Monday, December 31, 2007

Parati or Paraty pronounced (Par-a-cheeeeee!)

(Disclaimer: We know this is really late, and we are actually home when writing this, and we may no longer have any readership anyway. But we humbly ask your forgiveness; there was NO place to successfully upload pictures in Rio, and then when we got home it was all a flurry of not finding cameras, not finding cords, and Christmas. Go figure. So just pretend it's a week ago! Shhhh...)

Paraty
was the site of the one day of sun we got in Brazil. Although one out of six could be a tragedy, we were able to successfully capitalize. Even if we had known that the sun was only going to poke through the clouds one day, I still would have chosen to spend it in Paraty. Set on the coast five hours south of Rio de Janeiro (January River), this former Portuguese trading post is now a white-washed port town and launching point for day-long touring boat trips. The five hour trip we went on was easily was one of the best events in Brazil and an ideal way to bring our trip to a close. See for yourself:

The Streets of Paraty

A View from the Docks


Margaret on the Schooner in Paraty

Glare Warning!
Brian, Niamh, and Colm Swimming With the Fishies

In Paraty, we got to meet and hang out with a couple from Ireland (pictured poorly above), who had just moved back from seven years in Australia and were honeymooning for six months in South America. We effectively had a two-day-long double date with these people. The first day it was cloudy so we took a four hour bike ride to a couple waterfalls and a restaurant. Cold and tasty, respectively. The second day (the day of sun) we all went on the schooner ride. They were maybe the nicest people we met the whole trip.

All-in-all, Brazil was the right place to put at the end of the trip. It helped us re-acclimate ourselves to paying more than 5 dollars for things (what seems like the average price for everything in Argentina). Brazil was also just more easygoing (nearly everyone wears board shorts and sandles around town). You don't want to know what Brazilians wear on the beach. I'd show you, but this is a PG blog after all.

Stay tuned for the final blog post!

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