Advertisement
Published: March 9th 2015
Edit Blog Post
Nick: I don't think I've ever been so grateful to be on a bus. We are sat on our coach in Paraty bus station, waiting to depart. It must be one of the most comfortable buses I've ever been on, with masses of legroom and lovely cold air conditioning...nothing to do now but sit back and enjoy the view for 4-5 hours as we work our way further south down the country to Sao Paolo, from where we will be flying to Iguazu Falls the next day.
Half an hour ago things looked decidedly more bleak. Waiting at the bus station with our backpacks in the humid morning heat, the allotted time for our departure came and went with no sign of the bus having turned up. There were plenty of people, locals and travellers, waiting around, and when an official from the bus company came out to make an announcement in Portuguese, much hullabaloo ensued with the local would-be passengers shouting and generally venting their frustration at the official. Sarah and I feared the worst - that our bus was not coming, and we would be stuck in Paraty. My almost complete lack of Portuguese didn't help! In the
end, we managed to 'queue' (see: scrum) our way to the kiosk only to be told our bus would be arriving imminently, which in due course it did. A bit of a scare but we made it onto the bus and we are now underway! So it is goodbye to Paraty.
As previously described, our last bus trip was less comfortable, but thanks to Sarah's wonderful efforts we made it from Rio to Paraty in one piece and with no, shall we say, unpleasant incidents en-route! Paraty itself is a very charming coastal colonial town, with cobbled streets in the historic centre. It is also very much a tourist town, seemingly where many Brazilians come for their holidays. With plenty of nice restaurants, bars and cosy little streets to amble through it was an ideal change of pace after the hustle and bustle of Rio. Our hostel was a family run place, very basic but fine for what we needed, and cheap. The usual miming and use of basic Spanish (which seems to work better than English here in Brazil, however loudly you speak!) managed to secure our room. We spent our first full day there just relaxing, wandering
around the old town and having a snooze on the beach. As in Rio, the weather remained scorching so we hid in the shade where we could. I was still feeling a bit rough from the gastro bug I'd picked up, so was grateful for the chance to sit back and recharge a bit.
During the evening we went out for a meal and a couple of beers, and the heavens opened. It was very cozy to be sat in our bar with all the windows open watching the thumping tropical downpour, accompanied by some impressive lightning. What I love is the entrepreneurial spirit on show - the moment that the downpour began, the same guys who had shortly before been hawking sun hats were now tramping up and down in the rain flogging brollies, there some something amusingly 'Del-boy' about it! After a decent spot of dinner, we sloshed our way back to the hostel and hit the hay, for another relatively early night; it certainly felt like we were still adjusting to our new lifestyle.
Waking bright and early the following day, the sky was clouded over and the temperature was a lot cooler, which was
a very welcome change, although still very humid after all that rain. Keen to take advantage of the good conditions, we scoffed our now typical Brazilian breakfast of fruit (usually something like watermelon, papaya, banana), bread rolls and wafer-ham/cheese slices, black coffee you can stand the spoon up in, and a slice of cake. Yes, cake! Every breakfast buffet we've been served since arriving has included slices of sweet sponge cake. Of course normally I wouldn't touch the stuff, but, well, as you know I am always one for subscribing to local customs and cultures* and as such have been eating a slice every day, as a mark of respect for our hosts... Anyway, breakfast done, we headed out and rented a couple of bikes.
Paraty is surrounded on its non-coastal sides by rolling, steep green hills, very similar to the landscape that is so typical surrounding Rio. There are a number of waterfalls that can be visited by bike and we were making our way toward one of those. The friendly English-speaking lady who had rented us the bikes had warned us that there was a lot of uphill on the way there. Should be fine, thought I.
And it was, for the first 3-4 km, although admittedly that bit was flat. Shortly thereafter, however, the road started to go uphill, for quite a way. Then it started going Uphill. Then UPHILL. For about 3km, the road into the surrounding hills just kept going up and up and up, with some seriously steep sections. We made it about three-quarters of the way there but in the end, both of us utterly drenched in sweat and with wobbling legs, we conceded defeat and pushed our bikes up the final stretch. Despite the hard work, it was great to be getting some exercise and the scenery was, as ever, a delight to behold with lush green foliage filling every available space, imposing boulders on the road side and a rocky river winding alongside the road we were taking.
All of the effort to get to the waterfall was worthwhile. Locking our bikes up at a local Pousada (guesthouse), we spotted our second hummingbird, this one being a deep emerald colour. It was just darting from flower to flower in the garden of the Pousada, wings an absolute blur and the whole thing no bigger than the end of my
thumb. I guess they must be reasonably commonplace here, but it is just such a reminder of how far away we are from our normal lives, to see something so exotic and magical in such a day-to-day setting as a garden, I don't think I will ever get bored of seeing them! The waterfall itself, located a short walk into the nearby forest, was slightly unlike any other waterfall I've been to see. Rather than a sheer cascade of water down a rock face, this one was more of a flow of water down a massive slanting area of rock, varying from perhaps 30-45 degrees, before a short drop into the pool below. As we turned up, there was already a group of people there and it took us quite by surprise to see they were chucking people down the waterfall in their swimming shorts! The whole thing was maybe 20 metres long and it looked like the were going pretty fast. They people there seemed to be part of an organised tour, with a couple of local guys making sure people went down the right bit, and in a safe way. We thought we'd give it a go! Sarah went first, sliding down the rock face and flying off into the pool below, whilst I stayed at the top and kept an eye on our things. When she came back to the top, it was my turn - it was hilarious, great fun, and a hell of a lot faster than I expected! Really glad we got the chance to do it, but once was enough...
After a bit of a paddle around, we had a beer in a nearby cafe, then headed back to the bikes and free-wheeled most of the way home, which was a welcome reprieve as I was still feeling pretty done in. In fact, during the evening I took a bit of a turn for the worse again, perhaps having had a bit too much exercise and excitement so soon after that bug. We nipped out to get some dinner, although I gave up on mine as a result of feeling rough again. Sarah had a pasta dish which was reportedly very good and a refreshing change from all the fried food which seems to be omnipresent in Brazil. I was grateful to get back to our room and crashed out for a solid ten hour sleep. Much better this morning and with a solid brekkie under the belt (yes, including the mandatory cake slice), we are definitely ready to move on. Paraty is a lovely town and I am glad we visited, but sat here on our wonderfully spacious bus, I am looking forward to seeing the splendours of Iguazu Falls!
*
I may review this policy when we get to, say, Cambodia, if anyone offers me some fried scorpions to eat...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.202s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 11; qc: 55; dbt: 0.1415s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb