BRAZIL - Paraty, Ouro Preto, Rio & Buzios

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October 19th 2008

Published: November 7th 2008

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Danny and Lore

Sao Paulo

Parque Ibirapuera

SAO PAULO
We got to Sao Paulo on Sunday morning after not much sleep on our 5 hour overnight flight. At the airport we got some money, and our Aiport Bus Service into town and to our hotel. Fortunately we had booked a cheap (for Sao Paulo prices) hotel previously, so we just had to get there.
Our first impression was pretty good, especially because people just felt really friendly and ready to help you... the bus driver even went out of his usual route to drop us right in front of our Paulista Garden Hotel, taxi service!
The hotel was in a really nice area of Sao Paulo, the Jardin Paulista, full of nice green residential streets with some nice shops, bars and restaurants dotted around.
We did not plan to stay too long in Sao Paulo, and we pretty much stayed around the vicinity of Jardin Paulista. We visited the MASP (Art Museum of Sao Paulo) which had a very interesting collection, and just wondered around the streets of the neighborhood on the first day. We did not sample any of the expensive restaurants in the area due to our tight budget, but the steak, cheese and fried egg

Sao Paulo

Auditorio Ibirapuera by Oscar Niemeyer

sandwich I had at a simple cafeteria was probably the best I have ever had.
The next day we walked around the Parque do Ibirapuera nearby, and started to check out some of Oscar Niemeyer´s crazy architecture. We also visited some other neighborhoods in the city with not much success of finding what we expected, and stayed clear of the city centre. We basically relaxed for a couple of days before making our next move to Paraty looking for the beaches. Our impression of Sao Paulo was that it is probably a great city to live in, but not quite one for tourism.

PARATY
We got to Paraty late in the afternoon after 6 hours in a pretty decent bus. This time we did not have any reservations, so we walked out of the bus station with our rucksacks on, joined by a couple of German girls, and found a nice little pousada to stay.
Paraty is a gorgeous little colonial village by the sea between Sao Paulo and Rio, full of white buildings with colourful doors and windows and really uneven stone streets. It is also surrounded by natural beauty, the sea, hundreds of islands, beaches and lush

Paraty

Scooner Tour of the Islands

green mountains covered in rainforests and fresh water rivers and waterfalls. It is definitely a place anyone should visit and probably stay for a week or even more.
After we checked in to our Magnus Pousada, we went straight out for a walk around the old town centre which was full of shops and restaurants, all along the cute streets, squares and churches. A big bonus is that the old town centre is free of any motor vehicle, so it is totally pedestrian. We had a nice meal at a restaurant with our new German friends, and then went to bed early.
The next morning after a great breakfast at the Magnus Pousada, we went off to the pier to find ourselves a sailing boat (Scooner) tour around the nearby islands and beaches. The pier was full of boats ready to go, and they were all pretty much the same, so we ended up going with the 'Estrelha de Manha' (Morning Star). We placed ourselves on the top deck ready for some sun and caipirinhas. We even had some great on board live music in the form of a friendly chubby guy with his guitar playing soft tropical tunes of

Paraty

Islands tour

reggae, bossanova and samba.
We had a great day stopping at a few places for a swim and in a couple of different beaches just to chill out. The pictures speak for themselves. We also had some lunch on the boat, and got back to the town of Paraty at about 4:30pm. We had a little rest and a shower and went out around the town in the evening for some food.
On Friday morning we took a local bus to the nearby village of Trindade, about 30 minutes away. It was a small fishing village with some amazing beaches around it. We walked straight to praia dos Ranchos and found a spot with some chairs and a big umbrella... the sun was at full force again, and the sea was freezing, which was just perfect. We had some nice lunch there and a few cold beers, and then walked over to the praia do Meio and to the praia do Caixadaço, which had some amazing waves and was much less crowded than the others since it was quite hard to get to.
Trindade was definitely a place we would have loved to stay at for a few days, but

Paraty

more beautiful islands

we just went there for the day from Paraty. After a good swim in the freezing waves, we walked over to a lovely stream and had a great splash of fresh water before getting on the bus back to Paraty at about 6pm.
In the evening we went out on the town again, which was much more full with tourists since it was Friday. We had a drink and something to eat, and saw some guys dancing Capoeria in the street.
Saturday was our last day in Paraty, and we had ended up walking around the streets, relaxing and going to the morro do Forte for a great view, and the nearby beach of Jabaquara, which was not really that nice, but we had some good food and a relaxing time.
The next day was our trip to Belo Horizonte, which ended up being much longer and exhausting than expected. We had to catch a bus to nearby Angra dos Reis at 6am, and another to BH at 9am... after 13 long hours by bus we arrived at BH at about 8pm.

