Day 73 - 16 Feb.2012 - Paraty

The first thing we did after breakfast was a walk to the beach and to jump into the water. The water temperature was really warm and it was a pleasure to stay in it for a while. We could have easily stayed longer, if it wasn’t for our white skin and the risk of coming out red like a crab. So we went out and walked along the bay for a while before we went back to the hotel. We checked out at lunch time and drove the remaining 100 km towards Paraty along beautiful bays. We arrived in Paraty in the afternoon and went straight to the pousada we had previously booked by phone. Although it was still quite empty today, tomorrow on Friday, the pousada will be fully booked for the carnival weekend. We had stayed here before some years ago and the Pousada do Cais is right at the Quay in the historic centre of Paraty with a view over the bay. We stayed for a while in our lovely room with sea view to let the heat of the day pass by a bit before we ventured out into the town. It seemed that açai, a fruit from the Amazon is as well famous here in Brazil by now and we ordered an açai with banana and honey, a really thick kind of dark purple mass decorated with banana slices – really a delicacy.
The beach directly at Paraty is not really so nice to go swimming as it is mainly mangroves but you can book a boat trip which takes you out to some of the many islands surrounding Paraty. Although all the islands are private, the Brazilian law states that all beaches are public and t is not allowed to fence off beaches. So it is allowed to go to any island and stay on the beach or swim in the lagoons. We did a boat trip like that a couple of years ago and it is really a great way of passing the day on and in the water. We might book a boat trip tomorrow but for today we stay just in town.
In the evening we went to a lovely garden restaurant run by an Italian, Victorio, and his family. This restaurant was offering food more in the style of home-cooked food and was more affordable than the many of the posh restaurants in the historic centre of Paraty.