Paraty and Florianopolis

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Paraty was, more or less, a perfect tourist town. Quiet small, with a pedestrianised and cobbled centre, and a large waterfront filled with boats offering tours of Paraty Bay. Arriving on a Saturday, I was surprised to find out how busy the town (my hostel included) was. Someone told me that it was essentially a bank holiday weekend for everyone in Sao Paulo as it was a special anniversary of the city’s foundation, so to celebrate this, a lot of middle class Paulistanos flocked to the nearby beaches. On Sunday it seemed to quieten down considerably. I only spent 2 nights in Paraty, but this was about right to explore the town, the quays, the beaches and the old fort which overlooks the town (built to guard against British pirates using canons bought from the British). And of course on Sunday there was the World Cup final to watch as well.

From Paraty it was a six hour bus ride back to Sao Paulo, and from there a 12 hour overnight bus to my last port of call in Brazil - Florianópolis. Arriving in “Floripa” I was shocked to see how cold it was compared to the warmth of Rio and Paraty. It didn’t get above 13 degrees in Florianópolis on my first day there; dramatically colder than the low 30s in Rio. Half of the city of Florianópolis is located on the mainland; the other half on the Ilha Santa Catarina. The island is actually quite big (54km long by 18km wide), and technically all of it is part of Florianópolis even though most has not been developed. I decided to stay in the middle of the island, next to the Lagoa da Conceçao (a large lake) and within walking distance of the east coast beaches. It’s very much off-season here - I was in fact the only person staying at the hostel, which was very weird, but luckily the owner was very friendly and chatty.

The city centre itself was nice, but nothing that special. Lots of upmarket shops, pedestrianised streets and the usual main square with cathedral. On the other hand, the island’s beaches were quite special. There are 42 on the island, and I only managed to see 3. The first was actually quite busy, despite the cold, as it is a well-known surfing beach. The next beach along was stunningly beautiful and absolutely deserted. The only sad thing were the two dead penguins that had been washed ashore. Behind the beach were sand dunes, and walking passed these I managed to spot a pair of burrowing owls, guarding their nest. First time I’ve seen owls up and about during the day. But they seemed quite stressed that I was so close to their nest so I moved on quickly enough.

I could have spent much longer in Floripa - so many interesting places to explore, and had it been summer here then I probably would have. But instead I’ve bought my bus ticket for my next stop - Montevideo in Uruguay. A 21 hour bus journey involving a change of bus in Porto Allegre. Undoubtedly also the most expensive bus journey I’ll have in South America (just short of 100 pounds). I do feel slightly guilty about passing through so much of southern Brazil and eastern Uruguay without stopping, but in between Floripa and Montevideo there doesn’t seem to be that much to see other than more beaches, and given how the weather has turned, I don’t mind missing them out. And I’m pretty sure that I will pop back briefly into Brazil in order to visit the Pantanal (the world’s largest wetland ecosystem), which will not be much of a detour when I am in Eastern Bolivia. So I haven’t quite finished with Brazil just yet.
The next blog will come shortly from Montevideo.

(A note to those who read my last blog and emailed me asking what a capybara is. I thought it was much more well-known than it obviously is, so sorry for any confusion).

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