Orr Fellowship - Brazil (Day 6-8: Sao Paulo --> Paratay, Paraty, and Paratay --> Rio de Janiero)

Oi,


Paraty, RJ

     On Saturday, we checked out of our Sao Paulo hotel to make the 5 hour bus ride to the secluded port of Paratay. No longer used as a primary port of commerce, Paratay underwent a few abandonments in its history. The major boom in Paratay's history was its use as a port during the gold rush in Menas Gerais in the late 1600s. The "Gold Trail" that lead inland from Paratay, made the city the primary port of commerce for export to Portugal for some 60 years. The last abandonment of the town occurred when pirates made the bay nearly impassible, so an alternative "Gold Trail" was forged from the Rio, taking beautiful Paratay off the map. Thankfully in the early 19th century, coffee and sugar cane booms, along with the establishment of a railroad from Rio to Sao Paulo via Paratay, made the city come alive again. Then in the 1970s, the first paved road passed near Paratay, making it a haven for tourists. Nowadays, 95% of the Paratay population relies on the business of tourism.

The blessing of a 50-year anniversary

    After getting in a quick run up the canal to the end of town and back, a handful of us went to mass on Saturday night which began at 7:30. It was a beautiful church, and we were able to enjoy it (for ~1h 45min) even though is was all in Portuguese. The process and prayers were the same, although I was completely lost during the readings, Gospel and homily. There was a lot of clapping, waving and gesturing that we don't see as much at home, but it was standing room only and we even got to see the blessing of a couple's 50-year anniversary, along with [what we thought was] a centenarian's birthday blessing.



NASCAR's race in Richmond
was on TV in the bar

Dancing in the town square

     From church, we exited to a town center full of what I would've called square dancing. It was neat to hear the live banjos, ukuleles and drums fill the streets on our way to dinner. Having had enough Feijoada and other Brazilian food over the last week, we opted for what turned out to be a very good menu of typical bar food. NASCAR was on in the bar (the U.S' FOX Sports broadcast dubbed over in Portuguese). The bartender said NASCAR has become more popular in South America since the emergence of Juan Pablo Montoya (a Columbian IndyCar driver originally) started racing in NASCAR.

 

From L: Mitch, me, Alec, Kevin,
Anthony and Conner

     Being a Saturday night, the town was alive with tourists late into the evening. The sounds of bossa nova (a mix of lively samba and smoother jazz) emanated from most bars. We grouped back up and enjoyed everyone's company over a few liters of Itaipava and Antartica (their domestic, light beers) to finish off the night.

 

     With Saturday night wrapping up early, I got up at a decent hour and got in a great run up and down the canal and around town, finishing up the last mile or two with a couple of other Fellows who awoke a little later to find their daily fitness. After cooling down and grabbing a bite from the hotel breakfast bar, we headed out for our day's activity: a schooner cruise. Boarding the boat in the Bay of Paratay, ours was at the end of the not-so-sturdy dock with all shapes and sizes of vessels along the way. We trotted out to a few different islands and tested the beaches, snorkeled around seeing some neat marine life and had a great lunch on-board. We all begrudgingly returned to port safe and sound, everyone doing remarkably well on the application/re-application of sunscreen knowing we have a lot of sun ahead of us in Rio). As we made our way back to the hotel, there was just shy of a roaring crowd in the town square. There was a gigantic BINGO game happening and it seemed like everyone on in town was there. An emcee would announce over the public address system the selections and the whole crowd would respond wit cheers/boos, making their approval/disheartenment clearly heard. It was a neat sight to see, and we learned that the game was held every Sunday with nearly everyone from the surrounding town making their way to the event.

 

The town-wide BINGO game in the sqare

     The night was spent touring the local artisans, street vendors and shoppes gathering precious (and not-so-precious) souvenirs to take back to the states. Dinner was had at a local microbrew/gastropub with a special of shadow steak sandwiches...and water, which had been a far-neglected choice throughout the day. Obviously many of the Fellows enjoyed the local brews, but none of them quite fit my "domestic, light, and cold" rule of 3.

 

     After packing up Sunday night and checking out Monday morning, we headed out on the road to Rio. It was another 5 hours on the bus which entailed a lot of napping and waking to stopping for road construction. Infrastructure development activity between the large metropolitan/tourist areas of Brazil is in full force with the coming of the World Cup '14 and the Olympics '16.

 

     Making it safe and sound to our hotel on Copacabana Beach (no Manilow, no Lola...) and marveled at the sights: the beautiful beach, mosaic-laden boardwalk, and the sun nearly setting. We had time to familiarize ourselves with the area around the hotel and grab some extra reais (pronounced "HEY-ice") from the ATM before calling it a night from the rooftop bar/pool/cabanas.

 

Obrigado,

Barry