Pousada Villa del Rey Paraty

... Italy. It was all set then for a local meet up, and what incredible treatment we received - again. Home cooked food by her mother, more stong local Capirinha´s and before we knew it we were the best of friends. Their home was an extension of the Amazon with plants and trees indoors, and the walls were adorned by paintings almost all done by her mother, as were the plates we ate dinner off. Very creative, and lovely people these Brazilians.

Onwards then to ...

... leaving Brasil in about a week. So, on June 23, we packed our bags, played paddleball on the beach at the harbor as we waited for the ferry, took the 10am return ferry to Angra, walked a long and sweaty way through the heat to the bus terminal and boarded a Costa Verde bus back to Rio.

After connecting via a local bus, we were back in Ipanema at Franklin's place. He was so happy to see us and showed us the new set of pots he had bought for us to use ...

... we were certain it was going month of travelling, he´d been mugged in Sao Paulo, hospitalized in Peru after a taxi crash and had to get stitches in Bolivia after passing out and hitting his head on a table. He also happened to wreak of alcohol (the morning-after alcohol sweat mixture), having consumed something like 5 or 6 very large caipirinhas the night before at the hostel. Thankfully we made to Angra with no problems.

... due to being sick and my right arm is actually alot sorer than I first thought after falling off the bike - its really stiff and hard to move but I am a little warrior so I soldiered on! The trail was all along a red mud track which was hard and where there were man made steps made out of the mud. The trail leveled out after a while so I settled into the hike. It was totally deserted apart from one man who passed us out - probably one of the ...

... t samba.
Next day we went out diving with a hangover. Only the two of us had booked with a small dive outfit Kyrie Dive and at 9am we waited at the jetty alone. The bay has loads of old schooners for taking people out on day trips to the 65 beautiful islands and 300 beaches, our dive boat turned out to be one of these. Just Jefferson the captain, Marco the dive guy and the two of us went out on the boat so we had a VIP trip. Barely still alive after the ...

... streets. The old town is closed to cars making it even quainter & it is full of interetsing shops, bars & restaurants. A delight to while away a day or two. On this visit I also took a trip out to the picturesque marina to check out all the boat & enjoy a beer in the sunshine

... niets hier. Weer verder hobbelen over de haarspeldbochten, vrachtwagens vol met gasflessen inhalen terwijl ieder moment een tegenligger om de hoek kon zeilen, gewoon relaxt weet je, niets aan de hand. Paraty is wel even wat anders dan Sampa zeg: een lief klein vissersdorpje, waar Lisenka direct al vrienden maakten op het strand (zie foto) en wij met een welverdiend biertje - we hadden tenslotte de hele dag gereisd - van de ondergaande zon konden genieten. Ahhhh.... that's life.

... we imagined all the other holidaymakers were. When we woke up on the fourth day, wondering what to do with ourselves, the sun finally came out and the boat trips to the island´s remote beaches couldn´t pack people on fast enough! We took a boat to a beach from where it was a short 1km hike to Lopes Mendes beach, supposedly one of the best beach in Brazil - though we thought we´d seen nicer in Cornwall! We saw ...

... we are in. Its hotting up and all the gringos are dancing on the tables. We are having fun, but I am thinking that I am a little past dancing on the tables. When did I get old! The boys are on beers and the girls on Caprinhas (again). We all have a lovely time and then go back to the pousada together. The next day (Thursday) we awake. The breakfast is beautiful. Fresh bread, ham, cheese, orange juice, coffee, water melon, pineapple and ...

... Dinner at Banana de Terre (land of bananas) where all dishes have matoke/plantain as main ingredient. Roohi had the muçeca - a traditional broth/stew of plantain & palm heart with rice & manioc flour. Was gooood!