Travel Log

I left Rio three days ago and today is my third day in Paraty.

Rio was hard to leave, as I got into the speed of things quite quickly. Fortunately I am going back at the end of the week. Apart from more excellent food, I also took a trip to an island on a Schooner. We were dropped off at a bay and just chilled out sipping caipirinhas. You don´t need much more in life on those moments.

Paraty is an amazingly beautiful place. It is an old city in the middle of what I believe to be one of the most breathtaking pieces of nature I have ever seen. I have been listening to a couple of Bossa Nova concerts, really beautiful.

Yesterday I met a Dutch tour guide, Rick, who has been running his own kayaking expedition company for some years now. As I was the only one that signed up we kayaked from 10 in the morning till 7 in the evening. But without a doubt the kayaking trip (40 km) were the most beautiful kilometers I have ever paddled. The water is warm (25+), cristal clear, and at times a bit choppy from the winds (great surf at times!), and you are constantly surrounded by impressive nature and wildlife. We stopped a couple of times to visit beaches, had a bit too much beer for lunch and I was constantly on guard not to burn alive (from the sun).

The funniest thing is that we decided to carry over the boats to go to a mangrove area, which was definitely worth it but we had to carry the kayaks through a jungle for about a kilometer. First of all it was the hardest part of the trip, a sea kayak weighs about 30 kg, it was incredibly hot and steep, and there were strange noises to be heard (creepy noises, but then again it is a bloody jungle outthere). But I had some pictures taken of me with my kayak in a jungle! Kayaking brings you to the most unexpected places ;-).

Guilherme