Hotel Pousada Do Sandi Paraty

Paraty is another old colonial town - originally the port for gold mined in Ouro Preto on its way to Europe. The cobbled streets are paved wiht huge irregular stones making walking along tem rather hazardous to ankles. Cars are not allowed in the old town (or maybe the suspension is destroyed too fast) so its just bouncing lurching bicycles, and ponies pulling carts - one of them ...

... reminded me of Finding Nemo), a translucent blue trumpetfish and a couple of soles (sand dollar types of fish that camouflage with the sandy bottom). Although it wasn't the Similan Islands (little is), it was still a great day of diving. We had another great pizza dinner and tried to relax that night, but were kept up from the thumping club music playing across the street until 9am! As I said earlier, the chill island atmosphere is destroyed by the music festival ...

... first morning in Paraty we decided to take our schooner tour. Since by the time we decided to do the tour that day, we only had ten minutes to catch the boat. We asked our hostel to call for a taxi, five minutes later two motorcycles pulled up these would be our taxis. The drivers handed us two helmets and we each jumped on the back of the bikes. We made the mistake of telling the drivers that we were in a hurry, which was ...

... staying and I started thinking ´Oh my legs are killing me but keep going nearly there`. Next thing I know I was cycling at speed and was vering into the curb but I couldnt stop myself and landed flat on my face! Ror was gone up ahead and he said he heard me let out a weird sound and looked back and in his words I was like a rag doll on the ground! The weird sound was me saying woah woah! He rushed back to me and I was shook to say the least - I didnt ...

... for the bus back. We sat and watched Barca take the Mancs apart then the bus turned up and we missed the second half!
We checked out the old fort on the hill, built by the Portuguese to protect against pirates and other countries stealing the gold and precious stones they shipped out of Paraty from the interior of Brazil. The fort wasn't very interesting but the views were great. We sat on the deserted town beaches and got sunburnt before the clouds ...

... De eerste kennismaking was uitstekend, met de bus naar een soort van Central Park. Stikheet, maar wij haalden regelmatig voetgangers in, dus dat was echt relaxt. Een kruissnelheid van 10 meter per minuut haalden wij zonder enig probleem. Schijnt heel gewoon te zijn hier. Toch maar uitgestapt om wagenziekte te vermijden en het restant naar het park gelopen. Het leek ons wel een veilige buurt, aangezien overal hoge hekken om de tuinen heen stonden, dus dan wonen er vaste ...

... and fish in sauces). Had plenty of time: at various beaches, on a schooner trip stopping at beaches only accessed by boat and at other spots where you just dived into the clear blue/green waters, ambling round the old town and pier area, eating seafood every night, caipirinhas at one or the other bars next to the square, and even a bus up into the countryside to check out a waterfall and a cachaça distillery nearby. Definitely was holiday time! Must go back again one day.

... in the town. Apparently Ze used to run a bar here. It was all local fare and very filling washed down with potent homemade caprinha's that burnt your throat, you needed a glass of water to help it all along. This guy's house was amazing, a local artist who has a lot of his works all around the place and gave us a flavour to how the Paraty locals live, they seem to be doing quite well for themselves. The living room has some ...

... lodges with hammocks outside and have own pool and sauna. life is good. last nigth me and beck, the aussie i share a room with, went for a caiprinhia on teh beach and then looked for food. found this crazy liteel italian looking patio essentailly and the man called us in and said he had veggie gnocchi so i was happy. we sat under the porch and were only customers. it was very dark. he had candles and we thought he was ...