I wrote this post at least a week ago and for some reason never actually published it. I may not finish with all of my Brazil pictures and stories... Will you be disappointed? I think it's fun to talk about a trip right when I get back, but then life goes on and I have other things to talk about. Anyway, here's what might be the last post about Brazil.
Since the historical center of Paraty is so small (and did I mention touristy), it's not somewhere you'd (I'd) really want to spend days in. But it's in a beautiful location on the coast of Brazil between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. On our first full day there we went on a schooner tour of the islands just off the coast. I think there are supposed to be at least 300 islands, but of course, we didn't go to them all. We sailed past many of them as we headed out and then stopped at two islands (ostensibly to swim, but it was too cold for that) and stopped near a couple of others (presumably to swim and snorkel, but no one on our boat was having that either). Still, the views were incredibly beautiful and it was a wonderful relaxing few hours.
The day started off perfectly sunny, but with nice fluffy clouds in the sky.
If you are doing any web research on Paraty, this is the view of the town that you will find displayed on every website. (Well, it's usually a bit closer up than this, but I didn't bring my telephoto lens.)
Shortly after heading out, the boat owners or drivers or whoever they were started announcing some things in Portuguese. Since I don't speak Portuguese, I wasn't listening very closely, but then I heard my name and soon someone came over a thrust a caipirinha into my hand. J got one too. Apparently we had won the free drink raffle.
The first beach we stopped at (Praia Vermelha) looked very small, but once we took the little inflatable raft to shore, we found that we only had time to walk up and down it once before being called back to the boat.
This couple in the first picture is not us, but I took it mainly because of the woman's bikini. Well, that and the view of the beach. But with regards to the bikini, I was interested to see that everyone wore a string bikini, regardless of body size or shape. J and I looked out of place in our practically full-body suits in comparison.
The rest of the afternoon was filled with the same. Stopping at a beach, stopping near a beautiful island, having lunch on the boat, etc.
After a while, the sun and fluffy clouds disappeared and the sky became very overcast. But it was still beautiful.
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