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Brazil - ParatiTuesday, October 24'th | |
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8.10AM in the morning, we left the appartement of Erik and Consuelo to go for the busterminal in Rio, and with our luck we just managed to catch the 8.30 bus to Parati (Paraty), well |
it was 8.35 but they were waiting for us. 11 Real ($12) is quite cheap for a four hour bus ride, but then there isn't any airconditioning, but I guess we all went back to sleep, so never mind. |
 Erik with his High8 in front of a church in Parati |
| Around noon we arrived at the former boomtown, Parati. At the end of the 17th century it was the major port for shippeng gold from the mines in Minas Gerais back to Europe. Nowadays the center of the city has been closed for trafic, so the town has a nice atmosphere, lots of ancient colonial buildings, all painted in white and strong colors - it resemble an old pirate town, schooners swaying at the wharf, some with Jolly |
Roger (![[Jolly Roger]](Roger.gif){kind=small} )
hoist in top of the mast.
We headed straight for the tourist angency, and asked for a nice guesthouse where we could stay. The guy there directed us to a new place "Morro do Forte - Pousada" owned by a Brazillian/German couple, and is located at the outskirts of Parati, just on the way to the old fort, a bit up hill, with a fantastic view of the entire city and the bay. |
 Our Bungalow/Hotel in Parati, Rasmus and Erik in the pool |
Above Erik and Rasmus in the pool, imitating the Wham video "Club Tropicana".
It was too late to go for the sail-trip around the islands and beaches
that day, so we decided to catch some sun and use the pool, and
empty the storage for beer, it only took us an hour, then they had to
drive down to the town to fill their storage. The place is cheap, and
excelent. Prices from 30 ($32) for a two-bed room to 45 Real ($48)
for a three beds. This is an ideal place to spend your honneymoon,
or so did Erik and Consuelo think.
Oh! Deus, se na terra houvesse um paraíso, não seria muito longe daqui! |
After a while we were getting hungry, so we walked the 10 minutes
back to town, heading for the resturants at the beach, I guess any
will do, We chose to eat Lupper/Linner (a combination of Lunch and
Supper/Dinner) at an old fellow who had a temporary place on the
beach itself. After yet a couple of beers, we started with some
apetisers made of deep-fried Manioc with prawns, and spiced with
tabasco. It is so delicous that we kept ordering these until we
had eaten too much. the day of the apetisers.
Well, back to hotel to get a quick after-noon nap, only to find out that we'd been sleeping until almost midnight. So no real dinner that day, we were all ready to go to sleep for real. One advice, remember to shut the door, and close the windows. They have real nasty mosquitos down here, it's not like Rio, it is particular inconvenient to be bitten under your feet, its anoying when you walk. |
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Wednesday, October 25'th | |
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Early next morning (about nine o'clock) we checked out. The lady of the house offered us to use the pool and bath-room when we returned from the trip with the ship. However, there would not be any time to use her offer. |
We walked down to the tourist-agency to book our tickets for the 11.30 boat, no problem. Cash-money was running low, but they take all kind of credit-cards so we managed to save some valuable cash. |
 The schooner at anchor near small island, Rasmus taking a nap in the bow |
| We headed straight for the harbor and for once we were there on time (we were not the last to board the ship). I guess they must have known that we were comming, 'cause they had plenty of Beer on board. At 11.30AM we headed out of the bay, what a glorious day. After 45 minutes we droped the anchor near a small beach, and the diving gear were offered to us. The water here is crystal clear and you will find fish in all sizes. Awesome, I hope the others got some good pictures with their water-proof camera. |
We were given a small hour here, before we headed further out from the coast, headed for a tiny island with some special caves at surface level. It's possible to enter swimming at one entrance and come out of an other, truely amazing. We made a 50 minutes stop here as well before leaving for another beach, I guess we were all intersted to have some lunch, so it was nice to see the three resturants here at the last stop. |
 Diving and swimming among the Islands near Parati |
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The small Zodiac dinghy got us all dry onto the shore, even the baby
carriage so Caroline could sleep in the shade while we ate. Fried
fish, Salad, French-fries and some fried Manioc made in shape of
French-fries were excelent. Now the sun was low in the sky, and
we were a bit uncertin when the bus went back to Rio. We were back
in Parati around 6.30PM, bringing out trip up to 7 hours (2 hours more
than expected).
It turned out that we had plenty of time, the latest bus leave at 8PM, so we walked around the beautiful |
town for the remaining hour. If
you have a few days to spend, take the time to visit Parati, an
excellent experience.
It was late night before we were back in Rio, almost midnight so we all took a cab home, it turned to be a real Kamikaze-ride. The driver was going through intersections at full speed, without looking at the signals (most of them red). A bit rash I thought, we had a one-year baby with us. But there is an explanation to this. The area we were driving through has a certin reputation of theft and muggings, even car-jacks. So the driver did not dare to stop for red in the intersections. |
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Thursday, October 26'th | |
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This was the day of my departure and we all stayed my the swimming-pool on the top of the building where Erik and Consuelo live. Exotic to float on your back and watch the statue of "Cristo Redentor" on top of the Corcovado. Two hours before take-off I packed my gear and Erik followed me to the nearby taxi-stand and instructed the driver there to take me to the right air-port. He also made sure that I had enough money to |
pay the driver and pay for the airport-tax (10$Real).
I was in the airport in good time so I spend the waitingtime talking a follow passenger from Norway and we exchanged stories from Brazil. On the plane a had a few drinks and went into sweet unconscious, and before long I was back home (with a six hours stop-over in Frankfurt). |