On the Road
The journey to the idyllic place of beauty wasn't as beautiful as the destination itself. We set off in the chinese motor around 5pm and it took us 4 hours before we even reached Santa Cruz. Traffic, traffic, traffic and road closures greeted us at many turns. We passed a few road accidents and were pretty patient, accompanied by the tunes of The Beatles and our most played song of the journey "Don't worry, be happy". We weren't worried and we were happy, but once we got to Santa Cruz there was a slight nervousness in the air. The route we were being directed towards using today's very clever iphone was closed, which meant trying to plan a new route. Off the main roads the streets were darker, and three girls alone in a place like this can let their imaginations run away with them.... So we stopped off at McDonalds for a bite around lots of people.
When we got on a new route, and were back in the traffic we started taking note of all the odd characters surrounding us. Luckily we had Jaoa in the car (Renata's very life-like teddy dog) who sat up front with us. We also had a kind of weapon Renata had been given had trouble ever crossed her path. But, lucky for us, we stayed safe and managed to get on the road we were seeking.
Another few hours of driving through the curvy one track roads of the Brazilian coast line, past nuclear stations and beautiful mountains and forestry we reached Paraty. It has to be noted that bus drivers in Brazil are some of the worst drivers i have seen in my life. Over taking at dangerous times, failing to indicate and being overall wreckless made the fact we reached Paraty safely seem even more of an accomplishment.
Paraty
As we arrived in the city we drove over the cobblestoned roads looking for a Pousada. Renata hit a rock as we pulled up to the one we were to spend the night in decorating her car with a new scratch. We went into the old colonial town for some snacks and cocktails in a lovely restaurant with a live couple singing some classics. Very beautiful indeed.
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| Arrived in Paraty!!! |
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| All smiles... we are safe... |
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| Paraty.... |
We had two stops on our boat where we got into the water and swam. On the second stop we jumped off the boat and were surrounded by loads of fish! Fish kind of scare me a little but they were beautiful at the same time. I would loved to have stayed in this place for longer if the sun had decided to join us but it hadn't so after a lunch in the centre and some ice cream our drive to Sao Paulo began.
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| Chilling on our boat |
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| swimming in the sea :) |
Surprise in Sao Paulo
None of Renata's friends or her boyfriend were aware that we were continuing our journey on to Sao Paulo which meant our arrival was a big surprise to lots of people. In particular, Renata's boyfriend Leo. In the first few hours of arriving we chased Leo from pizza place to pizza place trying to surprise him and as a reward i tried some of the best pizza ever! He was very happy that Renata made such an effort to make it home for his birthday.
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| SURPRISE!!!! |
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| All dressed up for pizza! |
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| Best surprise ever! |
It's true what they say, Sao Paulo is a bit of a monster. An concrete ocean filled with a never ending supply of buildings trailing further than the eyes can see. The best view i got was at a place called 'Sky' where Patricia, Polly and some of Polly's family took me one afternoon. It is definitely worth the visit if only for the view rather than the food and drink. From the outside some say the building looks like a ship, and others say it is meant to be a watermelon. That evening we went to 'Spot' having a nice cocktail and some really good pasta. The place was very chic. Much enjoyed. Thank you ladies! This is a restaurant i would like to return to.
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| Girls dinner trip to Spot... |
Renata's home in Sao Paulo was AMAZING! Beautiful appartment which was so homely and had everything you could wish for. We went shopping and had to visit a doctors surgery which was like none i had seen before - swimming pool, internet and free coffee! Doctors in England don't tend to have practices like that. I also got the chance to experience more home cooked Brazilian food which was amazing - Brazilian rice and beans is very nice!
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| Renata's beautiful family home.... |
The trip back to Rio started off at high speed... Overall the journey was much quicker than the trek to Paraty and Sao Paulo but we once again encountered some problems on the road. HUGE thunderstorms stopped us in our tracks meaning we had to take many more breaks on the road. The rain got so bad at one point Renata couldn't even see the road. At this point i was snoozing in the back but when i woke up there were just break lights from all the cars ahead. We stopped at a station and had some sweets and then got back on the road. We passed a few accidents and got stuck in a load of traffic as we entered Rio...but made it home in one piece :)
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| The Road home |
The weekend turned out to be amazing! Although the weather wasn't great we had a real diverse change of sceneries and experiences... From bays and islands to the Sao Paulo sky line... From boat trips and swimming with fish to shopping and surprises. The entire weekend was packed with something memorable. What a fun adventure....
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