a jar of Brasils finest, before heading back to the hotel for a quick freshen up before heading out for tea in a trendy pizza bar. The pizza was great, but we decided to order “Papas Portuguese” instead of the usual papas fritas (chips to the English!). Imagine our surprise then when rather than some imaginative national potato creation we were served a plate of crisps!! Granted they were fresh home made crisps, but crisps nonetheless!

Itaipava
27th - 30th October

We got a local bus to Itaipava as it was only an hour away. Again we had some very sketchy directions to where our accommodation was. So off we headed from the bus station up the road indicated on the map. After about fifteen minutes of walking and with no real

idea of where we decided to ask the locals where “Chalet Woodhouse” was. No-one spoke English so after a good ten minutes with the phrasebook it was determined that it was too far to walk, so a very friendly lady took us to the bus stop, waited with us and then gave the bus driver some instructions while we boarded and paid at the back of the bus! We were really none the wiser as we hurtled up a back country road on this bus, but as look would have it I noticed a sign for Chalet Woodhouse and we made a quick exit from the bus. We trudged up the hill following the sign and were met by a very jolly Brasilian man saying “Robert?”, and we knew that my confused Portuguese reservation phone call had worked. There was a pool table in the main bar area and a lovely conservatory where apparently breakfast was served. We loved the place already, but then we were shown to our chalet and were just made up!! It was a gorgeous little wooden hut with our own bathroom, mini bar, and a great view over the valley. We