HOT FOOTING IT TO PARATY

The flight from Lima took around 5.5 hours but with a good film the time passed quickly. We were flying into Sau Paulo and had already decided that we would move on straight away as we did not fancy a stint in the city. Our time in Brazil was short only 8 days as we had cut down on our allowance because of the expense and spent more time in Argentina. With that in mind and in general need of rest and relaxation we wanted to get to a small place called Paraty in between Sau Paulo and Rio. The problem was that the buses were not that regular and we either had a 4pm or 22.20pm one as options. We could not afford for the flight to be late or the 4pm would not be possible. As it turned out our flight was late only by about 20 minutes but enough for us to realise that we would need to take the 22.20.

Sau Paulo gets a dreadful right up in LP for safety and the fact that we had all of our luggage with us meant that we decided just to get the bus from the airport and then hang out at the bus station. That all went smoothly and we were left with about 6 hours to kill. By the time we had eaten and played a few games of tantrix the bus was not that far off.

We left on time and slept most of the way arriving in Paraty at 4am in the morning. Our hostel was only supposed to be a 5 minute walk so we set off in what we thought was the right direction. After 10 minutes we realised we must have gone wrong somewhere. A guy gave us some rough directions and we retraced our steps to find ourselves by a cobbled alley way. It was now about 4.45am and we were not sure how safe the area was so with me moaning and grumbling about my feet we took the decision to go back to the bus station and get a taxi. The taxi got us there but we were completely ripped off for 15 real. Thats 5 quid for a few minutes in the cab and then it turned out that the cars can only go so far so we had to walk down the cobbled streets anyway. We are both tired and wired at this point but managed to get to the hostel unscathed. AS it turned out Paraty was more than safe to wonder around which was a relief.

We fell into bed and woke at 12.45 midday. We could not believe how long we had slep and showered and dressed quickly. The sun was strong and warm as we took our first wonder around quiant Paraty. We were both in search of coffee which seemed to provide a bit of a problem as it was gone lunchtime but finally we found a restaurant and sat in the sunshine waking up properly.

Paraty is a labrinth of cobbled streets with colonial architecure the main focal point of which is a very pretty church in the centre. Our first day we did very little other than shop and wonder around. My first experience of Brazilian beachwear was an eye opener - there really is not much to the bikinis!!! But I needed some new ones so embraced the situation!! Our second day we caught the local bus to Tridade beach. It was a bit if a bumby ride but the beach was very impressive when we got there. We spent the day soaking up the sun and enjoying a couple of nice cold beers to help with the heat. It was really needed after so much activity in the previous week and Tim was impressed with my new bikini!!! I droppped a few pounds on the walk so am now seeing another benefit to the hardship of Salkantay hoorah!!

The following day we took a boat tour from the harbour. Taking in the local island sights and beaches. It was really enjoyable and we saw some lovely scenery. We spent the whole day hopping on and off the boat and were given a very nice dinner included in the price. This helps alot as we are definately finding Brazil expensive in comparison to the rest of South America. We expected this though which is why we are only here just over a week. The islands off Paraty are very pretty and secluded some of them even look like exclusive resorts as you pass by. There are so many though that is doesnt really matter. The boat even had a guy singing with his guitar which was a nice touch as we sailed the ocean waves. Tim had to try his hand on the boat slide which started off a couple of the other so called grown ups!! It was another relaxing day followed by an early night. Cant believe how much we are sleeping at the moment.

After 4 days the time came to leave Paraty and head off for Rio. The bus journey was only 4 hours and the scenery along the coast road was very beautiful. The area is full of coves and bays with white sandy beaches so it was no hardship to sit back and look out of the window. We arrived into Rio late afternoon and were both a little tense about the safety situation. You hear so many stories of robberies and muggings in Rio. We knew we had to be sensible to the letter but we were really excited about the city sights. Christ the Redeemer here we come....................................

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