6 Girls, 5 A**holes, and Gary

We all woke up under our own power which meant 10:30am for myself. I headed down the hall to the little kitchen where they offered a free breakfast. This was a welcomed service for some including myself since it meant we did not have to leave the hotel to search out for food like some of the previous accommodations which had no food services on site at all. It actually was very similar to the breakfast offered at my beloved Story Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden. Rolls, ham, cheese, fruit, and fresh juices including a guava juice that was outstanding. After breakfast, Justin, Hannah, Andrew, Suzanne, Elizabeth, and myself decided to go get some ice cream since we heard it was quite good. We headed off to first go to the supermarket with an ATM to get some cash since several of us had run out of travel funds. The supermarket and the ice cream shop were in opposite directions so instead of walking, we took a horse carriage for 5 reals each and he not only took us to the supermarket, but he also waited for us, then took us to the ice cream shop. He even let Hannah feed the horse a carrot.

We walked over to the ice cream shop and each got what we fancied. It's the kind of store where you choose whatever you want, then pay by weight. I got 3 scoops of ice cream and marshmellow and chocolate sauce. We sat down and went around the table asking how much we spent on our cups. The answers were between 6 and 16 reals until we got to Andrew in which he replied sheepishly "22". We all busted up laughing and exchanged stories as we ate our ice cream.

We left the ice cream shop and Andrew commented that he was thinking of going to see "the waterfalls". When we had arrived in Paraty, Barbara had given us a map and told us about the good sights in the area. The waterfalls were one of them. Justin and I were down to go and we ran into James and Sarah in the street and James said he was interested so we went back to the hotel go collect our things and ask Barbara how to get there. I made a quick detour to get some stronger bug repellant on the way. Barbara explained that the waterfalls fell over a large long rock and it was possible to slide down it but she STRONGLY warned DO. NOT. SLIDE. DOWN. STANDING. She said that we'd see people do it and while it looked easy, one slip and you'd literally crack your head open. We promised her we wouldn't and got the information on what bus to take, etc. So Andrew, James, Justin, Tom, and myself walked down to the bus stop to catch the Penha bus for the 20 minute ride to the falls. We got there and took a look and it was a beautiful sight. The rock is probably 50 feet high, 200 feet long with a slight grade at the top and a fairly steep grade after leading down to a narrow but fairly deep pool at the bottom. We explored the area for a bit before trying out the slide. I was the first one to try to navigate my way across the stream and sure enough, ¾ of the way across, slipped, and fell in. Backpack, shirt and all. The guys being great guys, clapped and took pictures. HAHA! Jerks. Since I was sopping wet already, took off my shirt, backpack, and flip flops and gave it a try. I also had my Dicapac waterproof camera bag so took video of me sliding down. The first time down was a blast. You start slowly until you get to the steeper sections then you slide down quite fast. I was laughing all the way down. The guys were nice enough to actually grab my gear at the top and carry it back down to the bottom so that was cool of them. Then they went back up to try it for themselves. Justin, Tom, and I had on actual swim trunks, Andrew and James were wearing futbol shorts so when they went down, they actually just stuck to the rocks due to their shorts getting heavy. We have hilarious pictures of Andrew sitting on the side of the falls with his hands up and a "what can you do?" look on his face. It was hysterical. We all went down about 6 times. They voted me the best since I really gathered some speed on some. I figured out that the best way to go was to lean back and actually slide on your back, not your bottom. I hit the water so hard on one that my camera in the Dicapac bag actually flew out of my hand. That turned out to be a cool video. We spent about 2 hours there then headed back since we had to wait for the bus back as well as be back for a "special" dinner Barbara had planned for us at 8pm. We walked back to the bus stop and realized we had 30 minutes before the next bus came. Andrew, being the hard drinking Scot that he is, recalled a bar down the road a bit so he and Justin walked down to buy a round of beers for the rest of us while Tom, James, and I waited for the bus. Well, 5 minutes later a guy in a van pulled up and said something in Portuguese, I replied with "Paraty"? and he nodded and held up 3 fingers for 3 reals. The same price of the bus. We all figured if we didn't see Andrew and Justin on the way back, they'd still be able to take the bus but hoped we'd see them on the road. We hopped in, paid 3 reals, and he started driving down the mountain. Sure enough, a few turns ahead we saw Andrew and Justin carrying 5, 22 ounce beers walking on the side of the road. I told the driver to "pare" (stop) and they jumped in. It was perfect!

15 minutes and 22 ounces of beer later someone (I honestly can't remember who's idea it was. I think it was Andrew and James) decided it would be funny to pull a practical joke on the group. We'd head back and tell everyone someone got hurt on the falls. Andrew, who is a character, would be the "victim". We even stopped at a "farma" (pharmacy) to get a bandage for his head. We wrapped his head up on the street to the chagrin of a few locals, got our stories straight, and he shuffled back into the hotel courtyard with the bandage on his head. We were actually hoping to have the group in the courtyard by the hot tub and be able to play it up. Nope, not a single person was out. DAMMIT. Fortunately (or unfortunately), Barbara came out a few minutes later and the act began. Andrew played it perfectly, James told the initial story, and I threw in a few details. Justin and Tom had to leave because they were laughing. Lydia and Amanda actually saw them laughing so guessed it was a hoax because they could not believe they were so insensitive. We let it play out for a few minutes and let Barbara scold us for being irresponsible before letting her in on the joke. We each got a punch in the arm, I got a finger wagged at me because I am her "back up" tour guide for when she's drunk since I've been labeled the most responsible as well as the "alpha male" by the girls and most importantly, the group has been renamed "6 girls, 5 a**holes, and Gary".

After giving Barbara hug and apologizing, we all got ready for the "special" dinner Barbara had planned for us. None of us had any idea what it was. We were picked up by 2 taxis and were driven a little outside of Paraty to a restaurant called "Thai Brazil". It was a restaurant inside of a house and it was the coolest interior I've ever seen in a restaurant. It looked more like a cool bookstore. Couches, books, candles… Simply awesome. Barbara explained that the restaurant was owned a close family friend who lived in Thailand and learned to cook there. The meal was phenomenal. It was a 5 course fixed price meal with the first dish being cucumber and papaya salad, the second (and the best) dish was fresh calamari in black bean sauce, the third was pad thai with shrimp, the fourth was red curry over rice, and the dessert was fried banana with ice cream. I would rank it as one of the best meals I've ever eaten. I told Barbara, I wish I could just have a bowl of the cucumber and papaya salad. It was the perfect end to another great day. But we went to bed knowing that the next day was the dreaded 24 hour busride.