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Rose and breakfasted, ready for a traveling day. We were on the street looking for a cab before 9am, and at the Rodovario Novo, in a seedy looking part of town near the docks by 9:15. Unfortunately, the pace slowed from there. No seats on the 10am Costa Verde bus to Paraty, so we bought tickets (70 Real), on the 11am bus. Had a snack upstairs in the vast bus station whilst we waited. There is even free wifi there. Stephen even managed to change the leftover Uruguayan Pesos (though at a crap rate).
Went to the platform to board bus at 10:45, only to find our bus not there yet. Eventually left 30 minutes late. The route was first through
the insalubrious industrial suburbs of Rio, along a divided highway. But after an hour, the highway reached the ‘Green Coast’, a couple of hundred kilometres of coastline, sheltered by offshore islands, and thronged by pleasure sailors from the wealthy of Rio. All along the way, there were little turnoffs to condominium developments on the sea, whilst every little town had a marina. From the vantage of the bus, glimpses of beaches, rocky islets and jungle clad slopes, calm waters bobbing with sailing boats in the bays. There was also industry and large cargo ships to be seen in the waterways, a nuclear power plant, and a shipbuilding facility at Verolme.
We made it to Paraty at 4:00pm, did some shopping in the supermarket to get breakfast and dinner supplies, and once more experienced the joys of queues in Brazilian supermarkets. While trying to buy 4 sausages for dinner at the butcher’s counter, those ahead of me in the queue seemed to be buying half a cow each. Finally got the shopping done and got a taxi out to Sitio Namaste (60 Real), located about 10km from town, up the very bumpy and windy road to Coriscao. Poor taxi struggled. The last 200m was unsealed and muddy beyond the final bus-stop.
A very steep driveway down to the Colin and Renata’s house, and a grassy path led to our simple cottage in the forest. After instructions about the house from Colin and Renata, we went for a short forest stroll, down to the river, in search of the swimming hole. I eventually found it, feeling hot and sweaty after the quite short stroll. The tracks were a bit muddy.
Cooked dinner (my sausages nice and salty, and the home made potato chips yummy. A bonus was a ripe mango left for us. Delicious. We had part of a bottle of Chliean red with the meal. S & C had chicken patties and lasagne. It also seemed to work fine. Went to bed after checking out the multitudinous offerings on Cable TV. Better off reading more of ‘Something Coming Through’, so did so.
Went to the platform to board bus at 10:45, only to find our bus not there yet. Eventually left 30 minutes late. The route was first through
the insalubrious industrial suburbs of Rio, along a divided highway. But after an hour, the highway reached the ‘Green Coast’, a couple of hundred kilometres of coastline, sheltered by offshore islands, and thronged by pleasure sailors from the wealthy of Rio. All along the way, there were little turnoffs to condominium developments on the sea, whilst every little town had a marina. From the vantage of the bus, glimpses of beaches, rocky islets and jungle clad slopes, calm waters bobbing with sailing boats in the bays. There was also industry and large cargo ships to be seen in the waterways, a nuclear power plant, and a shipbuilding facility at Verolme.
We made it to Paraty at 4:00pm, did some shopping in the supermarket to get breakfast and dinner supplies, and once more experienced the joys of queues in Brazilian supermarkets. While trying to buy 4 sausages for dinner at the butcher’s counter, those ahead of me in the queue seemed to be buying half a cow each. Finally got the shopping done and got a taxi out to Sitio Namaste (60 Real), located about 10km from town, up the very bumpy and windy road to Coriscao. Poor taxi struggled. The last 200m was unsealed and muddy beyond the final bus-stop.
A very steep driveway down to the Colin and Renata’s house, and a grassy path led to our simple cottage in the forest. After instructions about the house from Colin and Renata, we went for a short forest stroll, down to the river, in search of the swimming hole. I eventually found it, feeling hot and sweaty after the quite short stroll. The tracks were a bit muddy.
Cooked dinner (my sausages nice and salty, and the home made potato chips yummy. A bonus was a ripe mango left for us. Delicious. We had part of a bottle of Chliean red with the meal. S & C had chicken patties and lasagne. It also seemed to work fine. Went to bed after checking out the multitudinous offerings on Cable TV. Better off reading more of ‘Something Coming Through’, so did so.