Paraty

Tripadvisor states that the best hotel in Paraty is Bambu Bamboo. We decided to book it for a couple of nights. After a reasonably quiet bus ride to town (there were some small issues getting tickets, but nothing that we weren't capable of overcoming) we were deposited at the guest house. Neto and Ben welcomed us and offered beers, tea etc... Neto is Brazilian and Ben is from the Wirral, Bambu Bamboo is their retirement plan and they are doing a magnificent job of it. Even dodgy hot water and ongoing construction work (of Paraty's first Spa, dontcha know) didn't upset us.

Once it transpired that I knew how to turn a computer on - I was commissioned to work for beer.

Paraty itself was quite pretty. They were having a fiesta.

Portugese drainage in Paraty

The church at the bottom of town is one of the images of Brazil - apparently. The last couple of blocks seem to be deliberately flooded at high tide - quite bizarre - perhaps this is an olden-times sewage mechanism. Anyway, it isn't used for that now- it just looks a bit strange having buildings in flooded streets.

Pretty girl, pretty church, flooded street

We met a couple of Brits with their baby daughter and it turned out that they lived in Bolivia and loved the place. They made sure we knew all the sights to see and all the places to go. T did a bit of baby sitting whilst they relaxed and ate a pizza (and I fixed computers).

Apart from the unseasonably cold weather (the pool was freezing) we really enjoyed our time in Paraty and wholly support the Tripadvisor recommendation. We stayed an extra night.