Brazilian Babymoon II

M 7.15.13 cont'd

• here starts my favorite part of our trip:
• Vivenda Paraty
• aka: paradise

let me just say that the smell of essential oils when entering the room was a nice touch...not to mention the robes on the bed that I gladly wore to breakfast on the patio each morning...really makes you feel at home!

• we found this place on TripAdvisor...currently ranked #1 for Paraty B&B and Inns, it's also the 2013 Travelers' Choice Winner

• when taking a look at this place online, my thoughts immediately went back to our stay in Salta, at Finca Valentina
• and I knew we had to try to stay there

• and the thing is, the rates were affordable!
• of course not the cheapest place we could've stayed, but not so outrageous that we couldn't make it work
• so we compromised on staying here three out of the six nights in Brazil

• we realized at this point that we're getting old...no longer are we completely ok with staying in hostels or the cheapest place in town...depending on the type of vacation, accommodations can be VERY important...
• since this was more of a relaxing-focused trip, rather than site-seeing-heavy trip...we went with some nicer places

• so that's what we did...the rest of the late morning/early afternoon...we relaxed by the pool, soaked in the sun, enjoyed some (more) fresh juice...

Jake doing his best Cristo Redentor in the pool

• then went to a café on the corner for a late lunch
• Jake and I shared an appetizer (bruschetta) and a main dish (fish, veggies and rice)...the veggies were nothing special, but the meal hit the spot for a light lunch

• my goal was to get back to the pool for a bit more time in the sun...unfortunately the sun goes down around 5:30/6pm each night...which seemed super early, but it is their "winter" right now...plus clouds were starting to roll in
• so we freshened up and walked our way into town to explore the colonial center a bit

• Paraty (pronounced par-a-chee) is a Portuguese colonial town (colonized in 1667) located 150 miles south of Rio
• the historic downtown area is well-preserved...they've really done a nice job revamping a lot of the older buildings
• you can't really tell in these photos, but the cobblestone was impossible...I felt like the baby was jumbling around in there with my extreme cobblestone-pregnant-waddle...would never have lasted in heels!

• one interesting thing we saw each night rolling down the cobblestone streets, were lit-up carts that looked like this:

• which were filled with an array of traditional Brazilian desserts
• surprisingly, we never ended up buying anything...I was too focused on the ice cream shops in town

• for dinner, we were attracted to a Thai place, Thai Brasil...recommended both online and by Vivenda's owner, John
• each table inside the restaurant was artfully decorated by theme:

• we chose the zebra table

• Thai food can be hard to come by in BA...plus it's expensive
• the menus wasn't necessarily cheap here either, but the food was good

• I went for a veggie green curry with rice

• and Jake got his go-to Pad Thai...but this one came with shrimp and more veggies and less noodles than usual

• back to desserts...we tried the ice cream at Miracolo's...also recommended by John who said the ice cream is homemade by the Italian owner...was delicious but a bit pricey...cones were equivalent to about US$4 each

here's a better look at those cobblestones!

• after another loop around the downtown, we strolled back to our hotel
• another great thing to note about Vivenda was its extensive DVD list
• John has a detailed list of his DVD library available to guests...he must've had close to 1,000 on there!
• so we snuggled up in our cozy beds and fell asleep to a little Pink Panther
• very nice touch, John! really made us feel at home

Tu 7.16.13

• are you ready for this? the most amazing hotel breakfast ever?

• that's right...each morning on the patio, we woke up to this setting

• fresh coffee, juice, fruit, yogurt topped with honey and granola, and an assortment of bread with deli meats, cheese, jam and butter

• cute butter holder (that's for you, mom)

• fresh, made-to-order eggs

• and each morning, there was a little surprise item...this morning we had tasty plantains with cinnamon

• after we leisurely made our way through breakfast, we packed up and went to the bus station to catch the 11am bus to Trindade (pronounced Trin-da-jee), a town about 20 miles south of Paraty that is known for its beaches
• we knew the weather wasn't supposed to be great today, but we kind of thought we'd rather save the nicer day for a boat tour
• so we took the ~1 hour roller-coaster-ride-like bus ride through small towns, up and down hills, and through rain forests to reach Trindade 
• after walking around the area and scoping out a few beaches, we finally settled on hiking our way...

• ...to this one, which was in the direction of the trail that led to some wading pools

• we relaxed here a bit...saw a few peeks of sunshine...and met a little furry friend who kept us company for a few minutes before realizing we weren't going to feed him

reading up on how to be a mom....haha, HELP!

• then we hiked on to see what these wading pools were all about

lots of lush vegetation to enjoy

• we arrived, to what could be a super cool area on a warm sunny day...but as you can see, we weren't exactly lucky with the weather

• and on one of my first steps in the water, I managed to hit my shin on a rock, causing a nice, bloody mini-gash...so I opted to chill on a rock while Jake took a dip

• on the hike back, Jake spotted these cool leaves...which were pinkish/purple and pretty striped green on the other...reminded me of our wedding colors

• still dreary, and now starting to mist...plus realizing we wouldn't be making it back for the 5pm bus...

• ...we decided to pull up to a little seaside restaurant to get a "snack"
• well the fry platter was bigger than we thought, and we didn't know the beans came with salad and a huge portion of rice!  oh well...it all tasted amazing

• our 6pm bus ride back into Paraty was pitch dark and just as windy as the way there
• we got in close to 7:30pm...and not feeling so hungry and not wanting to walk back into town later for dinner, we picked up a small pizza and a few movie snacks (gummies - yum! and terrible popcorn made by some guy at the bus station)
• we cozied up in our little guest suite, this time with Breakfast at Tiffany's and our movie snacks...another great day!