Flavours of Brasil

---

Caipirinhas are the drink of choice in Brazil, a delicious but potent mix of fresh limes, sugar and cachaça (cane rum). We'd already begun our infatuation with this cocktail during Carnaval but arriving in Trindade we realised this was the perfect caipirinha destination; surrounded by beautiful beaches and with Paraty (the second highest Cachaça producing region in the country) nearby there was no shortage of supply or demand! 

Our trip from Saõ Paulo to Paraty was a return to local bus hopping, which was great, but did entail standing around for hours at obscure bus stops. Once in the beautiful, historic and ultra cobbled streets of Paraty we realised that the famed name tag also came with a price tag, one that we couldn't afford. So we took one last bus of our day to tiny Trindade, a hair-raising trip descending narrow steep tracks at shuddering speeds through beautiful forest to the shimmering sands below. A brief rumble across a stretch of rocky beach connected the jungle road to the village and we had made it. Phew, riding buses is an adrenaline sport! 

The one street community of Trindade (pronounced Trin-dadj) is a laid back and pretty place lined with restaurants and cafes. It feels relaxed and friendly there, and with a little advice from a helpful Brazilian couple we found a beachside campsite and settled in. 

Pizza was on the menu that evening, apparently Brazil is the best place outside Italy to sample the dish. We were looking forward to a tasty pizza. However, ordering a garlic one may have been an error. It was an overload of garlic, and we like garlic, but this was too much. A far worse flavour combination however, was the drink offered to us by our friendly fellow campers when we arrived back stinking of garlic. "Experimente" she said, so we did, and tasted red wine mixed with condensed milk! Yuk, what a waste of red wine.

The next couple of days were all about sun, sea, and caipirinhas. We strung up the hammock and Lewi shook up the drinks. I washed all our belonging, cut Lewi's hair and we soaked up the fabulous hot sunshine, caipirinha in hand. The long golden sand coastline was sculpted by enormous waves which were great for the surfers. We took brief, refreshing and exhilarating dips in the powerful waters before returning to our beach positions.

It was all blissful, until one evening the rain crept overhead as we sat on the beach listening to the crash of the waves. We said goodnight to our camping (red wine poisoning) neighbours and crawled into our tent. The rest of the night we huddled together, mopping the leaking corners and not sleeping much. 

The following day the storm persisted, my washing lay still damp and we watched movies and drank caipirinhas in the vacant breakfast room, (not for breakfast it was after midday I promise). Although we made the most of it, it is hard to camp in such rainy weather, so when the skies cleared for a few hours the next morning, we aired everything and moved out. 

We had one more stop before we hit the high tempo heights of Rio, the tropical Ilha Grande. The ferry groaned out of the port at Angra dos Rei, and chugged across the bay to the gorgeous little hamlet Abraao, a speck of civilisation on the huge mainly unpopulated island. Things moved at an island pace here, the boat came to a halt languorously at the pier and passengers milled about. The car-free cobblestone streets, with pretty houses and shops spilled backwards up the hillside a whitewashed church the central point. It was very beautiful, and the jungle covered mountains climbed behind the town in interesting shapes. 

We'd been approached by a nice woman on on the boat who told us about her guesthouse, upon our arrival we realised that she DID have the best prices in town and that her guesthouse really was a charming oasis on a quiet back street. So we checked in and looked forward to the breakfast the next morning that she sincerely assured us was BIG. 

I don't think this lady is capable of lying, the breakfast was giant and included exotic juices and cake along with bread, cheese, ham, fruit, and coffee. It was the perfect start to a gloriously sunny day, we walked down the hillside past the hummingbirds who flit around the neighbouring house, to the beach. Ilha Grande is a very big island and with no transport other than feet or boats we let our flip-flops do the work and trekked to an idyllic cove, where we basked in the baking heat before sweating back through the jungle paths. There was only a slip of beach left as we walked back along the shore, the tables and chairs of beachside bars being almost washed away! 

The town took on another hue at night, delicate lights lit up the church, sweet carts were positioned at tempting corners laden with delights, and music played from open bars. The beach was illuminated by the huge full moon, a super moon in fact, the closest it has been to earth in almost 20 years. Making it 14% bigger and 30% brighter than when it is on the furthest part of it's elliptical orbit. It was a lovely sight, especially as it displayed the myriad of fishing boats bobbing in the bay. 

Another Brazilian treat was on the cards the next day, when after a busy day trekking around waterfalls and aqueducts, we were invited to join a party that the other family at our guesthouse were having. It turned out to be a very funny evening, one which ended with me rocking the one month old baby to sleep. But before that we were entreated to taste a northeastern Brazilian specialty 'Caldo do Peixe', a fish stew. Along with many many beers! The family (excepting the mother) were all already rather merry and so singing and loud Portuguese conversation attempts ensued.

This kind of friendly reception is typical of the Brazilians we've met. The owner of the guesthouse and her elderly mother who always assisted her with breakfast serving, were another example. Such genuine happiness towards us as travellers and visitors to their country. We could have stayed longer here, there were so many more beautiful spots to discover, the food and flavours were delicious, and the people were so nice to be around...but Rio was calling. And besides, it started to rain again!! 

---