Paraty

We had to be up early, 8:30, which is the earliest we've had to be up and out on this entire trip so far. Once we got out, I was happy to be leaving Ilha Grande. It was baking hot already by 8:30. The previous 2 days we had been there, it didn't get really warm until about noon. We all searched for shade while waiting for the ferry to come pick us up. Barbara kept telling us she was really hoping for the "fast boat" (the catamaran which would take us back to Angra Dos Reis twice as fast as the sailboat that took us initially). Luckily, it was indeed the catamaran so we got back to shore in 45 minutes instead of 2 hours later. We boarded another little van that was taking us to Paraty. An hour and a half later, we arrived. If you come to Brazil, come to Paraty. It's a wonderful little town. There is an area called the "historic center" that is about 6 square blocks of shops and restaurants. No cars are allowed within that area. Just be careful of the HUGE stones that the streets are made of. Again, sprained ankle warnings abound. James figured it out first. Walk straight down the middle of the street on the flat stones that lead to the sewers. Or else, you'll spend the entire time watching where you step. Outside of the historic center is the expanded sections of Paraty. This is the more modern areas with more restaurants, stores, etc. Paraty is also surrounded by water on 3 sides so there are many beaches. 

We checked into our cute little hotel and took a look at our accommodations. Dual bunkbeds in our room. Elizabeth, Suzanne, and Hannah got a double and a bunk so immediately came over to negotiate a trade since our room had more floorspace. We offered them a fair price (2 drinks a piece and they move our bags). They decided they'd stay with theirs since ours didn't have a refrigerator or ceiling fan. The complex also had a hot tub right in the middle but the water was freezing cold. This would become our standard meeting place while we soaked our tired, sunburned, and bug bitten feet in the cool water. We congregated and discussed options with our feet in the water and decided that since some of us wanted to Kayak and didn't get to on Ilha Grande, we took the liberty to do so in Paraty. We walked through the historic center and out the other side of town down to the beach. Along the way Justin got stung by a huge black wasp on his calf. Chalk another up mishap. He's lucky it didn't swell much but he said it hurt like hell. We made our way to the beach and some of us took Kayaks into the cove. Others played soccer on the beach or just read. It was also Tom's birthday and Barbara actually worked at a restaurant right across the street from where we were so she went and talked to her friends about setting up a birthday dinner and bonfire for Tom's birthday. I remember asking Tom while we were kayaking "Did you ever think you'd be sitting in a kayak in Brazil on your birthday?" His answer was "No and it's pretty f*****g amazing." We stayed on the beach for a bit then walked back to the hotel to freshen up and get ready for dinner. Seemed kind of funny we were leaving that spot only to return 2 hours later. The restaurant was an all-you-can-eat pizza restaurant that was really quite good. The best one I thought was the veggie (I know!) pizza with carrots. It was fantastic!

We ate dinner then went and sat on the beach for a few hours with a bonfire. It was perfect. At one point, Thom said "Chris, you ok over there, you haven't said much." To be honest, I was just content in the moment. Completely hypnotized by the fire. Some of the girls wanted to go dancing around midnight so one of Barbara's friends drove all of us in a VW bus to a club back near where our hotel was. It was a lot of fun. I met an absolutely stunning Irish girl there named Jenny and we were hitting if off quite well until her English friend came and pulled her away and took her back to their hostel. GRRR… That's ok. She gave me a little kiss when she left and we exchanged contact info. Though it was something that did not go unnoticed by the group and I'm developing a slight reputation as a "smooth operator with the ladies" as quoted by Elizabeth. On what? Day 5?? But we went home around 4am (another long night) knowing that the next day was a "free day" which meant there were no planned activities. We could sleep in and do whatever we wanted to do. I think sleep was the first thing on the itinerary for most of us though. So we turned in after another great day wondering what was next. It turned out to be fun and more fun for some of us.

