Paraty

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Day 90

We arrived in Paraty at 2am, and managed to find our hostel without too much trouble and checked into our dorm room at Backpackers House hostel. It was stifflingly hot and uncomfortable, but we were so tired we managed to get a fairly good nights sleep before having a fantastic breakfast at around 9am. After breakfast we took a 30 minute bus to Laranjeiras, followed by an hour long stroll through some pretty woodland to a beautiful, and pretty-much deserted beach. We met some South Africans on the way and spent a great day at the beach with them.

Mid-afternoon we took a speedboat from the beach back to the bus stop before heading straight to a cool little bar for some delicious (pint sized!) caipirinhas, including some that were made with Gabriela Cachaca (flavoured with cinnamon and cloves) and passion fruit, that were particularly delicious.

After a few we headed back to our dorm room, which now had an extra fan and was a little less stuffy, for bed.

Day 91

After another great breakfast at the hostel (many fruits, breads, cakes, cheeses and meats) we hired some bikes and were about to head off when a rather loud Spanish girl from our hostel invited herself along for the ride. The cycle, which was not too far but was almost entirely up steep hills took about 2 hours. Very much in need of the cool down, we stopped at Tobogan waterfall, a huge rock, made slippery by the water and algae, that can be used as a giant water slide. It was great fun and we entertained ourselves and cooled off here for an hour or so. We then headed further uphill to Tarzan waterfall, a smaller, quiet place with a big rope bridge, where we had another swim and a beer at the bar by the natural pool.

The cycle home, via a Cachaca brewary, was much more relaxed, with very little pedalling necessary, and in the evening we explored the small but pretty town centre of Paraty and relaxed over more caipirinhas and a fish dinner.

Day 92

Today we checked out of the hostel and had a few hours wandering around the town again. It is a very pretty portuguese colonial town with rough cobbold streets, quaint shops and horse drawn carts roaming the streets. We also checked out the small beach there, and the colorful port, before our 4 hour journey by bus and boat to Ilhe Grande.

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