Paraty
Paraty is a preserved Portuguese colonial town located on the coast of Brazil in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The old town was very charming with its cobblestone street lined with white walls and painted doorways and windows. There are supposedly a few nearby beaches that are nice, unfortunately, it rained for the entire time that we were there so there wasn’t much to do apart from walk around town and try cachaça, a spirit derived from sugar cane which is used to make caipirinha’s.
Ilha Grande
From Paraty, we caught a local bus to the coast to catch our ferry boat to Ilha Grande (which translates to Big Island… how original 
). The bus ride was an adventure of its own. The bus driver drove like a maniac through the narrow winding streets on the way and anytime there was a stop, he would slam on the brakes. We finally arrived at the coastal town of Angra where we boarded our “ferry boat”. We then waited for an hour and a half for the boat to leave. As more and more people got on, we realised that the boat wasn’t going to leave until it was at full capacity. We were lucky to get one when we did because the late comers had to stand for the one and a half hour ride to the island.
The island is known for its tropical beaches and rugged landscape. The entire island is protected as it contains remnants of Brazil’s Atlantic rainforest which is home to many species of plants and animals, including some that are endangered. There are many beaches around the island that can only be reached by boat or by hiking through the rainforest and development is limited so there are only small local run hotels. We only had one day here and the options were to hike through the rainforest in over 30 degree heat for six hours to visit one of the beaches or spend the day on a boat, cruising around the island, snorkelling and a BBQ on board with unlimited caipirinha’s. So we went on the boat cruise and spent the afternoon practicing our diving skills off the side of the boat.
The next day we went back to the mainland by ferry and onto a bus heading for Rio!
