We arrived in Paraty on Wednesday just after 4pm and made the decision to walk the 1.8km to our AirBNB accommodation we had booked already. The bus station in Paraty is in the middle of town and we were staying close to a beach called Jabaquara, just north of town. The walk turned out to be great though as we walked straight through the colonial-looking, historical center of Paraty, cobble-stoned streets and all. It really feels like this town is straight out of the 17th century. The roads are difficult to walk because of the mismatched stones they used back then to make the roads. We eventually reached the bridge that crosses over to the beach side of town and the difference in scenery could not be further from what we had just walked through. It now felt like we had stepped onto an island in Thailand. Forests cover vast stretches of mountain as far as the eye can see, islands scatter across the bay and tourists lie on the umbrella-clad beaches. This was a little slice of heaven! We walked a little further up to eventually get to Praia do Jabaquara, our side of town. We found our accommodation where we would be staying for the next seven nights. Our room was behind our host’s house and had a mini-kitchen with the bare essentials and a little bathroom. Not too bad – it would do. At least it was 50m from the beach and cheap!
The first night we treated ourselves to a gigantic pizza, which we couldn’t even finish between the two of us! We also had our first happy hour caipirinhas – delicious! It is good to note that if there is live music in a place you will most likely be asked to pay a fee with the bill for this entertainment. We were charged R$5 each. It started raining as we were having dinner. This unfortunately didn’t change over the next seven days. It would rain sporadically everyday, usually in the afternoon. As long as we had a little sun during the day it didn’t bother us too much.
Over the next couple of days we visited the surrounding beaches and really chilled out to the maximum! Chris did some research on the best beaches in the area. Although we were staying right by the beach, because Paraty is in a bay, there isn’t much of a current. This means the water is a bit murky and very shallow. You could walk out about 200m and still be knee high in the water. We were desperate for some waves and the turquoise water we had pictured in our heads! So on one of the days we got on the bus and headed for Trindade, a town about 50 mins by bus to the south (R$3.50 each one way). The bus ride was beautiful and as soon as we came down the mountain pass towards Trindade we could see we would get what we were hoping for. The water was pristine! Chris had also read about a beach a bit of a walk from the main beach and so we trekked through the forest to get there. It was a tough walk in the humid climate and had we arrived at the secluded beach we were hoping for it may have been worth it. Instead we arrived to about a hundred tourists around a small natural pool that had actually now become quite a famous place to snorkel. Not our scene. So we turned straight back and repeated the walk back to where we had started an hour earlier. Once we had a swim and lay down all was forgotten. We were in paradise. We packed some left over dinner that we had made the night before and had a great feast on the beach with some beers we had also brought.
Later that afternoon, when we got back to Paraty, we went to a big grocery store and bought some supplies for dinner and lunch the next day. We were amazed when we saw the bulk price for beer. In the grocery store 12 big cans (473ml) of beer is R$27, where in the restaurants you would easily pay R$9 for one can. We quickly put the beer in our shopping basket!
The next day Chris wanted to watch Liverpool so he again did some research on the best place to watch football. We walked into town and found the bar but were shocked to find out that the cheapest beer was R$12 for a can and some of the craft beer on tap was R$22 (~ZAR95) for a pint! We walked around a bit and settled at this quaint little restaurant where we drank (more affordable) beer and snacked on little pastries delights. The game ended in a draw but the experience was still good. On Sunday we went for dinner at this little restaurant called Nono hidden away in the neighbourhood we are living in. We ordered the cheapest burgers on the menu (R$13) and were dumbstruck when the enormous plate came. The burgers were delicious with ham and bacon piled onto the huge patty; and we both had leftovers for the next day. I also had two of the strongest caipirinhas known to man for R$8 each. On Monday we went back to Trindade for the waves and had a great day on the beach, swimming, tanning and eating delicious food from the vendors that stroll the beaches. This was the first perfect sunny day we had had the whole week! We also booked our bus tickets to Rio on Wednesday. There are about 10 buses a day that leave Paraty for Rio (R$65.50 each for the 4.5hr bus trip).
All in all we loved our chilled week in Paraty. We would say that 7 nights in this sleepy town is maybe a bit much, we think 3 or 4 nights is more than enough time to see everything. Our next stop is Rio where will be staying with our first couchsurfers and experiencing Carnival so we are very excited!
Chris and Ro go... 