Paraty

"Oh! God, if there were a paradise on earth, it wouldn't be very far from here!"

Amerigo Vespucci

I must admit that I was not looking at the same scene as "old" Amerigo, above, when we arrived by bus into the tiny small-town terminal. There was the usual crowd: hustlers trying to make you go to their hostels, a couple of bums here and there, and a bunch of people with somewhere to go. Not crazy at all, but definitely not a paradise either. At least not the paradise that you read about in Lonely Planet, but quite awesome in so many ways.

Paraty is part of "Costa Verde", Green Coast, which is the beautiful coastline from Rio's west and all the way to Sao Paolo. The area was settled in the 16th century, but not until the end of the 17th century did Paraty's golden age begin. It was the discovery of gold in the more northern state of Minas Gerais (the name actually means grand mines, or something like that) that made Paraty an obligatory stop for the gold trade since the Serra do Mar mountain range could only be crossed there. And so for a while, Paraty was an important port town... but as is the case with the history of almost any rich place in Brazil, the riches didn't last long. An easier road was found. The small town was forgotten, so to speak, until the 19th century coffee boom where the slaves made some more money for the rich land owners. And so that is the history in a few short words. Paraty now thrives on tourism from Brasileros and Gringos alike.

If you asked me to tell you one awesome thing from here, it would be the "cachoeiras", waterfalls. But not the waterfalls that you are picturing in your mind, but awesome fun ones.
And here's me below:

After a few tries, I should be fine.Really though, there are so many beautiful rivers, waterfalls, wildlife and you can even spot a fairy in the jungle. If you're lucky...

There are so many beautiful things you can do here like swim and rope swing into rivers without lifeguards. And slide down treacherous looking, but friendly rocks without the fear of getting a ticket for it. Its ironic or food for thought. But comparing Brazil to any place is a bad idea. Its interesting how comparing thoughts creep into your brain when you're in an unfamiliar place. The best thing to do is to "shhooo" them away because you lose the sense of the place. It took me a long time to become easy. Hard to describe a state of mind, isn't it? Talking and thinking about travels and places I saw makes me realize that I probably will never be able to really describe them. Pictures, words don't really give it justice. Its the freedom that I feel when I'm laying on the beach or a bus bench for 10 hours. Everything becomes beautiful. Sorry, no more monologue. Here's more pics: That's the cachoeira crew above.

If you know me, the helmet does not need any explanation. The look in my baby's eye says it all.

My honey in an all you can taste cachaca place. And the girls below:

The nights were usually spent in or around Che-Bar. A cool place with a great crowd. There's Benjamin, The English Lovah, macking it to a bunch of "22"year-old Argentinian girls.

This man below put on the greatest performance that I have ever seen. You would never imagine that a street-magician could bring out so much emotion and feeling out of his spectators. I simply had to hug the man after he was done. Incredible!

If a beach is worth going to, its worth the hike. Because there usually is one. And yeah, I squint! You got a problem with that?

And returning home after rain and thunder and lightning all wet on the bus laughing and taking great pictures...PRICELESS!

And I'll leave you guys with this weird statue...Peace and love to everyone and if you read our blogs, may good fortune come to you!

Rio de Janeiro City & Ilha Grande 2/29/07-3/7/07

At first site, the Baia de Guanabara looked more like a river than a bay, and hence claimed the name Rio de Janeiro or ``January River`` by Gaspar de Lemos in January 1502. The Tamoio people lived in this bay and chose alliance with the French in 1555 over the cruel Portuguese, only to be expelled by the victors a little more than a decade later.
Rio de Janeiro City is the capital of Rio de Janeiro State, and previously the capital of Brazil, until the government was moved to Brasilia in 1960. The city is surrounded by beaches and mountains along with skyscrapers and favelas or shantytowns, where poverty, crime, and violence rule the neighborhood and no one from the outside dares to enter.

The section of Rio where we stayed was called the Ipanema Beach (Name that Tune!!)

And just as deserving was the Girl from Ipanema, our hostel, where the Nagorny´s reunited. We walked around Rio quiet alot instead of taking any tours and had a blast . . .botanical garden, walk around the Rio Lake, etc.

The visit to Rio served the sole purpose of meeting up with the Nagorny crew, acquaint the newcomers to a little of the speed of life here, and head for Ilha Grande...an island nearby. Jumping on the ferry as it was just released from the dock was a moment for smiles, exhales of relief...

and wonder . . .The island´s history is a unique one: first it was a pirates´ lair, then a leper colony, and finally a prison for political as well as extremely violent prisoners. We took advantage of the many trails to hike to some amazing beaches including Lopez Mendes(not many pics before Mishka dropped his camera into the water . . . story to come later) and Dos Rios, along with some quaint waterfalls and natural pools along the way.

All of us wore the smallest bikinis we had of course ( although ``small`` WAS a word originally invented in Brazil ) and explored the lands . . .

These are some of our highlights:

There were some amazing flowers and plants. . . the colors man!




Us taking a little break on a bamboo bench on top of the hill . . .
A little shrine on the way to Dos Rios
What a fish might see if very unlucky!?!

Mishka´s and my version of a Corona commercial......
Beach by day, dancing by night, sunrise by morning.... I have to give Seryoshka, my cousin, mad props for the glorious entertainment. He definitely knows how to have a good time and smile the entire time!!! As for my sister, the home girl never slept and never missed a sunrise...This is Mishka and I on one of our longs hikes. Hikes lasted for more than 2 hours uphill at times but we were like machines, unstoppable!! Together . . . we WILL rule the world...

Dos Rios was a beach surrounded by two rivers (aha!) and the town where it was located felt like a dead place...like in the movies...where the zombies come out of dark alleys and wheezle their way toward you...
This is a photo of an abandoned building by the beach...a tree is growing right through it. Makes you wonder ...




And the prison is located right next to the beach as well. It looked as if God (herself) placed her finger in the middle of the prison and pushed down. Totally caved in and destroyed. We recently learned that the prisoners of this prison (political brains and crazy loonies combined) formed the most feared gang in Rio´s favelas...more powerful than the Federal Police itself!!




In fact, we were startled by a ghost of one of these prisoners and ran away!