When we finally left Ilha Grande on
31st January we went to Parati. We had thought we would
stay on Ilha Grande for New Years but it wasn't possible. Apparently
all Brazilians go to the coast at New Years and the WHOLE island was
booked out, even the camp sites. So, on we went to Parati and we
were lucky to get beds there!
We hopped on the local bus (something
the bus companies like to pretend you can't do) and 2 and a bit hours
later we were in the Historic Centre of Parati. Old colonial
buildings and crazily cobbled streets. We hit the town for New Years
Eve. There was free (but not great) music on a big stage on the
beach and at midnight they let loose a ton of fireworks. They were
pretty cool, wandered around for a while more and went back to the
hostel at about 2. Very early as the party was continuing on the
streets but Dave had definitely had enough to drink and had is heart
set on sleep, so off to bed it was.
We spent the next few days in Parati,
hoping the weather would be good but there were quite a few drizzly
days and we spent a lot of time watching TV. Which was good, we
hadn't had one for a while. We did get one really nice day though
and a few of us from the hostel went down to the dock and hired a
boat for the day, it took us to a couple of pretty beaches and
allowed us to see, from a distance, some of the houses belonging to
rich people. We also had some really good Thai food in Parati, the
best we've had on our trip so far. Wanted to go back again but it
was well over our budget and so had to settle for pasta and sauce,
again.
When we finally managed to get a bus
ticket out of Parati (not only is it difficult to book hostels, you
also have to book buses in advance) we went to Sao Sebastio to get
the bus to another island – Ilhabela.
