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Published: February 28th 2006
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Pirate Ship in Paraty!
Cruising out to sea off the Brasilian Coast Saturday the 18th. We packed up and left Iguassu, and today was a long 11 hour drive to Curitiba. Had had a great night out the night before seeing a performance of local dancing with a live band, and then clubbing in Iguassu, so just slept most of the long journey on the bus. We arrived at our campsite and it was now night. It started raining, and the campsite was wet and muddy. I was feeling pretty tired too, and after camping almost a week, I persuaded my tent mate that we should go for luxury and stay the night in a hotel just down the road, an option a few other people had taken. It was the right choice, a hot shower, comfortable bed, and it was dry! An added bonus was the Rolling Stones live on tv, where they were playing their mamoth concert on Cocabana beach in Rio.
We left the hotel at 8am, and another drive, this time to Beritoga. Pretty boring blog Im afraid, travel, pitch up tent, eat blah blah blah. Here though, after tea, it absolutely belted down, the biggest rain storm I have seen, we all got well and truly drenched.
Party in Paraty
Some people we met in a bar. Marcelo got a guitar and we rocked the place!
(l,r)Sarah,Me,Marcelo,Gabriella,Hobson So we decided what the hell, and wearing just our swimming trunks we made our way to a beach party not far from the campsite, which was ended up being pretty good fun. Most nights we go out, we end up staying out until the sun rises, 6am ish, and again, we had to pack up our tents, and we were setting off again for an 8am start!
The next drive was 5 hours to the costal town of Parati. The drive was beautiful, our first along the brasilian coastline. It was a hot beautiful day, and the beaches and the sea looked like paradise, with palm trees seperating the road and the seafront. The campsite in Parati would be our last, and it was important to get there early, as this was the last stop before Rio De Janeiro, for just about everyone travelling this continent who was heading this way, so some 300 people were expected to be camping here. We arrived and found a good space to pitch up our tent. Then in to town for a look around. Its a very touristy kind of place, small and quiet, very quaint. I got my haircut and
Samba dancers
With some Samba dancers at a show did all the touristy things. We had a meeting at camp that night about what the plan was once we arrived in Rio, and after dinner at camp, me and a handfull of friends walked in to town for some drinks. We ended up in a picturesque cobbled street, where we sat outside a quiet pub, listening to a local guitarist, who played some Beatles songs for us in Portugese. He looked like Carlos Santana!!
The next morning was a bit of a lie in for me, and then we were off to the harbour at 11am, where we would set off for a boat trip around the islands off the coast of Parati. As the heat shone down, we had drinks, and just chilled out on the boat most of the day, and swam in the sea, which was cool. There were tropical fish in the sea, and it was good throwing them melon and watching them all swarm to the surface to eat the melon. We headed back, and stopped off to an ice cream parlour, before reatreating to camp and getting ready to eat out that night. Me and my friends chose to seperate from the group we were with, and headed in to town to a bar/restaurant. Had a nice pizza and a few beers, and we were joined by a local person. He was called Marcelo, and was actually on holiday from Sao Paulo. He produced out of nowhere a guitar, and rattled through some great songs, from Beatles to Nirvana to REM that we all started singing to. Even the waiters of the bar got in to it, and we even started to Samba. The bar was busy, and the drinks flowed! After a few great hours, we all left together, waiters included (!), and went to the local nightclub just outside. We continued to have a great night, again the locals showing us their Samba skills. It was a brilliant and totally spontaneous night, maybe one of the best of the whole tour so far.
The next day was just spent looking around the town, and getting final things done before Rio. We all gathered again for a meal that night, Indian, where we invited Marcelo and a few other new friends to join us. This continued in to the night at a beach party, that wasn't so good, but we sat on the beach under the stars, and again Marcelo rolled off the hits! It was nice to be away from the campsite by now, as it had reached its maximum with people, so much so, that a truck had parked right in front of our tent! We have had loads of wildlife, but this was the first vehicle, unreal!!! Tonight was also our last night of camping of the whole tour.
Thursday 23rd Feb. We packed up the tents for the last time, and left the campsite at 8.30am. Destination, one of the worlds greatest Cities....!
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anonymous
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Webbs. are you sure that friendly lady samba dancer is actually a lady.... xxx