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Published: June 15th 2015
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Praia Barequecaba
Ilhabela in the background Monday 15
th June 2015
Being twenty five kilometres south of the Tropic of Capricorn doesn´t make any difference to the climate, or does it? No, of course not! However, as we write this blog, in a chilly 18 degrees, the rain is pouring down and the views are clouded over! Actually, we left Parati on Friday in pouring rain as well, and the weekend here has been hot and sunny; it just feels non-tropical now!
Our bus journey last Friday, despite the torrential rain, was quite enjoyable and if the weather had been fine it would have been spectacular. The bus was an hour late and then the driver wanted his lunch so we departed nearly two hours later than scheduled, but this isn´t unusual! The Atlantic Rainforest is one of the most stunning aspects of the Brazilian coastline and it stretches the length of the country; towns like Sao Sebastiao where we are now and even cities like Rio, are just a tiny interruption in this vast lush greenness. If the human race left these shores it would probably all return to jungle within a few generations. The hotel we are in,
for example, on Praia Barequecaba, is just 300 metres from the beach yet it backs on to thick jungle. So now we know why it rains so much!
The rainforest birds here are multi-coloured; as small as sparrows, they are brightly feathered in colours normally only seen on parrots and budgerigars. There are lots of Frigate birds as well, with their Pterodactyl-shaped wings, which we haven´t seen further north and there are still plenty of vultures too. Another local inhabitant is the South American Possum, a very large marsupial, larger than the ones we have seen before in Australasia and North America. They are nocturnal and on our first night here we were fortunate to see one walking along the garden wall in the evening, before climbing a tree. These possum are 40 to 50 centimetres in length with a tail of the same length again and long pointed snouts and big sharp teeth. Although omnivorous, they are no threat to humans. The Brazilian name for them is “Gamba”, which is Spanish for “prawn”, so if looking up “Gambas” online, you will either find pictures of prawns or possum! A tapa of gambas at home in Spain
might never quite taste the same again!
Sao Sebastiao was founded by the Portuguese in 1636, favoured for its sheltered position. The archipelago of Ilhabela lies just offshore on its eastern side shielding it from Atlantic swells. The channel between the mainland and the islands is thirty kilometres long and just two to three kilometres wide. Ilhabela means “Beautiful Island” and it is indeed, as are the many beaches in the Sao Sebastiao district, popular spots for tourists from Sao Paulo and beyond. Why then is it the site of an oil terminal, owned by the giant Brazilian company, Petro-bras? Here there is lush Atlantic rainforest filled with exotic birds, sandy palm-fringed bays and oil tankers filling up at the end of a huge visible pipeline which juts out from the town like a pier, stretching half way to Ilhabela. Surely, the terminal could have been placed elsewhere! It is probably here due to the sheltered location but there are many archipelagos offering such shelter all down the coast so why by a tourist resort? Fortunately we cannot see it from Barequecaba beach, but it dominates Sao Sebastiao´s historic centre and promenade.
We plan
Vultures
On our beaches we have seagulls! to leave here on Wednesday, when the weather forecast is for sunshine. Originally we were going to leave here today, but the rain, forecast to continue into tomorrow as well, made us decide to stay longer. The scenery down the coast is so stunning that we want to enjoy it on our next bus journey. For us, the journey is as important as the destinations. Our next stop is Santos, scheduled as a six hour bus journey, so it will probably take eight or nine!
We have decided to journey overland down to Iguazu as planned but not back again. To give us more time to enjoy this journey we shall fly back to Rio from Foz de Iguazu in July, to get our flight back home. Santos should be interesting, home to the Santos Futbol Clube and we shall look for the statue of some player called Pele!
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