No car in 4 hours we were wet and hungry so we went to buy some food to a supermarket and went back to the gas station, which we considered our home at that point. We were ready to take the expensive bus that would take us to Ivan. The first one arrived and here’s our talk with the driver:

“Tiene espacio en el bus?” “Sí” “Perfecto! Y podemos comprar bilhetes?” “No..”

and he walked away… We were shocked but apparently that’s the way it is as the next bus driver said the same.. Now we were really STUCK.

Kuba has since been asking tired drivers directly where they go and whether they’d take us with them. That didn’t work plus a mid-aged man told me “passeio” was wrong and that we probably mean “carona”, which means can you give us a ride. We were hungry again and decided to cook more food. But then miracle happened and Kuba’s effort was worth it as one driver made up their mind and sent her daughter to tell us they’d take us to Paraty if we don’t mind being squeezed in a small car!!

No party in Paraty

Before we went, Natalie’s mom asked us not to kill them and we were ready to go. We got to Paraty and the girls said they are gonna take us to Angra, but before, they wanted to go cachaça tasting and to a bar .. ok .. it was a shop with hundreds of different bottles of cachaça of different flavours (coconut, corn, goiaba..) and strength (10-50%) and you could try some for free. Of course you are supposed to buy some of them but we are Czech so we didn’t buy anything. After the tasting they told us to meet at their friend’s bar for some music later that night and that we’d go for Rio at 3am. Why not, we didn’t have much of a choice anyway.

We walked through Paraty, a small colonial port town quite similar to Pirenopolis with its old small houses and cobbled streets. We quite liked it despise the rain and being so tired. We found a small restaurant to have dinner - classic brazilian chicken, rice, beans. It was good. We were still half asleep and went to get coffee to stay awake until we meet the girls around 12. They probably saw us as 2 walking zombies and said that if we are tired they are gonna go to Rio now, we said we don’t care but they insisted we go. We were happy to, but felt quite guilty about ruining their night.

Pousasa Rio Bracuhy

We arrived at Ivan’s house around 2am and there was one of his employees. We told him not to wake up Ivan because we were happy to sleep in the restaurant in sleeping bags. He said it’s ok to wake up Ivan, who, half asleep, was so kind to give us a key from one of his rooms at his Pousada. We fell asleep instantly.

We woke up around lunchtime and went to the reception to meet with Ivan, it was still raining. We went to get something to eat and when we got back, Ivan said that we can keep the room instead of sleeping in our tent as it’s raining and there is nobody coming to stay there the next few days. He showed us around and in the evening we talked to other Czechs that were staying there. They told us, as well as the girls in the car, that we absolutely have to visit the Ilha Grande, paradise on earth with beaches, palms, monkeys and a trail to go walk around the island in a week - we were sold! Ivan also told us that it is possible to go see some Indians in the rainforest nearby or to go kayaking on the river that leads to the ocean, where you can paddle around the beautiful small islands.

The next morning we woke up earlier and Ivan lent us the kayaks and we were on our way to the islands. You have to go there when the tide is getting down and get back with the tide up. We had around 4 hours to do this and were able to see some of the closer islands (some of them private, clearly identified by barking bulldogs just so you know…). The landscapes were breathtaking. Looking front, you see an infinity of islands, looking back, you admire the long stretches of white sand, from which green mountains rise rapidly - Brazil’s coast is beautiful. We made it back just in time, both sun-burnt lol.

Kuba was still not feeling great from the beans we had the other day, so instead of going to the Indians, we stayed home :(. We said good bye to Sovadnikovi in the evening as they were going back home and had a last caipirina with them. After they left Ivan invited us to have a dinner with him. It was a Russian dish made Brazilian style and it was really tasty, followed by a few more caipirinas after. We have talked to Ivan for quite some time about how he started living in Brazil 18 years ago and the beginning of his travel business. It was very interesting and around midnight and a lot of caipirinas, we were ready to sleep like babies. Kuba spent a great night feeling food sick, close to the toilet.

Next morning after breakfast, Ivan took us to see local condomínium, a city in a city, surrounded by fence and many security guards. In Brazil, condomíniums are the norm for rich people, who live there. This one had only vacation houses, it was weird, empty. Ivan went golfing and we took a look around the golf course and into jungle to see a waterfall.

Our ferry to Ilha Grande was leaving at half past three and it was 2 when we said goodbye to Ivan and the staff. We needed to buy food for the week as everything is much more expensive on the island (about 2×) and we had to be quick to catch the ferry. We arrived to Angra 4min to ferry’s departure so we stormed to the port and were the last people who made it aboard.