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We left Paraty and were bound for an idyllic surf town in the North of Brazil called Itacare. There was no direct bus, so we made the 2 hour trip back to Rio de Janerio (which is absolutely stunning at night) and then arranged for a 25hr overnight bus to Ilheus. We made a bet about how many times this bus would stop along the way with the maximum number of stops being 10. Lucky for us this particular bus had incredibly social personalities cracking jokes at each other and giving the bus drivers a hard time. It was a fun time with lots of laughing, but after about 15+ bus stops along the way (we completely lost count)... we were ready to get there.
Once we got to our layover in Ilheus we spent some quality time with machine gun armed, bulletproof vested, military guards. Finally we boarded a local bus for another 2 hours driving down intermittently unpaved roads to the tropical, funky surf town Itacare- thoroughly exhausted!
We were taxied to the Pousada Estrela and immediately crawled into bed. The next morning we awoke to an incredible Brazilian breakfast of fruit, pastries, sandwiches, fresh squeezed fruit
Main Drag
Almeida Avejuices... and scrambled eggs! Once out and about we walked along the undulating cobblestone main street past surf shops to the beat of reggae music until the road turned to sandy dirt and ended on the coast. We visited Resende, Costa, Tiririca and Ribeira Beaches. We sat on the rocks at Tiririca beach over looking a beautiful palm lined front and watched the local surfers pulling aerial stunts on the big waves making it look easy. Occasionally a random surfer would walk past us along the rocks and time his dive into the breaking waves narrowly escaping the massive waves as they pounded the against the rocky point. We were highly impressed.
The following day we arranged for a local to guide us thru the Mata Atlantica Forest to a large palm lined beach called Prainha located a couple hours from town passing waterfalls, beautiful rocky overlooks, and thru palm and banana forests along the way. The beach was amazing and deserted and we layed our towels in the shade of a palm tree for a nap while our guide stretched and performed capoeria in the distance. We had met a German guy named Sascha at our hostel and
he joined us on the beach about an hour after we had arrived. Our guide was intent on keeping us active so we played paddle ball, volleyball and even tried to put together a pick up game of soccer...by the time we finished the 2 hour hike back to the town it was well into the evening and we were worn-out again! 😊
We joined Sascha for dinner that night and were unexpectedly blown away! We stumbled across an amazing restaurant with a cool island ambiance and a menu full of fresh seafood including lobster tails cooked with an array of seafood served in a rich sauce (Chrissy) and fresh red snapper drizzled with local bahian sauces (John)! Coupled with a glass of cold white wine, it was the perfect night cap.
We attempted to leave early the next day but the local bus company was on and off strike. When the bus finally did arrive (2hours late) we all hurried to board it, but the driver insisted he needed to eat lunch first! He didn't emerge from a nearby local restaurant until over an hour later. Haha... We had hoped to make it to Ilheus and then
take a 4 hour bus to Bom Despacio where we could take a one hour ferry across the bay to Salvador de Bahia rather than an overnight bus which didn't leave until that evening. By the time we managed it back to Ilheus we had missed the connecting bus to Bom Despacio and had to wait around the ultra shady bus station until the night bus to Salvador left at 9pm that evening. Oh how we love those overnight buses 😊
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