Brazil Part 2

Well, not quite so rapid a succession of posts as I had hoped, but likely about what should be expected from me by now.

Rio de Janeiro- we spent less than 12 hours in the beautiful city, coming straight from Sao Pualo after the wedding. The highlight was when we took the cable car up to see the view from the Sugarloaf, and the clouds cleared enough to see the statue of Christ the Redeemer on the mountains opposite. Of course, Copacabana and Ipanema had stunning views as well, but it is winter in Rio, and it was rainy and chilly, so the beaches were pretty much empty. We wandered a bit, had a coffee, some authentic Brazilian countrystyle cooking, and took off just before dark by bus to Paraty. Special thanks to Claudia, our beautiful musician/tourguide for the day!

Paraty is an old port, where the Portuguese started the gold and diamond routes...it is a quaint old town, with nearby access to mountains, and incredible beaches. We spent a day on the beach (Well, an afternoon, all the rush from Sao Paulo to Rio and back to Paraty was a wee bit tiring), and it was perfect. Check the pictures on Facebook if you can, I don't know when they'll be posted elsewhere.

We also hiked one day on the Caminho do Ouro (Gold Trail), a Portuguese road from th 16oos that crosses over the mountains. I twas really cool to walk on the old granite stones, and see that people still use this path today. It rained while we were hiking, but that was certainly better than rain at the beach! Paraty was also a cool place to wander in the evenings, with European cuisine available everywhere, nice tourist shops to browse, cool cafes, etc. A great getaway!

We intended to try to catch a soccer match, and the Copa da Libertadores had a match playing on Wednesday in Santos. This is a championship for the best soccer team in South America, and it was a quarterfinal. However, our bus was late, and we missed a connection, so ended up in Campina, with more of Cleia's relatives, for more excellent food and great hospitality. The enxt morning we ended up racing to the airport to get me on a plane, because we tried to eat a traditional Brazilian churrasco lunch, and were short on time. So, I rushed into the airport, where the immigration officials were on strike, and stood in line for over three hours to try to leave the country. Departing Brazil, on a pathetic cramped Airbus340-200, I was really sorry to say goodbye to my first experience in Latin or South America.