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Published: February 19th 2014
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After leaving Rio we were booked on the 9am bus to Paraty, about 4ish hours south on the Costa Verde. Having only experienced UK buses such as the national express/megabus and some superior spanish ones nothing could prepare me for the luxury that awaited us! Really swish bus with seats that almost reclined into a bed, extremely comfy and with a contraption at your leg that made it more bed like. Only con was that the air con was on full blast and the normal clothes needed for the outdoors were far too cold. I had my pjs in my bag which i actually had to put on under my clothes! Lesson learned - leggings and zippy required at all times! We managed to sleep most of the journey, but when we werent the bus seemed to follow a road down the coast which showed some beautiful scenery, nice wee towns and lovely beaches.
Arriving in Paraty we were met with some serious amount of cobbled pavements which were unexpected and didnt make our journey to the hostel easy! IT wasnt just cobbles like you might get in Glasgow, I mean trip over and ou would break your leg kinda
cobbles! Almos no cars went on the streets, more bikes or horses and carts. We ended up having to carry the cases cos the wheels would probably have buckled. The map we had was too basic and the streets often didnt have name markings as it was very old, traditional and colonial, so finding our way there was a bit of an adventure! Once we got there we found a quiet hostel with all rooms facing a lovely courtyard. After 9 nights in a dorm it was lovely to have our own bed and toilet. Everything basic but fit for purpose..
The town itself was really charming, mainly white wash style buildings, churches, boutique shops and a marina area with boats. Further round there was the beach which is in a bay, and compared to the near arctic conditions of Rios beach it was a pleasant surprise for the water to be lovely and warm! Everythingwas so relaxed, no vendors on the beach, no paying for parasols or loungers, just buy a drink and you were free to use the property of the bar for as long as you wanted. The next day we went to Jabaquara beach
which was about 2k trek from hostel, up a hill i might add! We were told this was the m ore picture perfect part of the beach, but to be honest I think i might have preferred the bay. It was nice and very long but a lot of the sand was quite black and the water didnt go lower than waist length so harder to go for a swim
. Once we got back to the hostel and were cooking our dinner the rain started. At first this was a welcome sound as things had been so warm but we soon realised that this wasnt just rain. The rain got so heavy I kinda knew something was coming. Then the thunder and lightning started. Then came the powercuts! Luckily Gary had more or less finished cooking so we just ate our dinner sheltered away but in the 10 seconds it took me to get bck to my room i was so soaked you could ring water out my hair. We were actually quite lucky in that our room had a step to it, but some of the other rooms were getting flooded by the water literally runninginto their
room. We had water dripping down our bathroom ceiling but fortunately nothing worse. For a few hours we had no power, no fan, and were watching a film on the tablet then eventually all came back to life. Unfrtunately didnt catch much of the fork lightning due to the door positioning but it was somewhere between exciting and mildly scary!
After 2 nights it was time to move on down the coast to Trindade, a sleepy wee hippy town with plenty of beaches. It was just a local bus we caught for the 50 minute ride. The bus was winding up and down slopes and I felt like I was on some kind of rollercoaster at times. People were cheering when he got past a hard bit! We arrived fine in the overcast weather and made our way to the hostel - Trindade Sea and Forest. It was probably more off the beaten track than we gave it credit for and it was a bit of a trek through and unmarked road and up a hill! However it was as nice as it sounds and is situated in a national park. Our room is basically a wooden cabin
with a view onto the rainforest. Bliss! The sound of the birds/insects is really relaxing and the place has a good vibe.
Out of the places weve been so far have definately been more social here, perhaps in big part due to there being english speakers, perhaps due to lack of wifi! Unfortunately for the 3 nights we've been here (at time of writing) it has just been dull and rainy. This was somewhere I was really looking forward to and we havent really been able to get the most out of it due to the weather but at the sam time it has been good for complete relax time. Reading, films, chatting, in between venturing out exploring. Despite the weather we have seen most of the main attractions here - visisted the waterfall, the natural rock pool, and various beaches, and hiked through the national park. The beaches here are lovely and the waves are wild - surfers paradise. It would just have been nice to have had some sun while we had the fun! Having such a nice hostel definately compensated though. With my luck itll be nice once we leave, normally is the way with
stormy weather! By this point we will be in the concrete jungle of Sao Paolo. We have one day tomorrow (check out mid day, bus to SP at 2330) so heres hoping for some sun! As you an see the blog is a bit backdated, with no wifi here. So apologies hopefully the next hostel will be better equipped!
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