Itinerary | Buenos
Aires | Buenos Aires (2) | Montevideo | Punta
Del Este | Day at Sea | Itajai | Santos |
Paraty | Rio
de Janeiro
Today we pulled into Paraty, Brazil. On the
schedule for today was to go horseback riding in the rainforest.
As it
turned out, we did quite a bit more than that! We were told
to wear comfortable walking shoes (not sandals). I knew that
I should
wear long pants to go horseback riding, so I put on my swim
trunks, then put on long khaki pants over those (they were
an old pair
that I didn't care about). I put on an old t-shirt and the
visor that we were given earlier in the trip. On the way out,
I grabbed
a towel from the bathroom to use to mop off my face. It was
hot and I knew I'd be sweating buckets. I took my backpack
with me and loaded it with water bottles and my camera. I
felt
pretty prepared for the day! |
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Left: We arrived at the pier on one of
the ship's tenders. It was a pretty long trip in as the ship
was anchored WAY off shore.
Right: With the help of my digital zoom, you can see the ship.
The second tender is loading up with additional passengers
to bring to the pier.
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These pictures are of the town of Paraty.
This is the historic district where cars are not allowed.
The buildings are painted with colorful geometric designs that
I
used to decorate this page a little. It was HOT today. I was
already damp with sweat.
There were some shops open where people bought some souvenirs
and food to munch on as we walked around.
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Left: A church that you can see from the
boat as it pulls into the harbor.
Right: Will found a friend and started up a conversation!
He's so social!
After our city tour, we hopped into a van and
were whisked away to go for our ride through the rainforest
on horseback. The van was a welcome respite from the heat and
humidity. I just LOVE air conditioning!
About 40 minutes or so go by as we drive through
the Brazilian countryside. We arrive at a ranch where we get
out of the van and congregate in what looks like an office.
Our driver/guide only speaks Portuguese, so communication was
...um ...interesting.
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Arriving at the ranch, we used the time to
take advantage of the bathroom and grab some water. It was a
working ranch. These people made basically everything they used.
The guide is the guy in the cargo pants and blue shirt. He's
signaling to us that he's going to go check on the horses. |
Click to see her reaction after mounting the
horse!
Mom got on her horse first and then I was escorted
to mine. I'm pretty sure the horse was thinking, "Oh crap
...I have to carry THAT around?!?" |
My ride ...a.k.a. Piggy
I made sure to pet Piggy and reassure the beast
that I would do my best to make the experience as painless as
possible. I'm not sure I was believed! |
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Once everyone was matched up with a steed, we
were off into the forest. As we progressed into the forest,
our guide
stopped us every few minutes to point out some of the hazardous
plants that we need to watch out for in order to avoid getting
serious cuts or rashes. We walked uphill to this spot on
the left where we dismounted, tied the horses, and climbed
down a
45 degree angle slope to reach the waterfall area.
As you can see, the area is exceptionally lush. Interestingly,
it wasn't very buggy here. There were some insects, but not
a lot. Climbing down to the water was an interesting experience.
Certainly not OSHA approved. It was more like a controlled
fall. |
Right: It's a beautiful place.
Seconds after arriving, people started removing clothes to
go dip in the water.
You can
see some of the clothes on the right in the picture.
There is a natural water slide that was formed in this waterfall
area. Our guide went to the spot where it starts and showed us
how to slide down it. Being the most adventurous among us,
Will was the first to try it out. I took a video
of him that
you can view. (Clicking the link should open up the 6.5 MB AVI
video file in your computer's default player.) Mom did it next.
I got a video of that too, but I don't want her to rip off something
I'll need later, so I'll keep that to myself. ;-) |
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Left: The pool at the end of the slide. It was wonderfully
cool water and it seemed pretty clean. I cooled off and then
tried to let myself air dry before we had to move on.
Right: Here you see the steep slope we had to climb to get
down to the waterfall. It's even trickier going uphill!
We all got back on our horses and headed back down the trail.
As we approached the fork in the path leading back to the ranch,
we made a right (we had to coax our tired, sweaty horses) and
continued on a path through the rainforest. |
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Left: We stopped at one point to let the
horses rest and to look out over the valley. From where I was
in the group, I couldn't see too much, but what I did see was
pretty majestic.
Right: We're going through a river. That's me with Piggy in
the river. By now, you're probably wondering why I call my
horse Piggy. Well, every 50 meters or so, Piggy would snatch
something to eat. We had an understanding: I would allow as
much eating as required, but only if we kept up with the group
and I didn't get thrown off! It was a good agreement.
