Thursday 29 December Paraty (Or Pararrrchee if your Portuguese)
We slept well, despite a pair of late arrivals. The English woman had moved to the couch in the lounge by the time we got up at 8 and her Sethefrican partner was less than effusive when we greeted him on his subsequent appearance. Did we snore? Lucky we don’t fart in bed.
Breakfast was very good. Pretty much the standard Brazilian brekky of crusty rolls with ham and cheese. The coffee was very good and they had squeezed some of the sackful of oranges that the man brought home a short while ago. They had made up the circular table with the food in the middle and it was nice to have a sit down meal for a change.
We had a wander down to the jetty through the old part of the town. The roads are all made of flattish stones sort of levelled but there are gaps and edges and dips and it really requires concentration to keep your footing without turning an ankle. It actually gets worse in the older part because the roads slope slightly down towards the waterfront and they are also slightly v-shaped, with a shallow gully running down the centre of each road. Add the effect of the irregular paving and you begin to appreciate that it’s far from easy walking.
The purpose is that at high tide the water runs through holes in the sea wall and flows up the streets into the old part of town, and then flushes out again. Presumably this was designed to clean the streets, including what is delicately referred to as “night soil”, as if people didn’t sh*t during the day? I’m not sure it worked because at the moment there is a decidedly manky smell when the water recedes, probably caused by residue between the stones. There are also places where long puddles remain. One wonders (well This one does anyway) what would happen at extra high tides . . do the houses/shops flood?
No cars are allowed in the old part of town, so other than pedestrians the only other thing you need to watch out for are the horse and carriages that take the tourists on a sightseeing circuit. If you have any trouble walking on the uneven road surfaces this would be the best way to see the town. It is very neat and colourful with each house having different coloured brightly painted doors and windows. There are several very old churches, many gift shops and art galleries.
There are many pousadas (guesthouses) of various sizes. It really is a very nice beachside holiday destination with a laid back feel. I could live here.
We strolled on across the bridge that spans the river to the town beach.
One of the small colourful boats that will take you out all day
Chris decided that this one is definately not a contender for our day trip - check out its name.... if you can't see it it is 'Submarina'.
There were a fair number of beachfront restaurants and a lot of people swimming and lying around.
The town is visibly filling up with local holidaymakers. We carried on to the big supermarket beyond the rodoviaria and stocked up with cans of tuna and salad stuff. We are going to eat sensibly for a while.
After lunch we went back and saw the streets on the receding tide, with water up to 18” deep right at the front. The schooners were coming back from their days out in the bay, which made for interesting watching, particularly when the backpacker groups landed after what must have been a very merry cruise.
We also noticed, in our starved state, the numerous carts that had been set up, all selling the same collection of delicious cakes. Each cart was about 2 square metres, covered in sticky and creamy and nutty and chewy cake that positively screamed “Eat Me!!!”. With Herculean restraint, we chose not to avail ourselves.
We followed signs and sought directions to the Biblioteca and Livraria but all we found were a couple of book stores. Not having a lot of luck with libraries on this trip!
Back to base for more tuna and carrot. Yeah baby. A quiet night reading and later chatting with the Anglo-Boers, who had got over their huge case of the Sads. They are moving on tomorrow. I logged on to Skyp towards midnight, intending to ring Stephie to check on the status of the bank accounts and credit cards but she was online anyway so we did it in text. All is going well financially.
We should mention that we have commenced the Positive Mental Attitude preparations leading up to winning the $31 million on Saturday. We figure that this will be a good start towards our target of having enough to buy an apartment on ‘The World’, that boat that constantly cruises the planet with 160 lucky families in a life of constant indulgence. Pretty much like us at the moment . . just not sharing a dormitory and living on tinned tuna. We also emailed them and asked for an indication of how much we will need. Laugh not excessively because this is dangerously close to the way we came about being where we are.
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