Parati (17.12.12 - 19.12.12)

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All the way to Parati it was cloudy and a bit damp, so we're not so sure about the prospect of hitting the beach in this little town. Unfortunately we are finding that the buses in Brazil have taken us back to the dark days where we didn't get complementary drinks and the bus stops on ever corner to pick up locals. One thing we have learned during our travels is that when presented with a chair with a reclining feature, 90% of people around the world are unable to not take it back to its furthest point, and most places this is the point when your head is on the knee of the person behind (on one bus trip we actually got asked by the conductor to move our knees as they were preventing the person in front from reclining their chair! Perks of being big lumps of English people in Asian countries!). Nobody seems to have a problem with this, Brazil is no exception!

On arriving in Parati we were lucky enough that there happened to be someone from the hostel at the bus station, looking for new recruits, so he sent us in the right direction. The hostel was big and very busy, more like the ones in Australia. After a chill out we went to have a walk around. Parati is a cute little town, with a cobbled 'old town' area, built on the coast and with a river running through it. The cobbles were impossible to walk on, even by Yarm standards! We found a nice litte restaurant serving dishes of fish and veg and rice to share. We were so happy to eat something so light and non cheesy! The food is all so heavy, even the veg in this dish was mostly potatoes, they just don't do veg! Unfortunately I (Rach) stupidly ordered a glass of wine, sick of beer all the time! The curse of Brazilian red wine struck again and I had to head home.
The next day we wake up and what do you know? The sun is out! So needing to make the most of it we rush out to the beach! The first beach in is a small strip of sand straight off the beach. We walked on round the corner and over a small hill to Jabaquara beach. This was a bigger and quieter stretch of beach, further off a less busy road and lined with trees and some cafes. We had a lovely day just chilling on the beach reading and looking at the beautiful view over the islands in the bay. It was really hot, so we had to spend a lot of time in the shade, despite the tan requirements! Generally it has been a lot hotter in brazil even when raining its a humid 28*c. In the sun more like 35, and the sea is like a bath!
In the evening we went for another lovely fish dinner, followed by a delicious caipirinha! All in all a lovely day. The next day we made our last big bus trip of the whole trip, to the infamous Rio de Janeiro. Only 3 nights left till we fly home, and we are getting excited to see everyone!

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