Paraty.....nearly didn't make it!!!

Well the trip to Paraty didn't quite go as planned.... I managed to make it to Sao Paulo bus station easily but then it started to go a bit pear shaped. The bus station was packed (not sure why I didn't anticipate that with it being a few days before xmas) but I didn't. After half an hour hunting around I managed to locate the travel company (of which there are hundreds) who went to Paraty. My Portugese isn't to great (improving everyday tho) but I'm sure the guy said that there were no tickets till after Xmas......This left me with a bit opf a dilemma? Did I try to go via somewhere else or just go straight to Rio on a 8 hour bus ride. I decided to go via somewhere else....

...the somewhere else turned out to be Ubatuba. A 6 hour bus ride (which shoudl have only taken 3) later and I was in a place for which I had no map, no information and certainly no idea where the bus when from. A bit more Portugese later and I had foudn the bus station and even successfully got the ticket to Paraty!! A few hours wait, another hour on the bus and a 5 minute walk say me installed in my quaint room at Paraty B&B.

Turned out that the B&B was owned by Ross who is from Norwich - moved to Paraty 12 years ago. Nice bloke, told me about the place and what to see. As teh sun was shining I went for a short walk into The Historic Town. The entire centre of Paraty is chained off and is designated a Histporic Centre. There are 4 churches (Igreja de N Sa do Rosario e S Benedito, Igreja Martiz, Igreja de Santa Rita & Capela de N Sra das Dores) of which I visited all, and some lovely colonial architecture with cobbled streets. There is also a beautful river and sea and some lovely beaches on the surrounding island - unfortuately I didn't get time to visit....I finished off the day with a walk up to the old fort with lovely views of the surrounding area before heading back to the B&B to rest my weary feet.

The night time passed with some gorgeous crepes and a puppet show. Puppet show??? Yes an adult one at that. It weas really good, the puppets are so life like and it is made up of 7 different scenes all telling a different story including childbirth and suicide. Check it out at www.ecparaty.org.br

Anyway some more pics too: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=25815&l=73da3&id=621043454