Parati

Sunday 13^th March

It’s a cloudy, grey day; the bus leaves just after midday and even when we eventually leave the urban sprawl behind the scenery doesn't look as good as in the Curitiba direction. It’s quite hilly, a mixture of forest and grazing land but far more of the latter than before, definitely more developed in this direction with far more farms and houses. Later the scenery improved with a steep winding descent to the coast through thick, mostly natural, forest until we arrived at the ugly seaside town of Caragatuatuba.

From there we followed the coast past some rather down-market beach resorts to Uratuba where we had another 1/2 hour stop. Parts of Uratuba look quite smart with up-market hotels, apartments, restaurants and a bay full of yachts. The coastline is beautiful with sandy beaches and a backdrop of forested mountains. Pity the sun hasn't put in an appearance. It’s about 6.15 and getting dark as we arrived in Parati where I found “Jo's Suites” without much difficulty but it's a weird guest house. The entrance looks like a garage door with a piece of paper stuck on it saying "Jo's Suites". After ringing the bell I am let into what looks like the family living room by two women. No English spoken and they don't seem to have received the reservation through booking.com. My "suite" is a basic room with a bed, a  sofa, TV and air conditioning but no window, wardrobe or hanging space There is a balcony through a solid door but no chair on it. It doesn’t do breakfast but I can live with that. Very unimpressed but it is cheap and the WiFi works. No sign of any other guests. As I went out for dinner, I met the proprietor who does speak English and explained that he only takes cash; seems it was his mother who let me in. 

Jo's Suites.
My room over the garage door.

Decided to have dinner in an Arabic restaurant, “Emirados” in the hope there would be no ham and cheese, but it does have a huge selection of beers. I settle for the Serramalte which has marginally more favour than the average lager. Many of the more interesting beers are only available in litre bottles. Had a chicken brochette, which was quite good, to go with my beer.

Went to the “Sarau” bar where there was a good band but their Cuba Libre tasted like pure Coke, nothing like the one in Sao Paulo last night which cost exactly the same, 15 Reals. When the band went for a rest, I moved to the “Pizza Bar” where there was a band playing outside and many people dancing. Played safe and stuck to beer.

The Band in Sarau

Dancing in the Streets

Monday 14th March

Found out that the ATM in the Santander bank across the street does not recognise my Santander ATM card. “Go to an ATM with a Plus, Visa or Mastercard symbol”, it says. All the other banks nearby have long queues to get to ATMs and I don't want to wait half an hour and then find it won't pay out.  In general in S America, ATMs are far rarer than in Europe or SE Asia, and usually inside banks, although many in Argentina had 24 hour access. In one bank here I can see dozens of people queuing at one group of ATMs while there are another dozen unused. I soon find out why; they have no cash. Walking away from the historic area of Parati, I found an ATM at a supermarket which gave me money for a hefty 24 Real charge. Went back to Jo and paid him for three nights. Had a long walk exploring the town which is very pretty and unspoilt but inevitably very touristy. Parati takes cobbles to new extremes. Not sure whether they are original but they are huge, irregular and mostly rounded so a challenge to walk on even for the able bodied. I wonder how many twisted ankles the local hospital has to treat. But they do give the streets an atmospheric look. All the streets in the historic centre are pedestrian only but just outside you can see cars negotiating the cobbles, very slowly!

One of the Main Streets in Parati

Pretty Buildings
This is a later one dating from 1851

One of the many "Pousadas"

Quiet Side Street

Riverside

One Horse Town?

Coastal Defences

Booked my bus ticket to Rio for Wednesday and, after a lot of searching, found somewhere for a late brunch. I might have expected in a place like this that every little square would have pavement cafes serving drinks and light bites but all I can find are empty, formal looking, restaurants and at the other end of the scale places offering buffets charged by the kg, and a Subway. By now it was definitely lunch time so settled on a place where I had fried fish, which came with a little salad, and a beer. 

In the evening looked for somewhere for dinner; Trip Advisor had a top three but two were several km out of the centre and the third looked very expensive as are most of the nice looking restaurants. Many of them price dishes for two, which I can understand for a few things like risotto but in general it seems odd since, even if there are two of you, you don't necessarily want to eat the same dishes. Settled on "Paraty 33" which was fairly busy and had a couple of musicians playing and singing. I had the Carne Stroganoff which came with a gooey, tomato flavoured sauce; not an improvement on the original recipe. Maybe I should just stick to steak. At least they can't mess with a bottle of Stella, so I had another one while I listened to the music, which I enjoyed although none of it was familiar.

Tuesday 15th March

Off to the beach at Trindade

Had breakfast, a coffee and slice of cheesecake, at "Zuzu", a coffee shop on the road leading away from the historic centre. At the bus station there was a long queue for the 10.00 bus to Trindade. Pleased I got here early; think I got the last but one seat. There is a conductor sitting behind the driver who takes the money, 4 Reals, and operates a turnstile that allows you to get past him into the rest of the bus; haven't seen that before. The first part of the journey is back the way we came into Parati but then we turn off onto a winding and hilly road through the forest arriving in Trindade about 1045. Half way into the journey found I was sitting next to another guy from England.  Just a few minutes walk from the bus stop to the beach which, has many bars and restaurants at this end but the rest of it is quite pristine with massive granite boulders to break up the uniformity of the sand. While trying to get a photo of the breaking waves on the beach an extra large one soaked me, not a problem, but also soaked my camera. Wiped it down quickly with a towel and initially it seemed OK but a few minutes later it was dead. Took the battery out and stopped off at a beach cafe and put it in the sun to dry for an hour but no success.

The Beach at Trindade

Waves Breaking on the Boulders 

Walked back along the beach and on to the next one which was even less developed. Along a rough trail through the forest to a third beach and an even rougher trail to the "natural piscine" a large pool of seawater trapped by more huge granite boulders. After a dip in the pool I returned to the first beach for a beer at one of the beach cafes before getting the bus back to Parity. The preferred beach wear for young, and not so young, women here is the skimpy bikini, which always reminds me of the silly song "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini”.

The Natural Piscine