After leaving Ouro Preto I jumped on a bus to Rio to meet with Annika and once again hit the beach...
It's probably the slowest journey in the world but I finally reached Rio in the afternoon. Resigned to settling in and waiting for the night bus to Ubatuba I started to look for a pleasant enough spot to while away the hours. In that very moment I run into Annika who also just arrived and we decided to hit Copacabana for some caipirinhas whilst watching the sunset. Even more amazingly as soon as we sat down with our drinks Annika run into some of her friends from Argentina who also happened to be a music troupe... Few drinks later we had to dash to the bus station as the beach was waiting for us.
We got to Ubatuba at 4.30am - not the most pleasant hour. We tried to wait for a non existing taxi but after attracting attention of some local winos we decided that walking to our pousada will be a better idea. We were lucky to meet a really lovely guy (whose name I of course forgot) who walked us all the way there... We then settled in on the porch and waited for the owners to wake up :)
After that it was mainly sun, sea and relaxation. Since the beaches are quite far and some of us didn't really like walking we made a lot friends hitch hiking. I think the greatest achievement was made by Annika who hitch hiked back with a pizza with police officers but there were lifeguards, long distance buses, random beach goers, ladies who live in millioner mansion, a truck...
It was really fun to catch up with Annika and have some company from 'home' after a few weeks on my own. We also had the very perfect weather with sun blasting every single day (not guaranteed in Ubatuba).
Once again I was blown away by the beauty of the place. You never get enough of the beaches, they are so different and beautiful and each has a different vibe.
Our friend Jean (a local) kindly took us for a ride around beaches not that easily accessible by bus as well as waterfalls and a visit to a local Kilombo. The Fazenda beach is probably one of the most striking ones around there.
Annika left me after 5 days but I decided to stay on and pretty much continued the pattern: beach during the day and then dinner and drinks with guys at pousada.
One day I got the bike and went South to the further away beach of Lazaro - in theory a short 15km ride, but I kind of forgot that I am following a coastline that is covered by mountains... There were some tough moments but it was worth the journey.
Ubatuba is such an easy place to make friends that I did not feel alone for one sec. At all times there was someone offering me rides, beer, dinner. I even got to use the pool in the hotel next door :)
Not to mention the wonderful and always so helpful guys of Refugio d'Mar...The perfect pousada right on the beach front.
I also got to train some capoeira. It was hard after 2 week break and I also stumbled upon a bit of event of the school with guest mestre taking the class so of course as a visitor from a different country and school I had to play with all... It was awesome but have to say that I was in a bit of pain next morning.
So of course I stayed longer than I planned to. Only decided to make a move when realised that the carnival is starting in a day and my pousada is fully booked so I NEED to get out.
Ubatuba, once again, did not disappoint. I can see myself going back there again. There is still so many places I haven't seen. Maybe I'll go fishing at sunrise next time...
