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Published: June 18th 2007
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When we flew down through London-esque clouds into Porto Seguro we were a little concerned our 30 hour trip might not have been worth it. When we boarded the ferry in the rain, we really knew it!! Our beach heaven was not so heavenly...
After another hour on the bus we arrived in Trancoso, a little drier at this point, and our accommodation was idyllic. A beautiful little room in the middle of pretty gardens, with a swimming pool to boot. What we didnt know at this point, was that we were about to eat the finest breakfast for the next 4 mornings running. Scrambled eggs, brown bread (its such a luxury over here), homemade yoghurt, papayas and other fruit, and the piece de resistance, homemade chocolate or banana cake. YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY.
That night we sampled, a budget busting, but delicious dinner in the town square. The Quadrado encompassed a church, a green field/football pitch, surrounded by colourful little shops and restaurants, which all get lit up by lanterns in the evening. Gorgeous.
After that, we had heard that there was a local Fiesta on all week, and we found a sort of fair, with a
group singing and all the locals hanging out drinking beer and Caiprinha and dancing the samba. Here we met Regis, a local, and soon to become our stalker for the next few days. Harmless in the end but we had a couple of nervous moments!!
Things were really looking up, when we woke up to blue skies and we walked 4km along the beach to find Praia Rio de Barra. This isolated spot (to be honest there was hardly anyone on any of the beaches) had little rivers running through the sand, and red cliffs as the back drop. It really did feel like heaven.
But by the time we had dinner, the rain had started again, and the next day we hired a car - you know whats coming up - and headed out to a little village called Caraiva 40km away. It may be in your distant memory, but we did have an issue with a hire car and some dodgy south american roads in Chile. This was to be no different. Just outside of Trancoso, the road became a dirt track, and the rain in combination with the clay made for some interesting off road
driving in our VW Golf.
In a moment of madness, Rich decided he would skim the outside of the road to get a better line. But the car just skidded off the road, and before we knew it, it was facing more towards the fence, than forwards. One wheel buried in the clay. Bugger.
Unbelievably, within 5 minutes, 2 guys in a pick up stopped. A little reluctant to get their feet dirty at first, they made signs as if we should just try and pump the gas a bit to reverse. Quite clearly not going to work. Then another guy arrived on his motorbike. He was our saviour. He kicked off his flipflops to get barefoot in the clay. Got in the car, under the car, around the car, and worked his magic on the other guys to give us a tow. Rich obviously looked stressed, as he kept telling him to ´keep calm, keep smiling´in portuguese!!
At the end of it, the guy was a mess, but full of laughter, and telling Rich to ´please stay in the middle of the road´... no more car hire for us we think.
We finally reached the
village in one piece. The place was hysterical. Just a bunch of coloured houses built on the sand. There was a ramshackle church, and the taxi service was 2 donkeys with a cart. We found one bar on the beach that would serve us a coffee, and in the end they gave it to us for free as they couldnt get us any change for our 50 Real note!!
With the weather pretty rubbish we exhausted the scenic opportunity pretty sharply and headed back. On the way we stopped off at Praia do Espelho, which is consistently voted as one of the top 3 beaches in Brazil. We had the place to ourselves, and although the weather didnt lend itself to the occasion, we got a real sense it would be fabulous with the right condidtions. Another top romantic location.
After one Caiprinha too many, it was hard getting up on our last day, but it was blue skies again and we couldnt miss the opportunity to get lazy on the beach. Rich has also started a new training regime inspired by the lead character (a navy seal) in his book he is reading!! Circuit training on the
beach is a core part of the new routine.
All in all, Trancoso was more than worth the trip, and its just making us look forward to more beach fun in Parati and Ilha Grande over the next couple of weeks.
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Caroline
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You stunner!
Cat - you look absolutely beautiful on the photo above!!! The travelling is obviously suiting you xxx