The Brazilian Coast - Part 1 (Paraty)

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Photo warning - I was feeling lazy and didn't take many.

Paraty was the next stop on the long tourist trail for those of us on the tour. We arrived therein the afternoon after an overnight bus from Iguazu to Sao Paulo, a 3 hour wait in Sao Paulo bus station and another couple of hour bus from Sao Paulo to Paraty. It was a lazy little coastal town. Are you noticing a theme yet? Yes, it seems like a large proportion of these places are lazy towns. Which is just the way I like it. You feel like you really get to see a place when it's slow because there is a feeling of being included in the slow pace of life.

In many ways Paraty is just like any Aussie costal town in summer time. People in togs and thongs (I'm really fighting the urge to type swimmers and flip flops - a sign of how long I've been on the road). But of course there were difference. There was obviously the Portuguese (minor inconvenience) but more noticeable was the cobblestone streets and the European inspired architecture. Everywhere you looked there were cute little shutters and colourful buildings.

The place we were staying used to be a very large house that had been converted into something of a hostel / hotel. And a very cute one at that. This was the first place that we really started to get to know both James and Omar who had left the group for the Uruguayan leg in order to spend more time in Buenos Aires. Their motivations for the extended stay were slightly different.

Omar is a city boy through and through. I doubt that he would have enjoyed the farm in Uruguay and even if he had he still would have preferred his time spent enjoying the delights that a big city like Buenos Aires had to offer. More nightclubs. More chances to meet people and more chances for encounters of the sexual…

James on the other hand was recently single when he joined the tour and apparently he’d made the decision to join us a little bit spur of the moment. There was a large amount of speculation on his relationship and the reasons it broke down, but I don’t really think that a travel blog is the place to spead gossip. Either way whilst in Buenos Aires, during the first few days he managed to meet an American girl who’s company he enjoyed quite a lot and so he decided to divert his trip in order to explore this new relationship.

Whether or not it was worth it only James can say but, either way, by the time they returned, he was a little bit on the outside of the group. But then again that may have been the way he liked it as he didn’t really make a great deal of effort to befriend anyone who hadn’t been on the first part of the tour with him. Even to the point where he was downright rude to people, including Fernando.

Omar, despite being great friends with James was in so many respects the opposite of James. He contained a similar streak of arrogance, but due to his outrageous and outgoing personality it somehow didn’t come off as offensive.

So after exploring the town on our own for a couple of hours whilst Fernando organised a boat ride and some bikes for us the following day, we all went out for dinner… well most of us. James and Omar decided to find their own food. Most people went for a cheap option for dinner which included a salad for starter and fish for dinner and some caramel-y (doce de leite) type awesomeness for dessert. I however spotted Ceviche on the entrée menu and had to have it. The result of my decision to have some delicious raw fish was that my meal cost about 2.5 times what everyone else’s cost. And that I was actually satisfied with my meal.

Then, after dinner, we got our first introduction as a group to Caipairihinas, the traditionally Brazilian and highly alcoholic drink made from Cachaca, lime and sugar. No mixer. We may have been a little tipsy by the end of the night. Especially since we decided that “I never” would be a good, get to know type game for us all to play. We did start out G-rated since we had the good Christian boys with us, but we didn’t end that was of course. Even so I’m pretty sure a good time was had by all.

The end of the night came when I hit the wall and started getting emotional. So a few of us very drunkenly tried to find our way home. And failed. We were eventually helped back to the hotel by a suspicious looking guy. But we got there safely… Jess, Kat and Fernando decided that the night didn’t need to end there and they kicked on for a very late, very drunken night out. The most concerning story that was reported to us the following day was from their walk home. Apparently a couple of guys were walking along behind them on their way home but they didn’t really think too much of it. Until one of them grabbed Jess’s handbag and tried to run away with it. He managed to break the strap, but Jess was hanging on for dear life because she’d broken the “never go drinking with your passport on you” rule. If she lost her handbag she lost her passport too.

At this stage, Jess was being dragged along by the handbag, so Kat grabbed on to her in order to help hold her in place. Fernando, not realising that it was all about a handbag in his drunken state and thinking that the guy was trying to drag Jess someone threw his impressive 5’3” frame in the middle and was starting down the would-be handbag thief. Apparently this was enough to make the guy decided that a drunk chick’s handbag just wasn’t worth the effort and left. Go figure.

The following day we’d been given a choice of activities but there were only two choices that people really took up. People either did a boat cruise around the coastline near Paraty or they hired bikes and headed out to a local waterfall known as toboggan waterfall because it was so smooth and slippery that you could basically toboggan down it. As much as I as craving a little bit of exercise, some prudent part of my brain realised that I was going to be hung over and that cycling in Brazilian heat would not be the smartest of moves. The three most hungover people in our group (Kat, Jess and Fernando) however had not made that decision. Kat managed to fall off her bike twice and ended up very bruised. Jess needed to take a strategic break on the way to the waterfall… and Fernando just retired early.

Meanwhile on the boat the rest of us were having a great day. Beautiful blue waters. White sands. Snorkelling. Plenty of cold water. Meals included. It was a great day. We even recovered enough that we all drank a beer with lunch!

Walking back into town, the obligatory Havianna shopping commenced. We walked past a little local store that sold them and it was on. It seemed like everyone came back with a pair. But that was just the beginning of the shopping. As we came back there were dresses bought, earrings bought, ice cream bought… everything!

Dinner that night was a little bit more of a subdued affair with everyone eating in the same restaurant, but we all split up into smaller tables to make it easier for the restauranter. Those of us who hadn’t kicked on the night before were keen to continue out, but only Jodie, Bailey and Ahmed made it too late. Even without having kicked on the night before I was ready for bed.

The following morning after a short walk and a great breakfast we were again on our way. This time to Ihla Grande (Big Island) and more time spent relaxing on Brazilian beaches. Bliss.

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Photos

Where we stayed
Very cute

Paraty 33
Was a cute little bar / restaurant. Turned into a nightclub later on. I didn't make it.