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Published: April 14th 2005
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31 March 2005 : Leave Isla Grande for Paraty (Parachee)
Final breakfast at the Cacheoira, then on with the rucksacks and down the hill to the ferry (following the German couple from Freiburg who are also going to Paraty).
Hardly any queue and only 17 Reais for four tickets across to Angra ! Found shaded seats and relaxed as we chugged along. Disembarking at Angra the main concern was where to pick up the Paraty bus, would we have to make our way to the bus station by bus/taxi/foot ? Not this time. There were two buses waiting on the dock, large Costa Verde for Rio, and a smaller Colitur for Paraty.
Dumped the bags in the back, took the water on-board and sat back for an hour and a half along the Emerald Coast to Paraty. Once off the bus at Paraty we sat down in the shade to get our bearings. “You need a room, you want a good hostel ?” said a young local. It turned out he was touting for the place we already had a reservation for. Tony introduced himself and we all shared a taxi 50:50 to the hostel Casa do Rio.
Hostel - downriver
This shot includes our room which was a little unfinished at the time. The hostel is on the riverbank with its own mini-jetty and boat. Our room was new, in fact not finished on the outside. The shower, toilet and fan work fine so who cares about the outside.
Strolled into the centro historico, Paraty has a preservation order on it, maintaining the houses and streets from the colonial gold and coffee days. That’s fine for the historians but the irregular cobbles are murder on the feet.
Walked up to the Forte Defensor Perpetuo, somewhat unremarkable in architectural terms but a superb location atop a sloping granite mass overlooking the bay. Inside was an exhibition of handcrafts , for example how to make a Rabec, a type of violin, using a couple of six-inch nails bound at right-angles plus a bent table knife.
To the supermercado for supplies then back to the hostel. The kitchen for our use was in a separate block 3 houses away. How do we get in ?
1 Put your hand through the railings and find the key hanging on a rod.
2 Unlock the gates
3 Enter without letting the dogs escape !
Actually the dogs were soft as anything and it was no
Local building methods
For the builders among you, this shows how to make a ladder when you are short of one big deal.
OK we’re in, let’s get the water on for the pasta. The matches work but the cooker doesn’t. No-one else around who speaks any English. Back to the main hostel. ‘No gas !, OK cook here’ All’s well that ends well. We went to bed well fed.
Friday 1 April 2005 : Lazy day in Paraty
At breakfast we declined the option of a boat trip to islands/beaches, mainly because we’re not used to the heat/sun. When the pink people stepped off the boat at 17:00 I was glad we had not gone.
Organised some washing, spent some time trying to find suitable accommodation and Spanish tuition in Argentina.
Strolled into town, found a shady square and watched the world go by, including local schoolkids and teacher who we think was supervising. One of them was adept at climbing trees to a frightening height and throwing down fruit for the others.
A trip to the Panificadoria and the supermercado. Tonight the main kitchen is back in order and quite busy. Timed it right, cooking while others were eating and then they cleared the table just in time for us. As it was vegetarian I
took Owen and Rory out to find a churrazinho, a street kiosk grilling skewered meat for pudding. We were followed by a lean dog but it eventually gave up.
Back at the hostel Owen lost a couple of games of chess to Jermaine, one of the hostel ‘team’. Jermaine then challenged me. How could I say no ? It was close but I resigned after maybe 40 mins with only my king and a pawn left. Good stuff.
Saturday 2 April 2005 : Lazy day in Paraty
Went the bus station to arrange leaving for Monday. Booked seats on the 09:40 to Sao Paolo. Our next destination is Iguacu and to get there we have to go via Sao Paolo. As we arrive in and leave SP from the Tiete bus station we will probably get an overnight bus to Iguacu without staying in SP.
Sunday 3 April 2005 : Lazy day in Paraty
Up fairly early and into town to take some photos of empty streets and doorways/windows.
After breakfast tried Paraty beach but it’s grubby and the water has evil-looking floating sludgy bits. Did not stay long. Instead went back into town and sat
in one of the shady squares where we saw the morning’s boat party return and queue for ice-cream.
Back to the hostel to watch the sun go down over the river.
Monday 4th April : Leave Paraty For Sao Paolo
Up, breakfast, packed, off to bus station on foot for the 09:40 bus to Sao Paolo.
Journey uneventful. Lots of ups/downs following coast road, reinforced how massive this place is.
At Sao Paolo dumped bags in Tiete left luggage and went into the city.
Given a free map at TIC at bus station, something like 3cm x 3cm showing the main two lines of the metro.
Bought some tickets and then emerged at Se by the cathedral, looking for a memory card for my new camera, and a charger for Deb’s mobile. Went wronh way at first then regrouped. Streets amazing, emerged from relatively clean, quiet, organised metro into streets full of people trying to sell anything but not being pushy. Found a photo shop and bought a card for the camera. Next wandered into an arcade where Deb bought a charger and Owen a watch.
Streets though busy were comfortable as
there had been a rainstorm. What next ? Decent coffee and a toilet. Found a bakery/café, had best coffee yet in S America and used the toilets !
Then wandered around the bizarre mix of old/new, pedestrian/otherwise. What a place. I’m glad we took the time to visit the city. Unfortunately I’ve lost the photos I took. There’s a street ‘Rua Seminario’ which is dominated by musical instrument and gaucho shops. I cannot describe it, you must come and see it.
What we could not find was somewhere to have a decent sit-down meal so we retreated to Tiete to catch our conection to Foz do Iguacu.
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