Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Paraty is gorgeous, my hostel is literally on the beach :-) the water is warm and the weather is too, it will be very hot if the sun was to show its face.
There's such a relaxed feeling here. We hired Kayaks this morning and went to the closest island, it took us an hour to get there. It was such a small island, but really high, a tiny beach with a jetty, one house and loads of trees, birds and fish... Loads of little fish. After walking around the island we then got back in the kayaks and circled the island, there was loads of massive rocks making up the back of the island and jumping big fish.
The whole thing was so beautiful and relaxing, hard work rowing back against the current and wind though, I'm sure my shoulders and back will know about it tomorrow!!
I then went on a little city walking tour, there wasn't much to see but it was good to learn. It was very clever the history of the town. Paraty used to circle around the number 33, 33 high class, 33 blocks of houses. It was designed as a fortress, using the rivers and the islands having cannons on them and a wall at the back. There was no road connecting paraty to brazil until 1970's it was only used as a port. The city was very sectioned by class, there is four churches, and each church has two doors as they believed you were with god in life and death, so one side was the church, the other was a cemetery, they are empty now though. The houses are designed in a labyrinth effect and you do get lost, they are in rows but the roads start wide, narrow then curve and widen again! The ride also brings the sea right up into the centre of the city, so all the houses are built up and have a massive step at the from door. All houses just had doors no windows until the rich imported glass from Europe and put it on the outside of the house to show their wealth. The higher class also had there house decorated with shapes, and the nobles had pineapple shapes on their lights. Every house had one floor, then the richer could afford a residential floor for their family and then the richest had a third floor, an observatory to monitor the ongoings of the city and sea.
I cooked myself a gorgeous steak and now I'm sat listening to some Americans playing a game called 'cards against humanity' it's very wrong and hilarious!! I must get this game when I get home.... Probably better than Dirty Minds!
- comments
rosie Sellick Sounds as though you are having a very interesting fun time.. Rosie S.