Wednesday 28 December
Early start to be packed and gone by 10, leaving the 2 biggest bags in their storage room, which was almost empty. At least it was a proper room that locked – the other place simply had a corridor. We caught a bus from the corner which took us direct to the Rodoviaria – such a lovely word. Roll the R a bit and then aaaaarrr the first A. Rrrrrrodo viaaaaaaaaaria. Magic. It means regional bus terminus, so it’s a safe word to use in public. Having said that, it might be a disgusting word in Hungarian or Swahili?
There was plenty of time to sit and watch people going by. We had a chicken (frango) croissant for lunch – in fact we had one each so I bought two – dois. We heard dois on the boat a lot and it is a nice word too – “doice” . . . . or “dice” for Julia Gillard. But suddenly there was a rush to widdle and get down to the platform – there are about 80. The bus is very comfortable – the seats recline a loooong way and the headrest is very soft. I was really very comfortable and snoozing when the rucksack with the laptop fell on me. Thank God it didn’t have the litre of vodka or (worse) the fridge magnets in it. We have the airconditioning channel just above us but now I have moved my bag down to the front where the overhead rack is deeper and, in the worst case, it will fall on somebody else hyuk hyuk.
We are getting the first idea of the countryside outside Rio. Very lush tropical with trees, creepers and thick long grass. Probably jungle in its natural state. The roads are very good with long sweeping turns around the coastal hills, between some of which there are good deep water ports and some very scenic coves with smaller settlements, marinas and beaches. Some of the bays are dotted with small islands. There would be some great holiday spots here. It was hot and sticky on our way to the rodoviaria but it has gone dull and the hilltops are mostly hidden in mist. This really is a very comfortable coach and it sticks to the road pretty well, which is good because he is pushing it round the curves. Apparently there are some nervous moments on the road down to Sao Paulo – this may even be them? The drivers are the smartest we have ever seen – tailored trousers, smart shining white shirts and an elegant tie.
The hostel was an easy walk from the rodoviaria – do love that word. It is a 3 bedroom house which has been converted into 3 dorm rooms of 8 beds each. That’s a bit too many for two bathrooms with toilet/shower/basin in each. The shower is so feeble that most of the water evaporates before it reaches your head. We were expecting that we might just be the only occupants but the place seems to be more full than not. The owners seem very friendly but don’t have a word of English between them.
We walked back to the large supermarket we had noticed just beyond the rodoviaria (sorry). It was strange – they had chunks of packaged meat (which were way too large for us) but mostly people queued up and a squad of butchers sliced cuts off chunks of meat hanging at the counter. We gave up and bought chicken sausage, which was very nice.
Paraty is a resort town and has a UN world heritage listing for its old colonial Portuguese buildings. There were a lot of Brazilians afoot in the town and lots of restaurants and chemists. Brazil seems to have the highest per capita level of chemists anywhere in the world. Oooh and a sex shop – we didn’t go in but the rather tame lingerie in the window hinted at the depravity within.
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