Thursday was a gloomy day in Paraty, the beautiful colonial town with no cars and very rough streets. We spent the morning walking up a long gentle hill through tropical rain forest to a “fort” reconstructed in the early 19th century at the time of Brazil’s independence from Portugal. Interestingly, the cannons are still in place and in good condition. Several of them seemed to be of British army origin, with a GR and crown insignia and the British War Department “arrow” mark — no explanation of how they got there. When Brazil got its independence they formed the Brazilian Empire. Unlike the US, they wanted independence from Europe but still wanted a monarchy.
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| Forte Defensor Perpétua |
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| King George insignia and War Department arrow mark |
There was a small museum with a few artifacts from Paraty’s history. Until the 1970’s the town was only accessible by boat and forest trails. There was another reminder of the worldwide British influence, with 3 huge cast iron bowls used in sugar production, and made in Low Moor, near Bradford. You can still read the Low Moor insignia on the rim. As with nearly everywhere so far in Brazil, no information in any language other than Portuguese — we struggled with half-remembered Spanish, and Google Translate.
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| Iron sugar-making bowls from Bradford, Yorkshire |
We spent the rest of the day exploring the town cultural center and its ice cream shops, until the full moon high tide flooded the streets.
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Police car not following the rule to avoid driving into a flooded road.
They got stuck and had to push and reverse out. |
Google Translate also gets a work-out in restaurants where again there is minimal non-Portuguese assistance on the menus. There are many items that don’t have English translations, or that have unfamiliar ingredients — cassava, tapioca, farofa, feijão, and many more. Still, so far we have been mostly lucky, and “salada” is always “salad”.
After our three nights in our beautiful Paraty hotel, we took an Uber north-east up the coast to Angra dos Reis, then a very bouncy small “flex boat” ferry for 50 people across the bay to Ilha Grande.
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| The flex boat ferry |
The island is a biological reserve, and all the villages are accessible only by boat. We are staying in Praia Vermelha (Red Beach) at the western and more sheltered end of the island. The ferry called in to the private dock of our hotel where we were met by the hotel owners. This place is the definition of “remote” with no cars or roads, all transport by taxi-boat, and muddy, steep trails through the rain forest from one tiny beach village to the next. Our hotel, run by a South African couple (!) provides dinner as well as breakfast, and there are a couple of bars on the beach. It is an idyllic spot and we are enjoying our stay, despite last night’s thunder and today’s bucketing rain.
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| Our hotel - the Vila Pedra Mar |
There are birds, butterflies, marmosets, and beautiful flowers. Sandy has added a dozen new species of birds to his “life list”. The locals are very friendly and very proud of their little village. The main occupations are fishing, seaweed farming, and running bars and restaurants for the small number of tourists. Much of the food we have eaten is locally grown or caught.
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| Friendly local fisherman proudly showing us a freshly caught dorado (mahi-mahi) |
Yesterday we walked along the coastal path through the rain forest to another even smaller and emptier beach, where we had a refreshing swim. It was all such a contrast with our previous weekend in noisy, bustling São Paulo.
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| Lin on jungle path, with jackfruit tree |
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| Hummingbird feeding on wild pineapple |
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| Our “private” beach |
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| Sandy emerging from the sea |
One of our favorite discoveries here is açaí gelato. It is made in the village from locally gathered fruit, and served with granola and cream — delicious.
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| Lin about to enjoy a bowlful of açaí gelato. |
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