Heading out

On thursday we got on the truck which is our home for the next 5 months. It smells a bit and theres no air conditioning and theres not enough space, but weve grown an affinity with it already. Its called Cameron and when we drive through little towns and villages, everyone in the street looks up and waves at us.

The truck is pretty comfortable but storage space is minimal. Weve all been given jobs to do - mine is unloading and loading the bag, presumably because im strong and fit. Dees job is to look after the toilet roll and cleaning products, presumably because she looks like a cleaning lady.

We only drove for 5 hours and we arrived in Paraty, which is either pissing with rain or oppressively hot. Im not sure which i prefer. I seem to spend most of my time shying from the sun like a vampire or cowering from the rain like the witch from The Wizard of Oz.

Our first night camping was during a thunderstorm and our tent leaked, which wasnt a good start to the holiday, but the next day was boiling hot so we went to the beach and walked into Paraty.

The village is very old and picturesque. There was an organised boat trip in the afternoon, which was great fun. Everyone brought their own drinks and by the afternoon everyone was merry and we stopped to do some swimming and diving off the boat. It was a good opportunity to get to know everyone on our trip, and so far everyone seems nice. Im not sure ill have the same view in 3 weeks time though.