On our way back from our trip to Paraty, Rose and I checked into the Canto do Itamambuca, a nicely kept pousada about 500 metres from the beach and river.

The funny thing about the “500 metres” to the beach is that they don’t mention that you actually need to cross a river to get to access the beach, either by getting a small boat (paddled by one of the local boatmen) or wading/swimming across. Depending on the tide, the river can be ankle deep to neck deep, so you don’t really know what to expect. But after a few crossings you get used to it (unlike Australia, there are no nasties in the rivers around these parts – or so I was told).

The Canto is a nice place, with friendly staff, a nice pool and a decent breakfast, the only thing was that we were the only guests staying there (as it was low season after carnaval) so it lacked a bit of atmosphere.

On the way back from Ubatuba tonight we came across a Beetle in the foyer of our hotel, which I can only describe as being the size of a small horse, it was huge (I am told they get bigger than this), check out the picture below to see the evidence!

Yep it was a pretty intense birthday afternoon today, the footage was a bit poor as I was mainly concentrating on trying to not get a severe pounding, but I caught a few waves in what was a very crowded Brazil line-up of 100+ surfers.

Here is a pic I took from the shore just before sunset of a surfer getting some evening action.

Will update tomorrow with a bit more info (if I make it back from the surf).

Cheers

Birthday boy!