Day 72 - 15 Feb.2012 - Ubatuba

It is really a luxury to wake up with the sound of waves from the beach and when opening the window you can have a look at the beach. After a fantastic Brazilian breakfast with freshly pressed orange juice we went for a walk along the long beach. It was low tide and a wide stretch of sand was just too inviting. Local fishermen were trying to get prawns out of the water. Among all the leaves in the net there were as well some crabs that were trying to escape.
We left the city to drive further north along the coast. We drove past the busy port town of Santos, again with a lot of industrial activity giving evidence that Brazil is indeed booming. We continued along the BR-101 and it got more curvy and hilly. Here no heavy lorries are allowed. The countryside got more and more spectacular with the Atlantic forest on the steep hills to our left and the ocean with a lot of small islands to the right. One lagoon is followed by another. This stretch of coast is indeed one of the most beautiful places and it is no wonder that the roadside is cluttered with signs for pousadas and hotels left and right.
We stopped at a random village some kilometres before Ubatuba and searched for a place to stay. We found a lovely hotel in colonial style and booked ourselves in for the night. The beach of the village is in a little bay sheltered from the Atlantic waves by islands and a half-island reaching out into the sea. Looking out at the sea one could almost imagine to be on the shore of a big lake.
As the season really only starts on Friday here, we had difficulties to find an open restaurant and ended up eating in our hotel, which was in fact not a bad choice at all. The Moqueca, a fish stew, was really fantastic.