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Paraty
22/01/09 - 27/01/09
Following a pretty shocking day which included a five hour wait in Rio bus station (which is surrounded by the notorious favelas….nice!!!), a broken down coach and a lot of confusion as the drivers only spoke Portuguese (how dare they not speak English), we finally arrived at our Pousada in Paratay at 2.30am in the pissing down rain. Fortunately for us on the coach we met an extremely helpful woman from Portugal on her way to see her Brazilian husband, who helped translate and then kindly drove us to our hostel…if she wasn't there we wouldn't have stood a chance.
We woke late on the Friday and decided to wonder around Paraty to get to know the local area. Almost immediately we feel more relaxed. The town is both pretty and quaint with cobbled streets and one storey buildings. It would be unfair to call it a sleepy town, but the way of life here appears to be fairly chilled out and there is a blend of tourists and locals going about there business, which seems to be predominantly based around tourism. Following the advice of the posada owner Emerson, we took a 30 minute bus journey to an area called Trindade, down one of just two main roads, which connect Paraty to the rest of Brazil. It was far from a comfortable experience, as the local bus with zero suspension weaved through the winding rainforest, up and down mountains, over good and not so good ground. We eventually arrived in a tiny village with many restaurants and tourist shops, which we are informed cater for Brazilian holiday makers in the summer months. On the other side of the village was a stunning beach, white sands, turquoise sea and a rainforest backdrop to die for…this made the pain gruelling journey well worth while.
On the 2nd day in Paraty we decided to take a boat tour of the Islands that surround the Paraty coastline and were once used to protect the town from invaders. Within this area are some 365 beaches (a beach a day for a year….awesome), some of which must be amongst the most beautiful in the world. In true Paraty style all of the Islands have a jungle backdrop which just seems to fall away onto a beach and this is why a host of Hollywood actors and Brazilian tycoons choose to buy there hideaway holiday home here and in some cases Islands themselves.
Whilst on our whistle stop tour with breaks at various beaches or snorkelling areas, we are entertained by a Brazilian musician who was just awesome, Dad would love his guitar skills!!! His style is kind of a cross between a Jason Mraz and Sting, with an authentic Brazilian twist to spice it up and his take on (samba…(think Ronaldo & Co running through an airport in the Nike advert years ago), Mrs.Robinson and a host of Brazilian tunes made the tour pretty funny.
After a night of pretty severe sickness and diarrhoea, we thought it be wise if I retire to bed for the day, whilst Rina explored the town. The following day I felt much better and we took the advice of our Pousada owner and visit Praia del Sol which is said to be the finest beach on the mainland, inaccessible by car. Again we took a really comfortable local bus to Laranjeiras, which was a residential area with about 20 properties and from there we would need to hike through the rain forest to the beach. To be honest I could write a book just on the journey through the rainforest. On route we went up and down steep down hills with dense forest on either side, crossed small streams and ambled over some pretty scary paths made from rock. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr.Somarji the surgeon on Manchester who screwed my ankle back together, ass some how it survived!!! As we emerged through the forest, still reasonably high, we were presented with a mind blowing view of the remote, but picturesque beach. Once again surrounded by mountains covered by rainforest the white sands stretched for miles, disturbed only by a couple of tourists and local fisherman. After relaxing for a few hours, the customary Paraty rain set in and we decided to call it a day. Other than foot the only way to leave the beach was via a fisherman's boat for about B$15, but given the fact we only had about a fiver and visa (which unfortunately is not accepted by fisherman) we had to hot foot it back over the mountain to the bus stop. The hike that took just over an hour on the way had now easily become two with the rain pouring making the trail wet and slippery. We walked back barefoot along with a young Swiss couple grateful that we all hadn't plummeted into the depths of the jungle!
On our final day the legend that is Emerson offered to take us for a tour of local Paraty, an area unseen by many tourists. We first drive deep into the rainforest (jungle to me) to an area occupied by as he described the "poor people of Paraty". Through the long winding roads a small village appears, where the houses are made from concrete/brick, yet still appear to be pretty run down. We were amazed by how remotely people live, but they do appear to be quite self sufficient as there our numerous farms with many different varieties of fruit and animals. From the state of some of these animals it is apparent that money is scarce, as many of the horses are frail and malnourished.
But beyond the obvious shortage of money, it seems almost wrong to describe these people as "poor". They live in possibly one of the most naturally beautiful areas in the world, isolated from the stresses of every day life, they live amidst huge mountains which are covered by the rain-forest, with stunning waterfalls on there doorsteps and no shortage of intriguing wildlife. It's hard for us to comment on these peoples desires and needs, but if you live here I don't really think having the latest BMW or iphone is all that important.
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