2008 Brazil – Paraty
13th January 2008
We rose early for our journey to Paraty. I was dreading the four-hour coach ride as my only experience with coaches was those going from Brighton to Heathrow, where my knees touched the seat in front and I had to stand up when I wanted to change positions. The Brazilian coaches were on a completely different level. I could recline to an almost lying-down position, and for longer journeys they even had coaches with beds.
We arrived at Paraty around lunchtime and ate at a beach restaurant. Federika ordered some kind of prawn and pumpkin stew and I ordered seafood risotto. Federika´s came out first in a pot big enough to feed six people, and mine arrived in a pot that was even bigger. Neither of us was able to make even a small dent in our portions. When the waitress came to clear the table she was surprised at how much we had left and kindly offered to keep the leftovers for the evening. Federika´s was better than mine (as always), so we asked her to keep only that. We returned that night and even after we had both eaten to bursting point, there was still some left in the pot.
The sea was the hottest sea I had ever known which I assumed was due to Paraty being in a large, shallow bay. It was just about deep enough to swim in although certainly no refreshment from the hot sun. The water was very murky and whether that was down to dirt or plant life I had no idea and didn’t care. When I was young we used to swim in the river Mole in Surrey which had a pipe from the sewage works discharging into it, so it couldn’t be any worse than that. The seabed felt like mud so maybe it was just bits of sand floating around.
In the early evening, we took a pleasant five-minute walk to the old town. It was a small, pretty town where cars were forbidden. It used to be a Portuguese colony and the locals had kept it exactly as it was when it was first built. The roads were made of huge stones and quite difficult to walk on. There was live music in lots of restaurants and the whole place was full of life. 
I had a stomach upset brewing for a couple of days, but by now it had developed into the worst case of the runs in Brazilian history. The town council was even thinking of naming a public toilet in my honour. Federika warned me that most people get stomach upsets in South America but as I had a stomach like an ox I hadn’t been concerned. Fortunately, there was no pain or fever and apart from the inconvenience, I felt fine.
One day, we tried a different beach, which was much better and cleaner, but it was still too shallow to swim as even after paddling out a hundred metres, the water was only up to our knees. Once we accepted that it was not so much a sea as a gigantic bath, we were happy just sitting there and splashing away like babies. We went on a boat excursion, stopping at four different beaches with lunch included. I hired a mask and snorkel which was pointless as the sea was so murky I couldn´t see a thing. I was spoilt by the sea in Croatia which was always crystal clear.
My stomach was not getting any better so we went to the local clinic and asked for some stronger pills than the off-the-counter ones I had been using. We were very impressed by what they called a hospital, although it wasn’t much bigger than a house. It took nearly an hour to be seen, but it was worth it as the doctor gave me some stronger pills and some kind of tonic as I was getting a bit weak by now. The pills worked like magic so it wasn´t long before I was able to eat like a pig again.
Our hotel was very pleasant. I was concerned that our room lacked privacy as our terrace was next to the reception with guests walking only a few feet from us but it was a small hotel so we didn’t see many people. On the plus side, we had a terrace to ourselves and a hammock which I had great difficulty getting out of, both physically and mentally. I think I could have just laid in that all day without going anywhere. All the other rooms had to share a long terrace.
One irritation in both the hotels we had stayed in was not having a wardrobe so we had to live from our suitcases which I hadn’t done since I was a teenager. We take wardrobes for granted until we don’t have one. There were also no rubbish bins so I suppose it does cut down on staffing costs when there are no wardrobes to clean or bins to empty. I bet hotel owners miss the days when four rooms had to share one bathroom.
2008 South America
