Praia do Sono, Patrimonio and Paraty
Our last ten days in Brazil. From the beach to the rainforest to the city...
As I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts, Sam and I planned very little ahead of this 6 month trip. The only place to stay we booked ahead of time (besides the one in Rio we stayed in with my family) was an Airbnb in Praia do Sono that we stayed in directly after leaving Rio. Since late November, we’ve had our family visiting us. We met up with Sam’s family first, then we had one day alone before meeting up with my family. Knowing ahead of time that we’d have over a month of time with visitors, we wanted to book a relaxing beach getaway after my family left. It is inevitable, when having anyone meet you for a short period while you’re on a long trip, that they’ll want to fill up their short trip with busy days. For us, given that traveling is our everyday, we need a day every once in a while to rest. It was so much fun exploring with our families, but having over a month of no rest days was bound to catch up with us. That’s why, back in July, we booked a 4 night stay in a small beach village that you can access only by boat or by foot. This village, called Praia do Sono, is outside the city of Paraty, which has a town center about 125 miles south of Rio. When we arrived in Praia do Sono around sunset, the power was out in the whole beach village. This was because of a rainstorm that started a few hours earlier, or so we thought. In the days following, the village lost power at least once a day, whether it was windy or raining or even sunny. While not having WiFi to connect with the host or tell people we’d arrived safely the first night was a bit jarring, we grew very comfortable with losing access to lights, the fan, WiFi, etc. Our stay in Praia do Sono was exactly as I had envisioned it. The first full day, I took a four hour nap. We cooked the food we carried in and ate out the rest of the time. We read and played card games. We swam a lot and ran and walked on the beach. We laid in the hammock on the front porch of our little beach shack and did the New York Times crossword. We hiked to another nearby beach. We were the only native English speakers, and practically the only people who spoke English (this proved slightly difficult with our limited Portuguese, no service, and WiFi only about half the time). Although we mostly kept to ourselves (as did other people on their relaxing beach getaway), we made friends with a couple of people, including Paulo who worked at the restaurant (called Villa Caiçara) that we went to basically everyday we were in Praia do Sono. Paulo taught us some Portuguese, and we taught him some English. The only other restaurant we went to in Praia do Sono was in a family’s home and they served the most delicious açaí bowls that we had as dessert a few nights (topped with condensed milk, powdered milk and a traditional Brazilian treat called Paçoca - I know it sounds weird but it was really good). It rained on and off throughout the time we were there, which actually added to the magic of it all. It’s hard for us (as Americans who grew up in a capitalist society) to slow down sometimes. Even on this trip that is a break from everyday life, it’s so easy to feel like you always need to be doing something. The rain made it so that sometimes we just had to stay inside our little Airbnb and do nothing. It made it so that our getaway we planned to rest and reset actually was a time to rest and reset.
The next part of our time in this part of Brazil was in a rainforest hostel called Radical Adventure Eco Hostel in Patrimonio (also outside of the city of Paraty, about eight miles from Praia do Sono). On Wednesday January 8th, we checked out of our Praia do Sono Airbnb, headed to Villa Caiçara for breakfast and to say goodbye to Paulo, and started the 2 mile hike out of Praia do Sono. Since we had taken the boat into Praia do Sono, we didn’t know what quite to expect. The hike was hilly and muddy and filled with locals coming into Praia do Sono for the day. It was Sam and I’s first hike since Patagonia where we had our full packs. You tend to forget how much harder it is to hike with forty pounds on your back. As if by magic, there was a public bus waiting at the end of the hike that was heading to Patrimonio. While we knew that there were public buses around the city of Paraty that we could take, we had no idea where we could pick it up from or when it was scheduled to go to Patrimonio. We were planning on trying to find the bus and, if we were unsuccessful, just walking the six miles to the rainforest hostel. We were very glad that didn’t end up being the case, because the bus ride itself was uphill up a windy road with no sidewalks. The bus dropped us off at Patrimonio town square twenty minutes later, and we began our trek up another hill to the hostel. The whole walk was about two and a half miles up a gravel road with limited signage. Since the hostel’s location wasn’t on the map, we relied on the two locals we saw along the way to direct us to the right place. Fortunately, with the kindness of strangers and our limited Portuguese, we made it to the hostel. Even more fortunately, two minutes after we walked into the hostel, it started down pouring and didn’t stop until the next day. After a day of walking up hills with our backpacks, we were glad to play cards inside for the rest of the day. We’ll explore tomorrow, we said to each other. Or so we thought. On Thursday, we both woke up with our second bout this trip of some sort of stomach issue. To this day we don’t know whether it was something we ate or maybe a bad reaction to the water at the rainforest hostel. Regardless, it knocked us out for Thursday and killed our hopes of exploring. Thankfully, we woke up on Friday feeling well enough to adventure. Sebastian, the owner of the hostel, offers the travelers staying at his hostel day trips to local nature spots. He went around the night prior asking who is interested. “10 people max“ turned into 12 people turned into 14 people the next morning stuffed into the van. I sat on Sam’s lap in the front seat, while one of the Australians sat facing backwards on the front middle console. 