The Highlight of the trip (so far)…

Upon arrival on Ilha Grande, we kept hearing about the Caipirinha boat trip. Being a fan of Caipirinhas, it's hard to find anything wrong with sailing around a beautiful island all the while being served Caipirinhas and stopping occasionally to jump into the clear and warm water to snorkel. If you manage to make it to Ilha Grande, Brazil, the Caipirinha boat tour should be the #1 action item on your list. Especially if you can get on one of the trips that has a barbeque. We sailed for about an hour around the opposite side of the island than we did the day before when we went to The Beach. All of a sudden, the boat started puttering and literally died. The ship's captain had to call back to shore and request another boat come and pick us up. We drank Caipirinhas in the sun while we waited for the new boat. None of us were complaining. As the new boat arrived, the first thing we noticed was it was significantly larger. It was probably meant for 50 people. We had 16 including our captain and shipmates including one large individual that Andrew exclaimed "That man looks like he was born to barbeque." We swapped ships and continued on our way. Another 45 minutes later we arrived at a small cove and anchored. I could see the bottom of the water looking over the side of the boat and guesstimated the depth to be about 12-15 feet. I took off my shirt and jumped in. I let myself sink for about 6 seconds and still didn't touch the bottom so I swam back to the surface. I'm going to guess now that the depth was more like 20-25 feet. We played in the water for a bit while lunch was prepared for us on the BBQ.

Then we got back onboard and had a lunch of grilled steak marinated in a salt rub, sausage, hot dogs, rice, salad, and rolls. The steak was absolutely fantastic. The sausage was also really good. The hot dog was a hot dog. Mind you we're still drinking Caipirinhas the whole time. We ate a hearty lunch then pulled anchor and sailed to another location around the island. We anchored and again jumped into the water to spend some time goofing around. Though the water was a little cooler at this spot on the island. It was still an amazing time. We got back to our hotel around 6pm, all of us well drunk, and rested (sobered) up for a couple of hours before meeting again for dinner. The only thing I could think of that would make the day more amazing would be a dinner on the beach.

Ok. Done.

We ate at a little BBQ house right on the beach with the surf 20 feet away. I don't think the temperature ever dropped below 80 degrees the entire evening. It was gorgeous. We ate, drank, and laughed late into the evening knowing that we'd have to awake early the following morning to take the ferry back to Angra Dos Reis and take a van to Paraty. Although I could have definitely stayed on Ilha Grande, I was looking forward to seeing a new locale. Ilha Grande is a breathtaking place and I'm certain my photos won't even come close to doing it justice. Just imagine paradise. The most relaxing, beautiful place your mind can conjure up. Take that image and place a title to it. Ilha Grande.

REALLY large beers…

1 liter of Stella for about $4. Simply awesome.

If you order a beer in the states, you get a 12 ounce can or bottle. It's the standard. Occasionally, you can get a "tall" beer which is 22 ounces. Again, it's the standard so we don't question it. Down here, when you order a beer, you get a 650 milliliter monster. 650ml is 21.9 ounces so the small beer down here is a 22.  The "grande cerveja" (yes, I know that says "cerveja"…cerveja is beer in Portuguese, cerveza is beer in Spanish) is 1 liter, or 33 ounces or to even put that into more perspective… a quarter gallon. Now THAT is what I'm talking about!!!

