DAY 202
We have been wondering whether to rent a car to go from San Paulo to Rio. The coastline is gorgeous and we could have stopped anywhere we liked. The price of doing that was a bit prohibitive though so we opted for the bus. Seeing the traffic as we come close to the coast, it was the right decision. A road trip with traffic jams is not really our idea of a road trip. It's so bad we arrive 3 hours behind schedule in Paraty! Our hotel is not that close from the bus station but taxis are hanging around. However they ask for a ridiculous price. We usually don't accept being ripped off like that but today we do and are proved right a few minutes later when it start pouring. Our experience with Paraty doesn't improve at the hotel. When we show up to check in, we learn they actually booked us in a different hotel. It's the same owner they say but it's not by the beach. To top it of, they pretend not to understand why it makes a difference. And despite our complains, refuse to offer a discount. Everything is fully booked in the city and they know it... We end this not so great day in a local pizzeria with live music; Brazilian music of course, the unavoidable reggae classics and some nice jazz and even cha-cha tunes!
DAY 203
Happy birthday to me! I did a lot of Skype today then went to the beach then did more skype then went to my surprise dinner. We don't go there immediately of course, I'm being mislead and walked around Paraty (which is quite nice) until we stop in front of a house. It doesn't look like a restaurant but I have little time to think about it as we're ushered in a greeted by our hosts. Strangely (?) they know who I am and what I know (and don't know) but I eventually learn that it's not just a dinner but a cooking class and dinner!
First we learn to make caipirinha! Then we taste them of course and it's easily the best one I ever had. I took detailed notes and plan on reproducing that experiment when we'll have a house again. I'll need volunteers to try them out though ;)
For the dinner itself, we have 3 dishes to prepare. One for each leg of the Brazilian culture, the native, African and europeans. Au menu: Stuffed tomatoes with manioc flour and cashew nuts, Vatapá, Palm oil farofa, Acaçá (steamed rice flour polenta), Tropical salad and Pineapple, colonial-style for dessert! While doing so they tell us about the history of the country and the influence of food in all this, etc... Our hosts are great, it's a Brazilian lady and a Franco-American guy, both citizens of the world. It's magical how they create a friend/family atmosphere with a bunch of strangers. Magical night really. We eat all of this afterward and it's delicious. I even have a surprise cake with candles and the birthday song that goes along with it. Happy birthday indeed!
DAY 204
It's hard to get up this morning, we got back home at 2am yesterday ;) We rush to catch our boat but thankfully they were waiting for us. The program of the day is very laid back. We cruise from island to island and hop in and out of the water. Some of them have beaches, some of the are suited for snorkeling, some of them are for floating around on pool noodles, napping. Super relaxing day!
DAY 205
Leaving Paraty and its soup-like water (seriously the water is too hot) we head to Rio. The traffic to enter the city and once again we arrive quite late (2h). A short racy taxi ride later, we arrive at our Airbnb. We waited too long to book things in Rio. Everyone wants to be there for New Year's eve so the few options left were not good and/or very expensive. We were left with breaking up our stay in between 3 locations (3 days each). Sure it would have been better not to have to move every 3 days but we'll get to live in different neighborhoods. We're also looking for accommodation to spend a few more days at the beach in the region but it's the same... Fully booked except for a few dodgy things.