From Rodoviaria Tiete in Sao Paolo at 8.00 am I take a bus to Paraty (Brazil) of the Reunidas Company (_portello n. 409), the only one that covers this route (price: 46 real). Keep in mind that there are few departures per day. Arrival in the early afternoon at the Paraty Rodoviaria after about 6 hours of travel. I immediately rent a mountain bike from the Paraty Tour (7 Reals per hour, 35 Reals per day). Once again, as on other occasions, the guy explains to me all the off-road routes that are around Paraty. So I explain to him that I use the bike to do what others do on foot. He tells me that it is uncomfortable to ride a bike on the slippery pavement and that it is also dangerous and it would be better to walk downtown. In short, a lot of stories because in the end people find it hard to understand that I use the bike to move and not to have fun off-road like the rest of the world. Anyway in the end I get it and leave to discover the Colonial city of Paraty. I spend almost a whole day on the paved paths, in the midst of the low and colorful houses, the many shops that see everything and more and the port with boats of all colors. There aren't many people on the streets and you are immersed in a surreal atmosphere. Then the night comes quickly because I have never said it before but in the South America I frequented it gets dark at 5.30 pm this season. Another thing that I have always omitted to say is that I make a lot of spelling errors because I write with computers that are impossible to use where the keys are missing or are discolored or you have to type several times on the same key and then I don't have time to correct the 'spelling because, behind me I have a line of people waiting to use the computer. However, returning to Paraty the night falls and the street lamps that emit yellow light make the atmosphere even more surreal. The people are very hospitable and the severe Sao Paolo is already a distant memory. Here, thanks to tourism and fishing, the living conditions appear much better.
WORRING BUT AT THE SAME CHARMING HOSTEL IN PARATY.
Once in Paraty I head to Don Quixote Hostel (25 Real), the closest hostel to the bus station, in Rua Lapa 7, attached to the bike rental shop (Paraty tour) and at the beginning of the historic center. . So perfect for me. I find it immediately, I play but no one answers. And this is already strange since the reception is 24 hours a day. But I don't worry too much and I ask the shop next door which tells me that the manager will arrive soon. I wait sitting on the stairs; After a few minutes a strange character arrives who speaks only Portuguese but I don't understand him; In the end he opens me anyway and makes me go up and I understand that he is not the owner but a simple guest and that the owner arrives tomorrow. Anyway he gives me the key to the room where I am alone and there are 5 empty beds without sheets (only with blankets). Three beds are even bunk beds and this means that to reach the third you must have attended at least the basic mountaineering course and have obtained the relative certificate. The view over the historic center is however exceptional. I leave the backpack in my room and lock the room with the key and go out to visit the city. When I come back in the late evening it is all dark and there are candles lit in every room except mine where there is an unlit candle that I light using the others; Of electricity not even talking about it, of water least of all; I am alone in the whole hostel and with those candles lit the atmosphere appears ghostly but fascinating and in the end I go to sleep but because of the open window and the lit candle the mosquitoes are the masters resisting even the Autan; They massacre me for many hours but in the end the dawn comes to my salvation, obligatorily entering another day.
My complete
travel report with map, photographs and videos is available at this link:
http://vivendosalendo.blogspot.com/2012/06/finalmente-le-foto-di-rio-de-janerio.html
