Eventful bus journey and the cheese grater slide

We ended up staying in Florianopolis for longer than we planned. We had a nice little apartment with our own kitchen just 2oom from the beach and just next to an estury running up from the sea. It was cheap and as we had our own kitchen we saved a bit of cash by cooking.

There was a 100 year old fig tree in the centre that they illuminated bright green at night.

We brought snorkels in the hope that we could find some good places to snorkel on foot. We walked many a mile and the best place was just where we were staying, although not that great really.

We took an eventful sleeper bus from here to Sau Paulo (12 hours). It started with a small child locking herself in the toilet at the back of the bus. Half the bus joined in the attempt to free her and in the end the driver had to be summoned to stop in a layby and 6 men went outside of the bus and studied it for some time, deciding that 2 of them should lift 1 up the bus who would reach through the window to unlock the door. The other 3 men were to play the important role of watching this manouver. They did this and it worked. Hooray! - as a child I got stuck in many a loo and can sympatise with this girl!

We then fell asleep, remarkably soundly for a sleeper bus to wake up a few hours later to find that we were stopped on the side of the road and the bus was half empty. It turned out we'd broken down and the driver had been flagging down buses heading to Sau Paulo to put people on. Luckily we didn't have to wait too long before we were also herded onto another bus going past and amazingly even our luggage made it through the transition. Before leaving our bus I braved the toilet, only to find that the light had broken and I had to navigate a well used bus loo in the pitch dark - at least I didn't get locked in!

We even arrived in Sau Paulo not long after we'd been expecting to get in. After 41/2 hours at the bus station and another 6 hour bus journey we arrived in Paraty, 24 hours after we'd left.

It's really nice here in Paraty. It's old and small and has lots of cobbled streets. The Belgium guy who owns the guest house we're staying in once went for a job in Farnborough - small world! We're only staying here a couple of nights as we're heading to an island that has an interesting history. It was a pirates lair, then a leppar colony, then a prison. We're hoping to hire a tent and spend a few days camping and snorkelling.

We've just been to a natural slide, which is a 30 foot rock which a gentle waterfall passes over. Dan went down many times, but when I went I got swept slightly to once side where the rock surface is slightly less smooth - like riding a cheese grater! Alas I only managed one trip down.