The Beach

Unfortunately, the hotel doesn't have AC or screens on the windows so we went to sleep in a hot, stuffy, room with a whole family of the terydactyl sized mosquitos I alluded to earlier. I went to bed in my underwear and woke up with my legs looking like I was in a zombie movie. They were covered in bites. I guess good think I was wearing underwear right? How bad would it have gotten if I had been completely naked? I don't want to even think of such an awful thing. We were going to go to "The Beach" today. It was also Sara's birthday. Have you seen the movie "The Beach" with Leonardo DiCaprio? Well,, in this movie, he and his friends go to a tropical island and are told about "The Beach", a remotely located beach that is more beautiful than any beach elsewhere. In the movie, things go sour for them but that's Hollywood for you. Our experience wasn't nearly as dramatic. But getting there still required a 1 hour boatride and a 30 minute hike over a mountain. But when you finally get there, you walk out from the trees out onto a beautiful beach. It's not quite like the movie since in the movie, they were the only ones to find it, but us and a few hundred people I guess is kinda similar. But it was a really beautiful beach. We hung out on the beach reading, tanning, or playing in the waves. Unfortunately, Tom was so excited to jump into the waves, he forgot he had his glasses on and 2 waves later…they were gone. Day 3, Justin's wallet and Tom's glasses gone. We're on a roll. We stayed there until 3pm then walked back over the mountain to catch the boat back to the other side of the island. Well, the weather and water conditions had changed significantly. I personally thought it was fun, but the boat was being hit by 8-10 foot swells. I was sitting with some Canadian girls so we chatted while getting hit with the occasional rogue wave and riding them like a roller coaster. At one point, I remember sitting on the right side of the boat (is that starboard or port?) and as we rode a wave, being able to look across the deck and was looking straight DOWN at the water. But I was still laughing at how fun it was. One of the Canadian girls was scared the boat might tip over, I felt badly that I was literally laughing. We made it back, now sopping wet, but alive. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped in at a local store and bought a bottle of rum to just have handy and went back to hotel to get cleaned up. While people were freshening up on their own time, I took the liberty to take the bottle of rum we just picked up and a bottle of Coke I had bought the day before and head to the pool (which was right next to our room). Along the way, I knocked on people's doors to let them know where I was heading and to join when ready. Elizabeth was already there reading a book so we chatted for a few until others arrived. I think we started at about 5 and 3 hours later, we had finished that bottle, the rest of the bottle from Ipanema we had bought with Sam, and Andrew and I even walked back down the hill to the store to buy another. It was a lot of fun. We sat around the pool, playing songs off our iPods and laughing at each other's "closet" music collections (ie, yes, I really do have Kelly Clarkson and Jessica Simpson). It was during this time that I was introduced to what became my new favorite snack... Baconzitos. Bacon flavored chips. How brilliant is that?

We had dinner reservations for 8pm to celebrate Sara's birthday so we packed up and walked back to town to try some real Brazillian food. Brazillian dishes are large and are often made for 2 so Andrew and I tried a fried fish with shrimp in a tomato based sauce dish over rice. It wasn't bad except the fish had bones in it so you had to be careful. I liked the flavor quite a bit. Dinners down there tend to last for a while (3-4 HOURS) because service is often slow and having a group of 13 doesn't help speed things up any so by the time we finished it was well past 12. I had drank my fair share between the rum and cokes at the pool and the few large beers we shared with dinner so I decided to head back to the hotel instead of going back to the hostel from the previous night (even though I got a text from Lydia telling me the aforementioned Canadians were actually staying at that same hostel and were asking where I was and if I was coming.)

Paradise…AKA Ilha Grande

After going to bed after 2am (which will be a recurring theme on this trip), we awoke to get ready to head to the island of Ilha Grande. But first we had to find an ATM so I could take out some extra cash for Justin. We found a Citibank office and I exchanged $500 USD which converted to 850 Brazillian Reals for the both of us. Then we grabbed a breakfast of stuffed crepes before heading back to the hotel to get ready for the 2 hour busride to Angra Dos Rios and 1.5 hour boatride to Ilha Grande. We departed the hotel in Copacabana and docked at Ilha Grande around 5pm. Imagine paradise and you have Ilha Grande. It's beautiful. There are 2 vehicles on the island, a dump truck and an ambulance. The police ride motorcycles. Otherwise transportation is by bicycle or good old footpower. The town is a few square blocks full of restaurants and shops. Most of the streets aren't paved and the ones that are are paved with stones. It makes for walking without spraining an ankle a challenge. We checked into our hotel and took a look at our rooms. Double bed and bunkbed with a decent bathroom and ceiling fan for us and headed back down to town to get dinner. We ate at a little Italian restaurant (Italian food/pizza is really popular here). I ordered lasagna which was the strangest lasagna I've ever had. It was pretty much the contents of lasagna (meat, tomato sauce, cheese) baked in a dish with 1 piece of pasta laid across the top with melted cheese on top. WEIRD… But it was pretty tasty. Then we headed to one of the local hostels since drinks there are much cheaper than at the bars. It was true. 3.50 Reals or about $2 US for a beer. The hostel was crazy. When we arrived, they were playing live music and the guys playing and singing were pretty good. Then they started playing music from an iPod and Andrew somehow ended up behind the bar to DJ. It was hilarious. We finally left around 4am to try to catch a few hours of sleep before getting up to go to "the beach" the next day. Day 2 in the books and other than the terydactyl sized mosquitos, it was a pretty damn good day.

We're Here!

