Santiago to Mexico City... And back to Mexico City: Paraty

We have just finished our seven nights in Paraty, a little longer than expected (due to bus booking difficulties), but had a great time - not a bad place to get stuck for a couple of extra days! The colonial town and tourist destination is located 4(ish) hours south of Rio and the area has the largest concentration of rainforest on the Brazilian coast. This made for beautiful beaches, hiking tracks and waterfalls surrounding the cute little colonial town. We stayed in a hostel called Bossa Nova, owned by a friendly Brazilian guy.

We managed to fit quite a lot into those seven days, and took a heap of photos! So I think the best way to let you know what we did is to use some photos...

On day one we took the local bus for 30mins to a little village called Trindade. Here you could walk through bush to get to a long, white sandy, wild beach. The weather, although warmish, wasn't perfect so we didn't swim in the beach itself. Instead, we walked to the end of the beach, through another bush track to a natural 'swimming pool'. We were lucky it was low season a we could see how busy it'd get in the summer!

Paul's signature photo pose at the start of Trindade Beach.

Me on top of a rock surrounding the natural pool.

Having a bath in the pool.

Me and Paul chilling.

We invested in a beach tennis ball set, however unfortunately it didn't last long before Paul broke it hitting a wild six during a game of beach cricket.

Paul sampling the local beers. We had a delicious feast at a local restaurant.

Day two we spent the morning bike riding around the two local beaches in Paraty, although not as nice as Trinidad, they were still beautiful (although one felt like it was lined with sludge deterring us from swimming further...). In the afternoon we cycled 9km out of Paraty uphill! (OK I walked the steepest part...) to some waterfalls. We had a great time sliding down one of the falls! It was a bit scary at first as we were the only ones there, so spent the first half hour debating whether to slide down and deciding how we would do so without killing ourselves. Luckily another bunch of people turned up and showed us how it was done!

Paraty town behind me.

Cycling adventures.

One of Paraty's beaches.

Paul on the natural waterfall slide.

Day three we took another local bus and then hiked through the rainforest for an hour to get to Praia do Sono, a beautiful beach and fishing town with no road access. Paradise!

We were feeling a bit lazy after our swim and sunbathe so we caught a boat back to the bus stop ;) The beach is behind the boat.

Praia do So no.

We finished the day with caiparihinas (generally limes, sugar and Brazilian spirit cachaca - but here I have one with maracuja (passionfruit) - yum!) and some delicious local fish on the cobbled streets of Paraty town.

Me walking through the rainforest to the beach.

Day four, a balmy 30degrees and sunny, we spent wandering around the town and then spending the afternoon at a local Paraty beach. The town is very quaint, arty and full of local restaurants. It is also paved with ridiculously large rocks which makes it very difficult for walking!