BELO HORIZONTE & OURO PRETO
The plan was to go visit my old friend from school, Ximena, and

Paraty

also visit the nearby colonial town of Ouro Preto. Ximena picked us up at the station, and we went to stay with her at her lovely house outside Belo Horizonte. We did not really see much of the city, and took advantage of Ximena´s great hospitality to relax for a day and feel at home. The next day we ended up staying at home, playing with her little twin daughters (3) and her two sons (6 & 8). We went to the pool, played football, and just had a relaxing day.
On Monday we went off to Ouro Preto, and it was a bit of a crazy day. We got there a bit late because of the bus times. The town was in the middle of the hills, so it is full of steep cobbled streets, and the scorching heat of the day also made it quite difficult to walk around. In any case we covered quite a lot of ground and saw lots of beautiful churches and streets. It was Monday though, and all the churches and museums were closed! What a pain, but the town was lovely and we enjoyed it. When it came to going back, we

Paraty

the first Caipirinha

got our times confused, and had to make a 400mt sprint to get to the bus station on time... we got there just on time! It was the last bus back to BH, otherwise would have been looking for a place to stay.
The next day at Ximena´s place we just had some nice breakfast and she dropped us at the station to catch our bus to Rio!!!

RIO DE JANEIRO
Our bus to Rio was once a again the cheaper option, which meant it broke down for about an hour, but we got to Rio at 8pm, and Ronny was waiting for us at the bus station. So we went to his place, and met up with his friend Leandro to go for something to eat nearby.
Ronny´s flat is great, and even though it is quite small, it is really cozy and comfortable with lots of light and air, and Ronny has really mabe us feel at home in Rio.
The weather forecast for our first full day was not very good, so we made plans to go arround the city centre. We got up rather late, and got on the bus to get off at Cinelandia (in

Paraty

swimming in the blue sea

the centre). It was almost lunch time, so we met up with Ronny in his lunch break and had a walk around the area, which had some intersting buildings like the Teatro Municipal, and the national library. We went for lunch at the Confiteria Colombo, a really elegant cafe with a beautiful interior. After that Ronny went back to work, and we visited the Catedral Metropolitana before deciding to go up to the Corcovado, since the weather cleared up and it was our chance for a sunny day!
We got the cable train up the hill at about 4pm and the weather was just great! As we got to the top, we could see the lovely blue sky in the background of the enormous figure of Crist the Redeemer... so we rushed up the last set of stairs, and as we got to the very top, a mass of clouds came sweeping in and covering the whole place! It was unbelievable, we just got a glimpse of the city, and it was all covered up! We stayed there for about 2 hours, hoping it would clear up, but it only did a few times for 5 seconds each time! It

Paraty

more blue sea and green forest

was just so frustrating, but the spectacle with the mist moving across the place was quite an experience too.
At night we had some food at home with Ronny and Leandro. The next day we got up quite late again, and went off to Ipanema to hit the beach. The weather was a not bad, and the sun was shining nicely in the afternoon. We stayed there the whole afternoon, in the white sands, freezing waves, and checking out all the carioca girls with their little bikinis taking the sun.
BUZIOS
On Friday the plan was to go to Buzios for the weekend. We went with Ronny and Leandro in the evening after Ronny was free from work and classes. During the day, Lorena was not feeling too good, and it was raining, so we stayed at home the whole day. In the evening we went with Leandro to a bar for some drinks and food, and at about 11pm, Ronny picked us up to go to Buzios for the 3 hour drive. We got there at about 2am and I felt sorry for Ronny since he was driving and we were sleeping.
We stayed at Ronny´s mum´s place, who

Paraty

and more beautiful beaches

has a hostel there, so we had two rooms for the four of us, just excellent! Buzios is a beach town apparently made famous by Brigitte Bardot, and is surrounded by beautiful beaches. The town itself is a trendy little place full of bars, expensive shops and restaurants.
Unfortunately, on Saturday morning the day was really cloudy, gloomy and even cold. But we went to the beaches anyway, starting at Geriba and Ferrdourinha, which was a lovely secluded place surrounded by rock cliffs. At lunch time we went to town to the Rua das Pedras for lunch, and then back to the beach at praia Joao Fernandes. The day was getting better and the sun started shining. It seemed like Buzios at this time of the year is full of Argentinian tourists, and this beach was totally full with them. In the evening we went back into town for some more food and some caipirinhas of course.
Sunday morning was a beautiful day, and we had totally blue sky, so we went straight to the beaches. We did a bit of a tour to praia Brava, praia do Forno, and ended up at praia das Tartarugas, and found ourselves a

Paraty

stone streets

table with sun chairs and umbrella. This again got quickly full of Argentinians, who could easily compete with the small bikinis of Ipanema.
Early afternoon we made our way back to Rio, since we made plans to meet up with Edu and Roger, our other friends in Rio. On the way there we stopped at Niteroi to see the MAC (Contemporary Art Museum) by Oscar Niemeyer, the one with the flying saucer shape you have probably seen before. It was a pretty crazy place, with a lovely view over Niteroi and Rio. After that we met up with Edu at his place where he cooked us some lovely pasta and we stayed there chatting all night.
We are now thinking of spending a few more days in Rio before we start heading south to Curitiba and the Iguazu Falls and then Argentina.

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