Greetings from the middle of nowhere!

Hi to you all, Hope you are well. I am exceedingly well now that I have left the flu bug far behind and Lynn managed to avoid getting it altogether so we're both well infact. Thank you to anyone who has sent me an email. It's really nice to hear from you and please don't decide not to send me an email just because you think I probably get too many and get fed up of reading them as it's not true. It's really nice to log-in to my email account and find lots of messages especially ones that tell me you enjoy reading my updates! So anyway, where am I? That is a very good question and I hope your maps are detailed if you're following our progress in an atlas or something. Well, first off we're still in Brazil. Find Curitiba in the south west and Paranagua on the coast somewhere below it. Between these two places is a little lodge owned by a Spanish couple called Maria and Nicolas in the rainforest somewhere between the two towns of Morretes and Antonina. The lodge consists of their house which they share with their 2 sons and 2 boxer dogs and 3 small huts tucked away in the hillside. And we're currently residing in one of these beautiful little huts. It's about as remote as you can get without setting off on you own and it's absolutely wonderful. Nicolas had a few errands to do in Morretes so kindly took us aswell and so at this precise moment I'm in an internet cafe in Morretes. So how did we end up here? I'll start where I left off last time... I sent my last email from a little town on the coast called Paraty. A beautiful old colonial port that is a protected site to preserve the buildings and full of little artists shops selling paintings and carvings and the like. We stayed there for 3 days and then caught the overnight coach to Curitiba. Curitiba is a nice city. Very green, lots of trees and parks. We stayed for 4 nights and then caught the train from Curitiba to Paranagua on the coast. The train journey is described as one of the most scenic journeys in South America. Most people take the journey purely for the views and then make a return journey the same day. We bought our tickets, boarded the train and set off. Each carriage has it's own bilingual attendant pointing out the sights as we go. 3 hours later the train stops at a nice little town in the middle of nowhere called Morretes. "This is the last stop, thankyou for travelling with us" says the attendant. "But we're going to Paranagua" I say - showing my ticket which clearly indicates Curitiba to Paranagua and today's date. "Sorry Sir, this train only goes to Paranagua at the weekend. In the week Morretes is the last stop." What can we do? He just shrugs. He's sorry, but it's not his fault. The attendant made a mistake back in Curitiba. She should have told us. He can't do anything about it. So off we get with our very heavy packs to find the bus station. It's so hot it feels like we're walking around on the surface of the sun. We're very thirsty by the time we locate the bus station and make for the cafe to throw 2 or 3 litres of cold water down our throats. Whilst there we get talking to Maria and Nicolas who tell us about their little lodge in the rainforest. We take their number and promise to call them in 4 days as we're heading for Paranagua where we hope to get a boat to a little island called Ilha Do Mel. Ilha Do Mel is alot like the island we stayed at before (Ilha Grande) only far less developed. Wooden Huts on the beach and a jetty and that's about it. It's very relaxing. We spend our days walking along the beaches or swinging in the hammocks outside our hut. If only there was a decent ice-cream shop I'd be in heaven. Infact it doesn't even have to be decent. As long as it sells ice-cream. Oh, and the bugs. I feel like a 24 hour drive-thru for mosquitoes and sand flies. "Free food come and get it!" A decent ice-cream shop and some insect repellent that works. That's all I needed to stay forever! But 4 days later we're back on the mainland and back in Paranagua. We find the bus to Morretes and after a quick phone call Maria and Nicolas are there to take us back to their little lodge in the middle of nowhere. This morning we went white-water rafting. If we paid for Maria too then she'd drive. It's a 30 minute drive each way and only 10 quid each for a mornings rafting so it's cheaper to pay for Maria than getting a taxi and much, much simpler and easier. It's a grade 2 - 3 rapids but the water levels are quite low so a lot of exposed rocks. Great fun though! Tomorrow we're off into the jungle with Nicolas:- "I must warn you", says Nicolas, "this isn't a normal jungle trek around the same old paths like some trekking companies. We get up early when the jungle is still alive and I just set off at random into the undergrowth with my machete and see what we encounter. Spiders, snakes, monkeys.... we get very wet and muddy and we shall see what we can find." If we make it back I'll email again.....! Toodle Pip! Rich