Picturesque Paraty, Brasil

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In a state of disarray, Chrissy and I had no idea we would end up in Paraty until our boat arrived back at the mainland from Isla Grande. We ran into Roey and Nero, Israli travelers we kept crossing paths with 😊 and they described a quiet colonial town on the Costa Verde (green coast) only a short bus ride from the port of Angra Dos Reis. Since we had no other plans it sounded perfect!

Paraty (pronounced Para-che) is a historic town with fresh seafood restaurants, large cobble stone streets, and picturesquely restored Portuguese colonial buildings dating back to the 1500's. We found a quaint little place to stay, the Paraty Bed and Breakfast, and enjoyed the peace and quiet of the hotel and its location just outside of the low lights of the historic streets. We spent a full day updating our blog, downloading pictures, emailing and planning the next leg of our trip and another day wandering around the old cobbled streets checking out the local shops and the good smelling foods in the air. We especially enjoyed the fresh seafood in the open air restaurants!

The country outside of Paraty city is quickly reclaimed by the jungle and is home to rain forests, wildlife and waterfalls. Our Israeli friends, who we ran into again recommended a natural water slide over a 100 feet long in the nearby Serra da Bocaina National Park that can be enjoyed for free! We took a local bus out of town and were dropped on the side of the winding road at a footpath leading to a village church built on top of a massive boulder. The path continued past the church and into the jungle where 5 min later we found about dozen fully clothed people looking up at the slick rock face waiting for someone to give it a try. Before I had time to think a persistent local man told me to follow him up a muddy jungle path to the top of the slide. Once at the top, wearing only my boxer shorts I followed him across the top of the falls and he showed me where to sit in order to properly land in the pool at the bottom. What I didn't expect was for him to grab me by the shoulders and to start racing down the rock face pushing me in front of him! hahahha I thought that I might miss the pool completely as a small lip appeared and I caught air at the bottom! The attached video *BE Sure to Watch!! is without my "little friend's" help but still pretty funny! It was a rainy overcast day and after a couple minutes in the water we made it back to the roadside and caught a ride back into town.

That evening Chrissy and I were walking back from the bus station and came across Chris and Sophie haggling with a local hostel owner for an accommodation! We lead them down to our little bed and breakfast and later joined them that night for dinner of all you can eat chicken curry! We also enjoyed seeing a local wedding with crazy musicians and had some street desserts!! It was an unexpected surprise and a nice farewell from the south of Brazil as the following morning we climbed on a bus that would eventually carry us over 1500km North to Itacare.

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