just the right medicine to recover from Carnival in Rio. Lovely chillaxing day visiting some of the islands around the bay.

 

A few nice refreshing swims in the (surprisingly) not too cold sea. Isn’t this the best photo, love these guys!!!

Another few drinks that night and it was off to Sao Paulo the following morning. Sao Paulo is such a sprawl of a city, huge population. Sprawling Sao Paulo Video It’s not the prettiest city but there’s a lot going on there. Myself, Jeannette, Lynn & Alissa went for most fantastic sushi dinner in the Japanese quarter. This is definitely the  best sushi I’ve ever had!! Gorgeous hand rolled pieces….

 

…it was 10 euro for 15 of these bad boys so we couldn’t even finish it out! The following morning we went to a local market near where we were staying in the gay area. From there we headed to the MASP (Museu de Arte de Sao Paulo) which had some great paintings including some from Picasso, Van Gogh, Renoir and my favourite, Monet.

We did a fair bit of walking around and ended up at the Benedito Calixto, an antiques market, well some of the stuff had questionable antique status (or maybe I’m now old enough to remember things that qualify as antiques – oh dear god!!!) but it was interesting nonetheless. Finished off the evening with a visit to The Edifico Italia Bar which is one of the taller buildings in Sao Paulo. Gave great views of Sao Paulo…..

 

Although myself and Alissa had to admit that the view was far more appealing when it got dark!! Still though we felt very posh having a couple of drinks there. In my wisedom(!) decided to get my hair cut afterwards. Ended up being shorter on one side than the other and not in a fashionable way I assure you!!!! Ah crap!!

So with my fantastic new haircut, we headed for Curitiba the next day and managed to get myself tresses in somewhat symmetrical order again 🙂 Headed for the historical centre which is very pretty….

…..had a bite to eat, a few scoops and some good live music. Checked out the botanical gardens the next day, saw a few red-eyed turtles in the lake…….

……..and the famous glass house which I liked a lot…

chillaxed and sunbaked (which I have to stop because I look about 40 these days – can someone please buy me a facelift when I get home, pretty, pretty please….?) before getting a night bus to Iguassu. Much, much, much prefer the night bus, it kills me to be travelling during the day, it feels like such a waste. Alissa kindly gave me a sleeping tablet and I slept for about 11 hours – best night’s sleep in months – sweeeeeeeet.

Stay tuned for Iguassu Falls, but for now more photos on these links http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindybear/sets/72157614571025457/   http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindybear/sets/72157614641775395/   http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindybear/sets/72157614641828475/