Paraty

This weekend Kim and I went to a little colonial town called Paraty.

Paraty (pronounced par-uh-CHEE) used to be a pretty significant port, back when Brazil had its gold rush in the 1700s. But after that, the town faded into obscurity—which was bad news for Paraty’s economy, but good news for modern-day tourists. Today, the city’s historical center still looks just like it did 300 years ago.

Igreja de Santa Rita

We had originally planned to leave on Thursday morning and return on Sunday afternoon. However, when we went to the bus station on Tuesday to buy our tickets, we discovered that the Thursday and Sunday buses were completely sold out. So instead, we took the Wednesday night bus (which left at 10:45 p.m.) and the Saturday afternoon bus.

So, we arrived in Paraty at about 4:30 on Thursday morning. Everything was closed, of course, and it was pouring rain, so we spent the next couple hours sitting on a bench and waiting for the sun to rise. Finally, around 7:00, we checked in to our hostel and slept for a few hours.

Historical city center

Then we headed off to the historical city center. It sounds kind of trite, but when you enter the historical center it’s like stepping back in time. Cars aren’t allowed on the streets, so all you see is pedestrians, bikes, and the occasional horse-drawn carriage. In fact, the only way to know you’re in the twenty-first century is to look inside the buildings, since everything is either a restaurant, hotel, or souvenir shop.

View from the pier

Whenever there’s a full moon (as there was on Thursday), Paraty’s streets get flooded because of the high tide.

High tide

On Friday we went on an all-day boat tour, which took us to a couple islands off the coast. The snorkeling was lousy, but it was still fun swimming in the ocean. And the water was quite warm, so jumping off the side of the boat was something you could look forward to rather than dread.

Taking a dip