So I now have been in Paraty for 3 days, its an absolutely calm and beutiful fishing town surrounded by marvelous waters and many mountains. The people here are so extremely nice and very welcoming, smiling and starring as you pass. This town doesnt have as many tourists as Ilha Grande, and you get more of a Brasilian feel from it, I like that. We were all hung over on our way over here, with maybe only a couple of hourS of sleep, even less for some hard core partiers that I am traveling with (funny californians). Soon as we got here we checked into Ace Backpackers hostel for only 25 real, wich is about 10 American dollars a night. Sweet!! This town was so much more cheap than Ilha Grande, which is great for us cause I know we all spent a lil too much in Rio and Ilha Grande. Anyhow, it was a beutiful day and we didnt want to waste it by sleeping all day. Somehow we mangaged to get our tired asses to do a 3 hour hike.

We went to the Golden Trail up in the mountains to hike. It was our first time so none of us knew exactly how strenuous it was going to be, there was about 11 of us and the vast majority were in Havianas (Brasilian flip flops, they are so dope and cheap here, very popular in London from what I hear, Ill bring some back for a few peeps). Anyhow, befor the hike we went to these monstrous rocks that the locals go surfing on. These rocks have water running down them like small waterfalls so they are great for sliding, but you must be very careful and its best for a local to show ya how its done. We watched the Brasilians just scale these rocks against the grain (rushing water) with no problem what so ever, they did it quickly and didnt even fall. Once they reached the top they would run and slide on their bum down a few rocks, spinning around until they reached the pond below and gave us a huge splash, it was brillliant and we applauded them each time one of them would show off for us. Some of these brave guys would actually go down these mounds standing up, they call it rock surfing. I have no idea how they did it, but it was exciting and scary to see. A few of my friends slid down the rocks, I was to scared because of my injury on my shin, I didnt want to fuck with it anymore. They said it was absloutely exilerating, so fun.

The hike up the Golden Trail, a trail in the rain forest where the slaves used to hide gold in clay was really beautiful even though we were all huffing and puffing for bloody help on our way up. It was quite funny all of us hung over and tired doing this. Crazy!! Anyhow, we passes a lot of cow shit and some magic mushrooms, but we didnt take any, too scared. There was so many picturesque views and sights to see, it was amazing. About an hour into the hike we made it to the most amazing veiw point that over looked all of Paraty, its ocean and mountains. I got a good shot of it, however its on my disposable, not my digi. Continuing on with the trail you would pass by little houses inhabited by the local mountain people. They were so kind and friendly waving at us and smiling with their happy dogs trailing us. It is amazing how these people live so far up and so far from civilization. Yet at the same time they are in a mountain paradise. The trail was hard and lots of wasps were chasing after us, I didnt get injured (surprisingly) but a few of my buddies got some minor scrapes and stubbed toes. It was getting dark and we had to hussel to get to the top and enter the beautiful gate. Ahhhh Shhiiiit!!! We get to the top and the bloody gates are closed, it was a beautiful and healthy hike but we never got to enter the gates, oh well. We got down the mountain quickly and only were hiking in the dark for about 15 minutes, damn it was scary not being able to see. Two people had flash lights, but it didnt help much. Anywho, we got down alright,

We were exausted and took our showers and then treated ourselves to a nice candle lit Indian dinner in the historic down town area. I had a mango lassi and a chicken curry served in a pineapple. The food was delicous and the presentation was beautiful. We shared a few appetizers some nan and paneer and drank a few beers. This was top quality all for about 40 real each, which is about 16 US dollars. After we attempted to to go to the Chey Gabbara bar but it was closed and we went to a different dope little spot, great atmosphere and some funny ass people watching. There was this flamboyant tiny little old man about 70 just dancing all about. He was hillarious with his flashy rings and arm bracelets. He was wearing this retro 70s tight shirt tucked into some tight white capris with white keds and a these little tweety bird ankle socks. This guys was straight up comedy just dancing around, he was trashed. I dont know if it was blow or all the cashaska he was drinking but he looked as high as a kite, it was probably both. Anyhow, we left after one beer and went straight to bed.

The next day was just the best!! We went on this dope boat with about 50 people and sailed around from beach to beach and island to island for about 5 hours. The sun was so hot and we laid out on the deck. The musician on the boat was great, he played the guitar and sang over some speakers so the sound was great. Lots of Portuguese Ragga. We swam at every beach and snorkeled as well, saw some beautiful fish but nothing out of the norm. My favorite part was when I swam with a school of zebra looking fish, it was exciting. We tossed back a few beers and began diving and jumping of the boat and part of the mass. We were showing our London mates how to do cannon balls, jack knives, and such. It was so much fun and T-moss (cali buddy) was just hilarious. He is this really big guy, and so funny. He was doing these huge cannnon ball and spraying us all. It was muita bom (very good).

After that we cooked a feast at the hostel had some wine, and then partied are asses off in town, we danced with the Brasilians and had a really good time. After that we went to another bar and played some pool, or should I say some snooker (Brasilian pool). It was kind of frustrating cause I was drunk and the game is so damn backwards here. There is no stripes, you play off of even or odds. You dont have to call your shots and its okay to play slop. And of course the pool sticks had no tips, Miss Parker you would have been like WHAT THE FUCK DUDE!!...lol Anyhow time flew by and when we left the dark bar the sun was brightly shining, damn!! Straight to bed for me, the others were to cracked out to go to bed, but some how they manged to make omlettes...COMEDY!!!