 

We've officially landed in Rio de Janeiro after a very pleasant 10 hour flight from Houston to Rio. The plane was half empty in the back so we both got whole rows entirely to ourselves.  Though, I now know I need to get a face bra. You know, those funny things that you put over your eyes in the daytime? I guess technically they are called "eye masks" but when I saw Justin wearing one, all I could think of is face bra.

We landed in Rio, went through the fastest customs and immigration station ever (they look at your passport, your visa, and wave you through), grabbed our already awaiting bags off the luggage carousel and headed out to find a cab to take us to our hotel in Copacabana. We were walking through the terminal when a cute girl walked up and said "I know this is a strange question, but are you going anywhere near Ipanema or Copacabana?" We said yes so she asked if she could share a cab. Her name was Samantha and was from Michigan and was heading to a hostel in the Ipanema area in Rio. Ipanema is next to Copacabana, about a 5 minute taxi ride from each other. She joined us in the cab which I have to say was a nice addition since we arrived in Rio at about 8:15am which meant we were heading into morning gridlock. The traffic was terrible and so are the drivers. They drive similar to Asia (apparently the lines in the road are purely aesthetic). It turned out to be a 40 or so minute drive into Copacabana and I frequently got distracted from my conversation with Samantha due to a car coming inches to ours. I was really happy she joined us on the ride so I could try to concentrate on something else most of the time. We got into Copacabana and the cab driver found our hotel. As we pulled up we asked Samantha if she would like to join us for the day while we saw some sights. She said yes so we checked into the hotel and stored all of our bags in the room and headed out. We found a note on the front door of the hotel announcing an 8:30pm meeting with our GAP Adventures tour leader as well as the other members of the group. It was only about 10am so we knew we had plenty of time to see some of the sights. Those included the world famous Christ the Endeavor statue as well as Sugar Loaf and obviously, the beach! We walked 2 blocks down to the waterfront and walked down to the water just to check it out. The water was pretty warm. The beach, beautiful. We then started walking up the beach admiring the amazing view and loving the 85 degree temperature. We found an information booth and stopped to ask about how we could get to the Cristo statue. They said it was closed. Whaaat??? Apparently the bad rain lately here washed out some roads leading up the statue. The statue was also due for some restoration. We walked away disappointed but decided to go see Sugar Loaf instead.  Samantha instead decided she'd go back to the hotel, grab her bag, and make her way to her hostel and check in. She passed on Sugar Loaf since she had a friend coming into town the following day and wanted to be able to go with her friend. So we walked back to the hotel, got Samantha's bag, found her a cab, and decided to coordinate dinner plans for later that night. We'd meet her over at her hostel since it wasn't that far and it meant we got to see another area of Rio.

Copacabana and Ipanema to the left, Cristo up to the right

We said goodbye and Justin and I headed back out again to see Sugar Loaf by ourselves. Sugar Loaf is 3 huge mountains connected by 2 gondolas. Each mountain is higher than the next. By the time you get to the top, the birds are literally flying below you. That's how high it is. But what is even more intriguing about it is the mountains are actually ROCK, not earth. The sides are all bare and what vegetation is there grows out of the rock face. But let me say the view was breathtaking. You can see all of Rio, Copacabana AND Ipanema and some of the other districts we didn't even know were there. We could even see the poor Cristo covered in scaffolding. So while that sucked that we didn't get to see the Cristo up close, the trip to Sugar Loaf still made the day worth while. We stayed there for a couple of hours, even getting a beer at the snack shack, and then headed back down the mountain and back to the hotel to take a quick nap and get ready to head over to meet Samantha for dinner.

