Picture Perfect Paraty

A few weeks ago, my study abroad program took us on our final trip: to Paraty, a historic town a few hours away from Rio. It’s a teeny tiny town that was founded by the Portuguese in the 17th century as a port for the gold trade. Now, it’s a tourist destination for honeymooners and groups of senior citizens who like quaint towns with cobblestone streets.

While adorable, these cobblestone streets are painful to walk on and you have to constantly watch your feet. The town also floods with water every time there’s a full moon, because it’s right on the coast.

These cute little restaurants make up for Paraty’s few faults. After taking a historic tour of the city center, we ate Thai and marvelled at the city all lit up at night.

This is the oldest church in Paraty, founded in 1722. Only free white men could attend. According to our guide, the wives of the white plantation owners had to stay at home while their husbands went off on business trips, but they later built themselves a church so they could socialize (aka gossip and play bridge).

The next morning, we woke up bright and early to take a boat tour of the surrounding islands. 

Click below to see pretty photos of boats, boys jumping off waterfalls, and cachaça factories!

I loved the port and all the colorful boats. 

Especially this reggae boat:

We spent the whole day on the boat, taking brief stops at islands along the way to snorkel for fish, lay on the sand, and marvel at the turquoise water.

Pretty, pretty water. Unfortunately I forgot to put sunscreen on my front and when I woke up from my nap on the boat, I had a lovely lobster tan line around my bikini.

After the boat tour, we headed back into town and went to the strangest puppet show I’ve ever experienced. 

The directors moved the puppets with their hands, there were no words or music, and the puppets committed suicide and had a miscarriage. Apparently this puppet show won awards in New York.

The next morning, we took a jeep tour of the waterfalls nearby. Mark and Erica demonstrate:

The third waterfall was a huge rock that you could slide down on your bottom or, if you have skills, surf standing up.

Finally, we finished off with a trip to the cachaça factory.

Cachaça is a sugarcane liquor that’s used to make the most famous drink of Brazil: caipirinhas. 

And that concludes my trip to Paraty. I am now back in America, where it is cold and Christmas-y. And wonderful.