Amazonia part 2 and Paraty

Amazonia, April 2019

So my forest comrades had set off back to Manaus, and I was still in the Amazon jungle. My new companions were a young Israeli man and a Serbian couple who live in London, but they weren't in the same league as the friends who had just departed. This was the 'local homestay' part of the trip, and unfortunately it was the worst part of the whole holiday.

The local house we were to stay in turned out to be the home of one of Moses's brothers and his family. We were first taken to a local bar - not so much for our benefit I suspect, but because it was Saturday afternoon and Moses got to hang out with his mates. There was a football game going on which was joined by our football-mad Israeli, and it was interesting for a while to see people gathering, having a drink, there was a barber there cutting hair and I could glean a little from the TV in the background. But we were left there for a good deal too long before going back to the house for supper, which was chicken and rice again, and nice enough. There was virtually no interaction with the host family, however.

We were back sleeping in hammocks, but this time inside the house. By 7.30 p.m. it was dark, and Moses left us with a cheery wave and 'see you in the morning'. There were no chairs, and with no time to get to know one another I made a bit of an effort at conversation, but the other three didn't seem to want to chat, and the electric light went off at 8.30 p.m. After this second experience in a hammock I joined the dots - literally - and realised that my bites weren't necessarily from mosquitoes. Altogether I was glad to get back to the lodge for breakfast, even though it was now raining.

The next trip was to a local centre that contained the school that Moses had attended, which he said contained about 225 pupils, a shop, a doctor's surgery, a dentist and two churches. It was Sunday so the school was closed, there was a service going on in one of the churches, and there wasn't much else to see. After lunch the four of us went on another boat trip with Moses and saw more monkeys, birds and a quick glimpse of a snake before it plopped into the water. Despite the rain it was a three-shower day for me - I was hot, sticky, itchy, and yearning for a comfortable place to sit. I really would have been happy to go home there and then, but there was one trip more next day.

This time I went out into the forest with a different guide plus three Russians. Although we covered much the same ground as with Moses and saw many of the same things, there were still new experiences and lots to see. My main regret through the whole trip was not to have binoculars - the bird life was spectacular - and next time I'd take a cushion.

The trip back to Manaus was quick and efficient, and although this time it wasn't raining I still couldn't get a decent view of the Encontro das Aguas. Back at the hostel (soft chairs! bliss!) they let me hang out for a small fee to use the facilities because the flight back to Rio was at 2 a.m. I showered, repacked, went for a wander and bought some provisions for the flight, and was inundated by everyone's photos now that I was back in range of wifi. Ina and the unnamed Italian were still around so we chatted, and then the hostel called me an Uber and I was off to the airport. The driver was a P.E. teacher by day and driver by night - we couldn't communicate much but I can now add Uber to the list of transport options during the fortnight's holiday.

The next 15 hours or so were spent on the move. First the flight from Manaus to Rio with a transfer in Brasilia. Then I took a taxi from the airport to the busy and confusing coach station, where at least twenty different bus companies were offering tickets to various destinations, and where the maximum cocoa content of the chocolate in the sweet shop was 40%. Brazil's mass market chocolate really isn't much good considering that they grow their own cocoa beans. From the coach station it was a four and a half hour journey to Paraty in a comfortable air-conditioned bus. I was met at the bus station by T, my friend from school days.

Souvenir soup

We went for a short walk around the town before T said he needed to buy a few provisions and was it all right if we stopped at a supermarket? He had no idea what he was letting himself in for, and after I'd pestered him to death about all the unfamiliar fresh produce he excused himself and escaped outside to make a few calls while I continued to browse the shelves, adding a few more interesting soups to my previous haul. Then we drove back to his house, which was about 30 minutes out of town up the mountain. T was very pleased to receive my gifts of Branston pickle, Piccalilli and Heinz Sandwich Spread, and I was very pleased not to be carrying them in my rucksack any more.

Watching birds from the balcony

I went to bed early and slept late, relishing the comfortable bed and slightly lower temperatures, even though it was still very humid and not sunny. I'd hoped to do a bit of laundry, but it would never have dried and I didn't fancy wearing or returning home with damp clothes. We didn't do much that day or the next except chat, mostly about Trump, Assange, Bolsonaro and Brexit. T isn't planning to come back to Britain, but despite this he is extremely vocal about the state of the UK and its government and politics. I sat on the balcony overlooking the Atlantic forest, watched the birds and meditated a little.

Watching other birds from the balcony

T drove me to a local restaurant with a huge garden where I begged for a salad, after which we shared the traditional Brazilian dish feijoada, which is a bean stew with pork and beef in it, eaten in this case with rice and kale. It was delicious, but afterwards I found I was completely unable to eat anything else that evening or for the whole of the next day. It might have just been a reaction to the stress I'd put my body through. In the Amazon particularly I had been finding the heat, humidity and itching from the bites almost unbearable, as well as the discomfort of sitting on hard seats with no backs all the time.

I felt a bit more robust on Friday, and T had things to do, so I took a local bus into Paraty and joined a guided tour, where I was the only participant. The town was settled by the Portuguese in the 16th century, and prospered when it found itself on the route for export of gold that had been discovered further inland. When the gold started being exported via an alternative route Paraty continued to handle coffee and slaves, but today the historical town centre is preserved and the main trade is tourism and production of the local cachaça spirit. I wandered around a bit and found my first chocolate shop that had what I would describe as a decent selection, before catching the bus back to T's house.

Paraty house

That was the end of the trip bar the 24 hours it took to get home: T took me to the bus station for the coach back to Rio, I found a local bus from the bus station to the airport, and spent some of my remaining local currency in the airport on the most overpriced sandwich I think I've ever had. I couldn't sleep at all on the long trans-Atlantic flight and managed less than an hour during the 5-hour stopover in Paris. From Birmingham I caught the train home and walked from the station. It was freezing! And how welcome that was!

I was happy with how much I'd seen in two weeks in such an enormous country. There is plenty more if I should choose to go back - a notable landmark I chose not to visit is the Iguaçu Falls, on the border with Argentina and apparently more impressive than Niagara. The Pantanal wetlands in the south-west holds an enormous variety of wildlife, the historic towns of Recife and Salvador on the north-east coast sound interesting, and there's always Fortaleza where I have been offered a homestay, and the cities of Brasilia and Sao Paolo. Now that I've had the nasty yellow fever vaccination I ought to make the most of it. We'll see.

I haven't got any better at taking selfies