So today was our second day in Paraty and each city that we have gone to in Brazil has been quite different. Paraty has about 300 beaches within its vicinity but it is also known for its historical villiage. When you walk down the cobble stone path and up over an old colonial bridge you feel like you are on a movie set. It is a beautiful town and when the sun sets they have dim lights down the street and live violins play through the night. It is nice to walk around at night but if we did not have OFF spray we would have been eaten alive! A few nights ago I gave myself a pretty good black eye from punching my eye in my sleep trying to defend my blood against the mosquitos (I posted a pic of this on my facebook page).
The hostel we are staying at is quite central and we springed for the private room this time so it is quite comfortable. They even offered us a free boat cruise for Thursday because we are staying here four nights. Today they forgot about our wake up call but we still managed to wake up in time for some breakfast. After breakfast we caught the bus to another place called Trindade where the beaches are meant to be famous. The bus dropped us (and about 20 other people in bikinis and speedos) off about five km from the beach because of road work ahead. So we started walking and got stuck in wet tar and tried to wipe it off on some other sticky material. About 18 of the other people we were with stopped and we had no idea why but we kept walking. We continued down steep hills and over steeper hills with no beach in sight. About 20 minutes later a different bus full of all the same people (who seemed to know what was going on) picked us up laughing. Anyway we were grateful for the ride. At the beach Tyson decided to head straight for the "unsafety area" where I dissapprovingly followed. In the "unsafety area" we found huge waves well over our heads, many large crabs, dead fish and jellyfish scattered accross the beach. There is proof of this in the form of pictures on my facebook page. Needless to say, I turned around and ran the other way.
Nevertheless the beaches here are stunning. We have yet to come accross a beach that has not surprised and astonished us. We sat on the beach all day and Tyson spent some time playing paddle ball with his new boyfriend. We caught a van/carpool thingy home with him and his girlfriend. We bought some groceries here and they are ever-so-slightly cheaper than the previous cities we have visited in Brazil.
Tomorrow we are planning on hiking a trek that should be challenging yet fun. I have to be careful because in Ilha Grande I managed to accomplish three significant falls into water. Each time I had to walk in wet hiking shoes for about half a day following the splash.
As a side note: I read in the Lonely Planet book that 50 million brazilians dont make enough toeat; to put it into perspective population of canada is currently 38 million. Also the average wage of people here is about 850 reals which is equal to $500 a month. Based on our modest spending history these past couple of weeks here, it seems virtually impossible to sustain any sort of healthy lifestyle on thsi wage.
Since we still have not figured out our volunteer activity for Brazil, Tyson helped a weak old lady carry her groceries to the bus today.
"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"
The hostel we are staying at is quite central and we springed for the private room this time so it is quite comfortable. They even offered us a free boat cruise for Thursday because we are staying here four nights. Today they forgot about our wake up call but we still managed to wake up in time for some breakfast. After breakfast we caught the bus to another place called Trindade where the beaches are meant to be famous. The bus dropped us (and about 20 other people in bikinis and speedos) off about five km from the beach because of road work ahead. So we started walking and got stuck in wet tar and tried to wipe it off on some other sticky material. About 18 of the other people we were with stopped and we had no idea why but we kept walking. We continued down steep hills and over steeper hills with no beach in sight. About 20 minutes later a different bus full of all the same people (who seemed to know what was going on) picked us up laughing. Anyway we were grateful for the ride. At the beach Tyson decided to head straight for the "unsafety area" where I dissapprovingly followed. In the "unsafety area" we found huge waves well over our heads, many large crabs, dead fish and jellyfish scattered accross the beach. There is proof of this in the form of pictures on my facebook page. Needless to say, I turned around and ran the other way.
Nevertheless the beaches here are stunning. We have yet to come accross a beach that has not surprised and astonished us. We sat on the beach all day and Tyson spent some time playing paddle ball with his new boyfriend. We caught a van/carpool thingy home with him and his girlfriend. We bought some groceries here and they are ever-so-slightly cheaper than the previous cities we have visited in Brazil.
Tomorrow we are planning on hiking a trek that should be challenging yet fun. I have to be careful because in Ilha Grande I managed to accomplish three significant falls into water. Each time I had to walk in wet hiking shoes for about half a day following the splash.
As a side note: I read in the Lonely Planet book that 50 million brazilians dont make enough toeat; to put it into perspective population of canada is currently 38 million. Also the average wage of people here is about 850 reals which is equal to $500 a month. Based on our modest spending history these past couple of weeks here, it seems virtually impossible to sustain any sort of healthy lifestyle on thsi wage.
Since we still have not figured out our volunteer activity for Brazil, Tyson helped a weak old lady carry her groceries to the bus today.
"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"
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