Justin and I both took a quick nap and grabbed a cab to Samantha's hostel. She lead us out into Ipanema to get a drink and a bite to eat. We settled on a little Mexican (I know…) restaurant that had a nice open patio 2 blocks from the beach. We all ordered Caipirinhas since it's THE drink of Brazil. It's made of sugarcane rum (cashaca, pronounced ca-shasa), lime, and sugar. It's pretty tasty, but SWEET. We also ordered some finger foods to satisfy our appetites. Guacamole with chips and French fries with chile powder and sour cream. Both were good though the fries were a little soggy. We all ordered a couple drinks each so instead of staying at the Mexican restaurant where the drinks weren't cheap, we decided to track down a grocery store. Samantha thought she knew where one was so we headed off. 15 minutes later, nothing so we started asking around. Samantha even asked a police officer where the "supermarche" was which I had to give her a hard time about (supermercado is the correct term). When he shrugged his shoulders she replied with "vodka". Even funnier! She said she figured "vodka" was a universal term and he'd figure out what we were looking for. LOL! Nope. So we kept going until we saw a hotel and I ran in to ask the desk clerk if there was a grocery store around. The answer, 2 blocks. Of course, Sam had to take credit for putting us in the right direction. I called shenanigans. We finally found a grocery store and got a bottle of rum and vodka and some coke and sprite to make our own drinks and made our way down to the beach to enjoy the evening with the sound of the ocean in the background. The only thing was we had wasted 30 minutes looking for the store so by the time we got to the beach, we didn't have much time to enjoy it. We stayed for about an hour then Justin and I had to leave by 8 to catch a cab back to the hotel for our first GAP Adventures meeting and meet the rest of the travel group. I'll be honest, I would have been plenty happy to spend the rest of the night there on the beach with Samantha but Justin said we really had to show up for the first meeting. Damn him…We walked Samantha to within a block of her hostel and grabbed a cab back to Copacabana. Upon arriving a few blocks away (it was easier to direct them to the Marriott and walk), I exited first and Justin stayed behind to pay for the fare. As he walked up to me, he patted down his pockets and said "my wallet is in the cab" and we both looked up to see the cab speeding away back into Rio traffic. Since we paid cash, we didn't even have a receipt for a number to call. He lost his driver's license, credit card, ATM card, and a few hundred dollars in US dollars. Day 1 of the trip, already a wallet down. I felt badly for him but he wasn't going to let it ruin his trip. We went back to the hotel to meet the rest of the travel group, get the trip itinerary, and then head out for a first drink as a group. It ended up being a lot of fun and the group is amazing. It consists of Justin and myself, 2 New Zealanders, James and Sarah, 2 Scots, Andrew and Elizabeth, 1 Irishman, Gary, and 5 Brits, Suzanne, Hannah, Lydia, Amanda, and Thom. We had a great night laughing and drinking and enjoying each other's company and are looking forward to day 2.

24 hours and counting!!!

24 hours to go!

Yesterday was spent organizing my travel kit: restocking meds (HELLO Immodium!), and doing a pre-pack. You know a pre-pack... It's when you pretty much pull everything out of your closet that you think you may need or want to bring, toss it on your bed, then pack it and see how much it all weighs? Well, for S and giggles I took a pair of jeans, a pair of sweats, and a pair of travel pants, rolled them all up, and put them on my awesome Tanita digital scale. The weight? 2.9 pounds. Doesn't sound like much right? But when you're trying to keep a pack under 20 and you're packing for 19 days, it's a little disconcerting. Plus, you can get away with rotating the same 3 pairs of pants over and over. Shirts...not so much. You'll stink like month old cheese. So I toss in a few dozen shirts, roll it all up, pack it in, zip it up, and throw the whole pack on the scale. Weight? 21.6 pounds. I'm stoked. Then I walk back into my room and look at my bed. Alas, I forgot my travel kit, my underwear (how bad would that have been?), my food (15 Odwalla food bars), and my bag of "liquids" (shaving cream, toothpaste, sunscreen, etc).

Double frick!

So I put those in and pick up the pack. It's significantly heavier. I put it down and took out the items I just put in, carry them to my awesome Tanita scale and put them on. Just the travel kit, food, and liquids weighed 7.3 pounds!!! Really??? I opened up my pack and took out a few shirts, rolled it all back up and tried again. Still heavier than I wanted. Attempt #3. More shirts out, a pair of pants, and some food. Still heavy. Now I'm getting cranky. Attempt 4# Take out all long sleeve shirts, sweats, and jeans. Now all that's left is 15 shirts, 2 pairs of shorts, a pair of swim trunks, pair of warmups, pair of travel khakis, pack towel, and 2 pairs of flip flops. Pack it up again and put it on. Still feels heavy, but acceptable. I realize that the stupid food bars are the culprit but I know that I'll be eating those along the way which will offset the weight of the items that I actually buy down there. :)

So now I'm set! All there is left to do is wait!