Around Parati

Parati, what to see.

Parati is a beautiful village preserved as it was at the beginning of the century. It was one of the biggest harbor at it's beginning. The tourist season starts a few weeks before christmas. Every owner will re-paint its house, therefore when it's not crowded it's a lovely place. It's not a huge town, take some time to walk on its paved streets. You'll find a multitude of shops quite luxurious.

 

Where to stay.

We found a nice little poussada at the entrance of the village. It's a Belgian who owns it. He speaks at least 5 languages. For us who don't speak any portuguese it was quite nice to have somebody to speak to and who explained us where to take the trails for hiking. The address of the poussada is the following: Pousso Familiar rua J.V. Ramos 262. It's just on the other side of the bus station. The price for the night is not too expensive (25 Reals) and it goes down if you stay several nights.

What to see.

We found a little trail 5 miles away from parati. It's difficult to find the beginning of the trail as it's behind the "zoo". We have been "shocked" to hear after 10 minutes of hike the sound of a lion. Yes, Yes I said a lion, the animal which usually lives in africa and which has big teeth and make a sound like "ROOOAAAAAAAR". Warner Bros, you see! Anyway after 1 hour of walk you reach a small house where an old man is living. He has everything he wants, a pound with fishes, houses, banana trees, corn, wild forest, and a view on the sea 2 hours away by foot. Anyway I would call that paradise. When he saw us he started to speak to us (in portuguese of course). I didn't get a lot, but he was so happy (or maybe surprised) to see somebody around. Thanks to my basic knowledge of spanish, I understood that there was a beautiful waterfall 15 minutes up the trail. And if I understood correctly too, he told us that he did it on a small boat (like a kayak). But I am really not sure of what I caught. You'll find the photos of the waterfall, make your guess.