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Brazilian Costa Verde… the one where eventually there was sun, sea and sand despite Brazil’s best ef
Paraty, Brazil
The first thing I did when I got to Rio de Janiero was sat on the floor next to our luggage trolley and sobbed. I was worried about travelling round Brazil - everyone we had spoken to said how expensive it was. That was all they said - never it's amazing but expensive or great fun but expensive. Just the cost factor. Our own experience of trying to arrange travel, even with our Carnival providers in the UK was painful. Unlike most South American countries, you can book things online, but not unless you have a Brazilian CPF number. You can get one of those if you are a foreigner, but only from within Brazil. Also, here they speak Portuguese, not Spanish. Forget not knowing numbers, here I didn't even understand the words. And it was raining - not just a little rain, but big thunderstorms and downpours. In fact it was raining so much the airport baggage handlers had to go and have a cup of coffee as apparently they don't work in the rain here, and our bags took over an hour to arrive. Could you imagine if they had that approach at Heathrow? People would wait days for bags. Anyway, this is not somewhere you can just turn up and mooch around, unless cost is no issue. So when we arrived in Rio only to find that Nationwide had cancelled my card AGAIN - despite the fact I have told them twice we are away - I sat down and cried for Argentina, that lovely, friendly easy to travel around, Spanish speaking place we had just left.*
*I actually did cry, but at the time I was saying things more like 'I want to go home' rather than 'I am crying for Argentina' but it doesn't quite have the same ring to it.
Luckily Jon had taken the comments from my Aunt - to look after me in Rio - seriously and pulled out all stops to get me off the floor and to Paraty, our first stop on the Brazilian Costa Verde. Admittedly he couldn't prevent our taxi driver nearly falling asleep at the wheel and into a path of an oncoming bus, but I coughed very loudly to wake him up, and we made it in one piece.
Paraty is a small Colonial town about 500km south of Rio. It puts the sheer size of Brazil into perspective as its about half a centimetre away on the coast. (Brazil is the fifth biggest country in the world and makes up the vast majority of the South American continent). When we walked into town on the first morning there was a six a side beach football tournament going on which made Jon very happy so we sat and watched that for a while until one man got very angry with the referee and substituted himself so he could fully concentrate on abusing him from the sideline. It rained for a lot of the time we were in Paraty but on the last day it stayed clear and we took a boat trip round some of the islands off the coast for beach spotting and snorkelling. This was a bit more like what we were expecting. We pulled into the first beach and had to swim through the clear blue waters to the sandy shore, walking along enjoying the peace and quiet…when an Australian party boat turned up. We heard the boat before we saw it as it was pounding out Euro pop with the boating equivalent of a subwoofer in the boat. Then the shouts of the Australians as they all divebomobed one by one off the side of the ship. Things like that make us feel very old so I wasn't sad that they didn't catch us up again for the rest of the day…
From Paraty we took a bus and then a ferry to Ihla Grande, a car free island off the coast south of Rio. This is the Brazil from postcards - beautiful lush green forests, sandy beaches and clear blue sea. With no cars or other means of transport the island has its own unique ecosystem, and there are plants living in the forests here that don't exist anywhere else. We hiked 10km across the island (very much up and over the peak at the top) to Lopes Mendes, one of the most beautiful beaches in Brazil, and therefore the world. The hike was mostly easy going despite the heat, but there was a tricky climb down a 2 metre rock that got me stumped for about 20 mins.In retrospect I probably looked like a complete numpty but I just couldn't bring myself to hold the rope and climb down. After about 10 other people had gone past I gave up and came down on my bum. I really am not very good on the downhill sections. We spent an enjoyable few hours at the beach with our homemade ham and cheese sandwiches, and then - so Ididn't have to do battle with the rock again - took the boat back to the main town.
The next day we took a boat cruise to the Blue Lagoon for a spot more snorkelling. For a brief moment we thought we had taken the party boat - there were whole families of Brazilians who bought and cracked open beers when we boarded, whooping and cheering and posing for photos - but it seems their staying power is far less than the antipodeans and after their first drink they all sat down nicely and were pretty subdued for the rest of the trip. Like most other South American countries, Brazil is also a nation of shopkeepers. They will sell pretty much anything, setting up on street corners with a few sandwiches, or a six pack of beer in a cooler. This is the first time I have seen them come out in boats though. The blue lagoon is about 45 mins by boat from the main town, and a good 10 minutes from he nearest house. But some enterprising men had decided that people really want coconut water after snorkeeling, and had paddled around to the tourist hotspot in thei canoe to sell them to people on the boats. One guy in particular was doing a reasonable trade, but had to keep stopping to scoop out the water seeping into his very old canoe using a bright red plastic bowl.
Ilhe Grande went some way towards changing my view on Brazil. It is undoubtedly a beautiful country and the people are generally friendly and laidback. But I can't help wondering how they will cope with the influx of tourists in the next few years for the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics. It's very easy for Brazilians to get around, but it's not easy for foreigners. But maybe that's the way they like it. It will be interesting to see whether things are different in Rio for carnival next week.
This week we...
STAYED
· At Pousada Prair Serena, a beachside B&B owned by an English man and his Portuguese wife just outside the historic centre in Paraty. They were super helpful in helping us get to Ihle Grande, including making a bank transfer for the deposit for us. Breakfast was also great, and the pool was lovely.
ATE
· Thai food at Thai Paraty. It was SO GOOD, and not just because it was somewhere different.
· On the beach in Paraty most nights. The first night we were there was Valentine's day, and Jon "reminded" me that we weren't celebrating it this year, but then when we found a nice restaurant on the beach with a bossanova singer, he then tried to convince me that was the plan all along and we were celebrating it after all so could he have some credit please.
· The second night we ate at another beachfront place that was advertising a beachfront BBQ. However just because they are BBQing in Brazil doesn't mean it's one of those BBQs (with unlimited meat). It was just a BBQ. The hunt for the elusive Brazillian BBQ continues…
LEARNT
Sometimes it doesn't just rain, it pours. But when the sun comes out the next day it doesn't
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