A time to Chill......and thats what we'l do! — Paraty, Brazil
Where I stayed
Che Lagarto Hostel Paraty
Che Lagarto Hostel Paraty
After missing our connecting bus in Sao Paulo and having to spend a night there, we were very happy to catch the bus heading north to many backpackers favourite spot in Brazil, Paraty! located on the Costa Verde, Paraty pro nounced; Par-at-chee!!! draws many in with its lush green corridor that runs along the coastline of the state of Rio de janero. Off the coastline are numerous islands with secluded beaches, some inhabited, some not. All are rich in life! as we found when we hired a private boat for the day.
Fernando was preparing his boat for another day of bartering for business in the small harbour of Paraty. When we passed out for a gentle stroll to see our surroundings. The plan was, we would head down to the harbour, rent some snorkelling gear and head out to the islands which are renowned for good snorkelling. This is what we did. To hire Fernando and his boat for an hour would cost 50resis per hour and included was 2 sets of snorkelling gear. This struck us as a good deal because we were already on our way back up into town to rent the gear separately!
Ropes untied, all aboard!! we were on our way! Fernando took down the sun cover, which allowed us to sunbath on the top deck. Fernando's boat was no yacht by any stretch of the imagination, but for the short time we were up on that deck i did feel like i was on some prestigious cruise liner. Full steam ahead out of the harbour, we attempted to converse in English to no avail, anyway he knew we wanted to snorkel that was obvious, we headed towards a island, more specifically a cove on an island which looked bare of life. As we approached the engines cut out and Fernando dropped anchor this was our fist stop! The three of us all jumped out and had a nice swim in the shallow waters surrounding this island, while fernando went and picked bananas on the shore. He returned and offered up some of his pickings, they were tasty! but little did we know Fernando had another plan for the skin of the bananas........Fish bait!!
A short time later, we drew up anchor and headed for another deserted island where Fernando promised better snorkelling, he did not disappoint, Ross and i were amazed at the array of fish and how close they were prepared to come to us for a piece of banana. This wasn't even the highlight of this island, on land some 8ft from Ross and i was tiny little monkeys and a large lizard all of which were interested in our fish bait, duly obliging Fernando through onto the island some banana which drove all the animals crazy and frenzy ensued and it was fantastic to watch! We spent some time just snorkelling and watch the land animals in their natural habitat, before setting sail to our final stop.... a cliff side bar and fish restaurant. As the day grew to a close and clouds formed amazing shapes in the sky over the islands, we enjoyed ice cold beers whilst looking out over the ocean, we watched fishermen on the promenade cast their lines. It was at this moment i realised the lure and beauty of Party!
Our second day, was spent on a tour of the Paraty waterfalls, with new friends Gary and Julie among others. We heard good reports of this tour and i was particularly interested in getting to a famous natural water slide i had seen on youtube. We set off in a converted utility vechile and headed up into the mountains and after a short walk we were at the first stop, a picturesque spot, yes it was but all the attention was on the large rope swing which was attached to the trunk of an overhanging tree. Sure enough our guide climbed down the sheer cliff face to the trunk and untied the rope, had i not watched him climb down this face i would not thought it possible! Emma designated herself camera woman for this adventure after her fall in the panatanal she felt swinging aimless from a rope with many rocks and cliffs around was not for her! We all had a go on this swing thoroughly enjoying ourselves, i wasn't fussed on getting wet so made sure to make it back to the edge until, our guide "george of the jungle" named after his heroics on the larger swing managed to go one step further! I followed suit only to decide with my lack of experience id be better dropping into the water! dammit i got wet in the end! Very enjoyable first waterfall though!
A few other waterfalls past without real notice, they were all beautiful waterfalls and we enjoyed the dip, but none caught my attention like the water slide i had come on this tour to see/do! We arrived to see the health warning stating that you enter this area at your own risk! In recent years I've paid more attention to these type of signs, not today, not this sign! i knew i was here for a go on this! Young boys would run and slide down the whole way on their feet, some 40 yards down hill slope landing in a small pool filled with gaged rocks. A few heeded the health warning and sat at the bottom camera at the ready. The boys all gave it a go, a crazy experience its hard to believe that rocks could be so smooth, once on your way you have no control and are at the mercy of the slide. None the less i made it down both times once on my bottom and once on my chest without incident and it was very enjoyable!
Despite being in Brazil the cold had actually set in by this time in the day and Emma's lips had turned blue, her mother does say she has "cold blood"! lol So we headed for dinner at a local "all you can eat" restaurant famous in Brazil and called churrascaria's! This is a BBQ, you pay on the way in and you eat until you eat no more! Needless to say i couldn't move after, "I WILL NEVER LEARN"! Moneys worth achieved we headed to our last stop and chilled out spot with boulders the size of houses, finished the day in a nice fashion!
Rounding our trip off in Paraty was a trip down the town, to sample some local ales and mix with the locals, one of which was our bar tender who brought us out for the evening! One of the english guys brought along the team guitar (hostels guitar) and played songs while we mingled.