After a fun couple of days in the big city, its good to be back on the beach in Paraty. Jabaquaria Beach, opposite our hostel isnt the most beautiful - its an almost closed in bay with rivers coming into it, so muddy in the water more than sandy, but its flat calm, so nice for swimming, the sun is hot, and its 24 steps from our room to our spot on the sand. Only thing is though, it feels like we are on the wrong time zone, as the sun goes behind the mountains at about 430, and its dark by 600pm, so beer o'clock feels a lot later than it should. Still, having a beer with the sand between our toes is still one of our most favourite activities at any time of the day.
We end up spending a lot longer in Paraty than originally planned - the weather up in Salvador looks very rainy, so we take the executive decision to stay in the sun much longer, where we have a comfortable bed to sleep in, and lots to do nearby. We have a couple of days out in Trinidade, a 45 min or so bus ride along the coast, through some spectacular scenery to a great stretch of picture postcard sand, and a good couple of beach bars to provide that end of day beer.
We also venture inland to a series of waterfalls that are just like water slides, and lots of fun too. Even on the couple of overcast days we manage to entertain ourselves with new found friends Kathryn, Jeremy and the 3 Real bottle of vodka (about £1) and watching the last match of the Premiership which sees Newcastle and Middlesbrough both relegrated, and Sunderland hanging on by the skin of their teeth. Its almost worthwhile hunting out old school friends on facebook to laugh at them, but not quite.
Paraty itself is a cute cobbled street town, that is firmly on the tourist trail, but none the worse for it. We're in the middle of a religious festival, so the streets are lined with food stalls, including the giant empanada man (30cm of pastry filled with meat mmmmm) and bunting has been hung to make it look even more picture postcard perfect.
But after 8 days, its time to move on again, to the Ilha Grande, and one of the so called best beaches in Brazil. Its tricky to get to - a couple of hours on the bus, and then a ferry connection, and tourism is actively kept to a minimum - no high rise buildings, and no cars allowed on the island, so it could well be a paradise island, but the weather isnt on our side, and although we get a fairly decent day for our trip over to the fabled Lopes Mendes beach, which is stunning, we dont get the blue sky, blazing sunshine that would make it all complete. Until of course on the day that we leave, when we're heading out the shade as we drag our bags to the ferry landing, and then onto the bus station on the mainland as we head for our first visit to Rio.
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