Paraty 23032011 Wednesday
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Lagoa Verde.A sunny day and no wind. Lars is coughing better but still has a way to go. After breakfast Thomas and I don the snorkelling gear and set off to explore the shoreline. The rocks are covered in multi-coloured corals and a are nursery for hundreds of small fish as well as Sea Urchins and Star fish. Formations of iredecent Squid swim past followed by shoals of larger fish from the depths. A Turtle rises lazily to the surface take a breath of air before sinking down to resume his travels. In the pink seaweed, a Sea Horse drifts along in the current then anchors itself by its tail and small brilliantly coloured Damsel fish nibble their way along the coral. After a couple of hours we return the Yacht, a beer and Lunch then off again this time to the distant mainland town of all doors and few windows.
Cobbled streets View from the dock The Portugese arrived in the 16th Century and the town became an important port of call for slavers who’s cargoes were sent off to the plantations with
the ships reloaded with gold and gemstones for the return trip to
The street are crudely cobbled with large rounded undressed stones, making for and ankle breaking very irregular surface and the rows of houses and shops are raised some few feet above road level as at spring tides the roads are often flooded. This flooding was used to clean the streets and as a sanitation system. The bay is very shallow and we had some difficulty getting ashore that evening as there were no steps on the Jetty and we ended up running aground before climbing the wall.
The town was very lively with lots of Shops Restaurants and music coming from various groups playing in the Bars. After a wander around and up to the village square we settled on a very crowded restaurant and dined. Lobster for Thomas as well as a steak the size of the dinner plate for Lars.
After we stopped in on one of the music bars offering Caiprihinas at a discounted rate only to discover on our bill that this bargain was annulled by the “Music” charge! . |
