Salvador to Paraty

From Salvador to Sao Paulo

Our flight on LATAM Airlines from Salvador to Sao Paulo is uneventful. We catch a cab to Graham’s apartment.

Since Graham has school work, John and I head out to Paulista Avenue and check out Japan House which has a two free exhibitions running; one on Japanese jewellery and the other on Japanese pop art.

Overnight Bus to Paraty

After a pizza supper with Graham the three of us head to the Tiete bus station for our overnight bus to Paraty.

The bus station is huge and comparable to being in an airport. Efficiency is not one of its strong points of the bus company we are using- Reunidas. We first hand our paper ticket vouchers in at the bus company booth. We stand there for a very long time while the guy looks at the tickets, looks at other things, looks at our tickets, stamps papers and looks some more. Finally we are given our voucher back with a stamp on it along with a refund of a third of the ticket price. John had paid extra for sleeper seats that lie fully flat so we figured that those seats were not available thus the refund.

Going to our bus platform, we try in numerous places to buy water but despite there being people in line with money in hand, they stop taking business at 10:45 and close at 11:00pm. Fortunately a fruit juice kiosk is still open. The bus terminal is still packed with people so it made no sense to be closing the stores, oh well.

When we get on the bus we find that our assigned seats are at the very back beside the washroom (I guess someone has to sit there but why us!) and as John expected the seats do not lie fully flat like we had reserved but do recIine substantially, much more than an airplane seat.

For some reason the bus leaves one hour late with no explanation offered, The bus does have free bottled water. I manage to sleep through the night.

Finally in Paraty

a canon in the forground of a bay with rolling mountains in the background

The bus trip we booked was to be a 6 hour direct trip to Paraty. Around 6 hours later the bus arrives at a bus station and some people get off. John checks his off-line map on his phone and realizes that we are not in Paraty but in Angra dos Reis, an hour and a half away from Paraty. So they also switched bus routes on us which may be another reason we got money back.

The bus travels along the coast on the final leg to Paraty. The countryside is gorgeous; lushly vegetated mountains, dotted with pockets of small towns.
a centre court of a one story pousada with grass and a pool surrounded by palm trees
We arrive around 8:00am. and trundle our suitcases to our accommodation a three minute walk from the bus station. Paraty is a picturesque colonial town on the water. Many of the homes have turned themselves into family run pousadas. We are staying at the Villaggio Pousada and they are kind enough to let us check in right away. We are even offered breakfast!

Historic Paraty

one story white painted buldings with mostly blue trim on a cobblestone street

Historic Paraty is another UNESCO World Heritage site. The streets of the old town are all very large cobblestones which are not the easiest to walk on. I need to keep my eyes where I step so I don’t go over on my ankle.
a beach with small boats on calm water and lush mountains in the background
Graham notices all kinds of little crabs scuttling between the cobblestones.

The Port

a mother and adult son on the pier of a busy boat dock
The back of a young man looking out over calm water with small unmotorized boats with mountains in the background
We make our way past white and blue painted colonial buildings to the port. We walk past boat after boat after boat. Some are pirate themed but all offering different types of boat tours.

Needle fish dart around in the water.

We continue exploring the town, making our way to a beach area lined with small mom and pop restaurants with plastic tables and chairs in front of their little boxed huts in the shade of the trees.

Jungle Walk

Two men walking a red clay path through a lush jungle area

A jungle-like hill is just beyond this beach and John says that there is a trail going to its top, further up the hill. The road is slippery with the red mud leftover from the rainfall a few days before.

looking down from above on a point with a beach then forested area with some small buildings It is not as slippery once we get on the trail. We see a few tiny marmoset monkeys playing in the trees above.

The trail is closed at the point where we reach the fort at the top of the hill. Too bad, it would have been nice to explore the fort.

Relaxing with Drinks on the Beach

a man sitting at a table on a beach with a mixed drink in front of him

a father and adult son on a beach with a lush hill behind them On our way back, we stop at one of the restaurants on the beach for drinks. Graham has a pop, I a freshly squeezed lemon juice and John a Caipirinha. Caipirinha is made with limes juice and a liquor made from sugar cane. It is very strong.

a beach with tables set up We relax with our drinks, looking out onto the water and the layers of shadowy mountains in the distance. Sail boats and other boats lazily float along the calm water.

Chilling at the Pousada

We continue on our way to a nice restaurant in the town for lunch, booked some tours for the next couple of days and headed back to our pousada for a siesta. We are all a bit tired from the overnight bus trip.

It is so pleasant by the pool that we stay napping, reading and working on this blog post until it is past dark.
a night seen of a pool surrounded by palm trees and a two story pousada. Lit up for the night.