3 people in the second row and 6 people on the benches that lined the back of this old Land Rover. At one point we drove past a police officer. Everyone in the car went silent and Sam and I - attempted to - duck. We all laughed as we realized the police officer could actually not care less. The day was one of the best we’ve had on this trip. Not only did we get to hike to a waterfall, go to a beach and play volleyball all together while we waited for our food to be ready, hike to another secluded beach, and end with a stop at yet another waterfall, all in an eight hour period; but we got to spend it with incredible and fun people. Natalie and Mina are two Norwegians living in Buenos Aires for the year. Zoe lives in Amsterdam but sublet her apartment for two months to travel around Brazil. Eddie is a Brit who just moved to Rio. Four Australians, two of which were dating and the other two were friends of the couple, are in the middle of their eight month trip around South America. One girl from Colorado and another girl from Turkey (whose names I’m not remembering) were traveling in Brazil during their vacation from college. To have new experiences with people you just met in a country that is foreign to everybody brings about a special kind of closeness. On the drive back from the final waterfall, the sun was setting, the windows were all down, the speakers blasting with music, and all felt right in the world. As we arrive at the town square about two miles and a half miles from the hostel, Sebastian slows down the car, gets out and jogs over to a young woman holding a backpackers backpack and seemingly waiting for a ride. Everyone in the car looks around at each other, confused where this extra person is going to fit. When Sebastian brings her and her pack over to the car, it’s clear that somehow this woman is going to fit in the car. I thought Sam was joking when he offered to go on the roof of the car, but Sebastian thanks him as Sam gets out and starts climbing up on the roof. I, partially not wanting to miss out on the fun and partially not wanting to sit on this young woman’s lap (if she was to take Sam’s spot in the car…), climb right up behind Sam and get on the roof. And off we went, up the gravel hill, Sam and I sitting on the bars that cross over the top of this van and holding on for dear life, with me yelling “duck!“ to Sam every time a low hanging branch was near. We could not stop laughing at the ridiculousness of it all.
As Sam put perfectly, the top priority for business owners in Brazil is, seemingly, providing “vibes”. Sebastian so clearly has opened up his ideal place to hang out. The shared space of the hostel is open air so that you are immersed with the jungle as sit and eat or lounge on the couches. Chickens, two dogs, and one cat moving between the fluid inside and outside space. The kitchen and dining area is also the area that has little gym setup with weights and pull up bars. There’s a table with homemade treats, jars of homemade jam and other nondescript items, bracelets and other handcrafted jewelry for sale. There were containers filled with mushrooms immersed in liquid along with other homemade drugs for sale. Sebastian clearly hired people who share his vision and love of life and music. Every morning around 8AM when breakfast is ready, Sebastian, a few other hostel staff, and whichever guests are awake and willing, play bongos to wake everyone up. Sam asked one of the hostel staff on Friday if he was joining us on our day trip adventure with Sebastian. He looked confused as he shook his head no. “What are you planning on doing today?“ Sam asked, to which he responded, in his limited English: “bongos, man.“ Sebastian’s laid back vibes were apparent until the very last minute we left - when he informed us (at 9:15AM) that the 10:30AM shuttle into Patrimonio center would be at 9:30AM. And this is how we left the beautiful Radial Adventure Eco Hostel and the people that came along with it - in a series of quick goodbyes and shoving our stuff into our bags - so we could make our way to Paraty for the last leg of our time in Brazil.
It only made sense to end out these past ten days in the city, after experiencing both the beach and the jungle. The small luxuries you may forget of being able to go to grocery stores or to not find lizards in the space you’re staying in are even more appreciated. While we missed the hostel, Sam and I have consistently found a balance in being sad to leave a place while also relishing in the beauty of a new place. How lucky are we to have such beautiful places to go to when we leave behind another beautiful place. The next two days were spent exploring the cobblestone streets of this Greece/Portugal-like old waterfront town of Paraty. The thing about Brazil that was different than Argentina and even Chile was that the prices were so low that you could really try a lot of different foods and experiences on a budget. Sam and I got a fancy 50-minute deep tissue massage for $40 USD with tip. We had our first “date night” since starting our trip and spent about $115 USD on a meal that would’ve been about $500 USD in New York City. With our trip budget as a constraint, we definitely appreciate the places where our daily budget can get us a lot. I definitely recommend a visit to Paraty for people looking to get a small city and beach experience all in one. I also recommend Praia do Sono and the hostel we stayed in in Patrimonio, but only for the more adventurous types.
This sadly concludes our time in South America and therefore my last blog post about South America. I wish we had more time, but I know I will definitely be back to Argentina, Brazil, and Chile, and to other countries including Colombia and Bolivia. The next leg of the adventure will be fun too - starting with Portugal, then to Spain and Morocco then over to Eastern Europe!
xoxo
Best one yet - and that is saying ALOT! Love you - safe flight and hugs to Grandma a d Grandpa when you arrive.
So much fun.