Below are some more pictures of mom on her (high)
horse. ;-)
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This area was like an all-you-can-eat buffet for Piggy. |
Left: At one point, we left the rainforest and walked through
the pasture area where the rancher had other horses, cattle,
and other livestock out in herds.
Right: As we continued on, the pasture was a bit more trimmed
down and the ranchers demonstrated how they herded the cattle
with the help of two dogs that accompanied us. Here, you see
us watching from a distance.
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We got back to the ranch where we dismounted and
tied down the horses. I said thank you and goodbye to Piggy before
making a dash for the air-conditioned van waiting for us. I had
to get out and take part in the group picture, but I'm not posting
that on here since I looked like someone just kicked the crap
out of me. I was soooo tired and the sun was in my eyes. I can
only imagine what poor Piggy went through.
When we got back to the city, I peeled off my pants so I could
walk around in my swim trunks. What a relief that was! Mom and
I were both tired and ready to head back to the ship. However,
on the way back we saw our shipmates on a rented schooner at
the dock. Apparently a large number of people who signed up for
the schooner excursion decided to stay in town and drink the
local beverage (more on that later). They opted not to go,
so there
was plenty of room left for anyone else who felt like changing
their plans. Mom and I decided that we better pack as much as
we could into the day, so we got on the boat. |
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You can see that this is a good sized ship.
That's Dany explaining to the captain what we want to see and
do. Dany made sure that everyone was comfortable and offered
to get us drinks on the boat. We were served sliced fruit throughout
the voyage. You can see mango slices (some of the best I've ever
put in my mouth!) on the table in the picture on the left.
On the right, you see my mom and Kim's dad relaxing as we
pull out of the harbor.
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I was so exhausted, I took a little nap (like 10
minutes or so) on the roof of the cabin. There were pads there
so it was pretty comfortable and the breeze felt GREAT. It was
just what I needed. When I finally opened my eyes, I felt far
better, but a bit hungry, so I helped myself to more mango. That
stuff was SO sweet!
We passed by several very cool houses and a restaurant on
an island. I was told that this area has 365 islands, some of
which are for sale. People have built houses along the coast
and on some of the islands that we passed. They looked very peaceful.
I took a photo of one of the houses on the right.
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I saw Dany drinking something that looked like
a Mojito, so I asked about it. It's the local adult beverage
of choice for Paraty. It's made with sugar cane liquor, some
sugar, cut up limes (and juice) and ice. The mixture is smashed
together to create this drink. The first thing you taste is
the sour lime flavor. It makes you pucker up! Moments later,
you
taste the sweet alcohol that forms the base of the drink. As
you drink more of these (I had two), you get used to the sour
lime flavor and the sweetness of the sugar cane liquor comes
through. It's simply delicious! I can see why some of the people
decided not to leave their bar stools.
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Refreshed, I looked forward to the rest of the trip. At the
first stop, I decided to stay on the boat and take pictures.
I let mom get in the water and go for a swim. Dany got us some
snorkel equipment and showed mom how to use it before helping
her get it seated on her face properly. She had a blast! I'm
glad I stayed and got photos! |
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| We made a total of three stops. At the second stop,
I got out of the boat with mom and did some snorkeling myself.
It was a lot of fun! I saw some very colorful fish, plants, rock
formations, and other stuff. It felt good being in the water
again and swimming helped stretch out some of my muscles that
had stiffened up from the horse riding. |
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Kim's mom and dad got out of the boat
and went for a swim. They both said they had a great time
out in the water. Since he couldn't be there, I figured I'd get
a picture of them smiling when they thought nobody was looking.
:-) |
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After witnessing an amazing docking procedure on
the schooner, we got off one boat and back onto another: the
tender. Our timing was perfect as we didn't have to wait. We
were all tired and ready to go get cleaned up. This evening's
dress code required we dress up a bit, so mom and I decided to
simply order room service. You get to order off of the same menu
and you get all the food at once. No waiting. It was perfect.
The food was just as amazing as it was in the restaurant, but
we could eat in our robes while we watched TV. Can't ask for
anything more. As for what we ate, I didn't take any notes. Basically,
we ordered one of everything and stuffed ourselves silly. To
help the food settle, we enjoyed some of the alcohol that was
in our room.
We were so tired, we slept almost as soon as our heads hit
the pillow. |
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