Religious fervour and culture in Parati

Trip Start Nov 01, 2006
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Trip End Aug 29, 2007


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Friday, November 17, 2006

So we found a lovely place to stay in Parati on the edge of the old town called the Pasado de Careca after a two hour bus ride from Angre dos Reis. Look out the wooden shutters for a view of the cobbled street, street noises coming in, and a man tempting us with his cake stand below our window. Had a great meal with our new best friends Tim and Guadalupe (who we met on Ilha Grande), where the dessert was free because we all thought it was rank. A good arrangement we thought, and returned there the following afternoon for an excellent salad of quail eggs, cheese, olives and bread - gorgeous. Also, we've been really lapping up the various sucos on offer in Brazil: fruit juices made from oranges, pineapples, guarana, and lots of the Brazilian fruit that I don't know the names of. Fantastic stuff.
Spent the day wandering about and caught the bells at one church for midday. One local man got so caught up in it that he was compelled to start shooting off cannon-like noisy fireworks Beautiful old building
Beautiful old building
 . All the streets are bedecked (!) with streamers for some sort of festival. Ah if only I knew what the funny folk were saying! Some Portuguese would definitely come in handy here. Cos they all speak it, like.
Spent some time hanging out at the local teen swimming spot where the boys took me to a huge jumping off spot on the rocks to try and frighten me. They succeeded. Honestly though I would have been up for diving in properly except for the very real danger of emerging naked - M&S boxers are not made for the kind of stresses involved in 3m dives into beautiful warm waters in blazing sunshine.
After saying ciao to "Cheen" and "G" as the locals called them, we had a wander about the various artists studios in the town. This place is like some sort of artist's commune, with studios literally every second doorway. Some of the stuff was excellent but so much tat everywhere! I expect they get lots of tour buses full of dollars through. They did have shops selling 150 different types of cachaca which is used in caipirinhas. However, they're all pretty rank. Pity that.
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