Paraty Party

Catch up time! Leaving Foz we caught our very last overnight bus ride ever, and of course we had to go out with a bang. A strange demographic mix accompanied us; the 90% young Portuguese males slouching in caps and bomber jackets made it feel a little like we were on a bus transferring prisoners. We became suspicious that our thoughts were possibly correct when at one of 3 police road blocks during the night, one guy was called off the bus. He returned, explained something to the passengers/ prisoners, after which the whole bus became increasingly frantic and verbal, while one of the few ladies on the bus came round collecting money from everyone. The only gringo's on the bus (that's us) were ignored while a wad of cash was collected and counted amid chaotic unintelligible shouting, before being delivered to someone outside the bus (presumably he police) and we were finally on the road again. And we were left with an increasingly common thought this trip: "?????????"

After arriving in Sao Paulo in the early morning, 3 hours late, we stepped off the bus like we'd just been granted parole. We caught a bus to Paraty that had a normal mix of people again (what relief) and found a hostel to stay at outside of town and right across the road from the beach, and it sure felt good to see the sea again. The following day we visited nearby, gorgeous Trindade, with huge tropical hills and dramatic rocky shores and blear blue seas, and that afternoon the historic town centre of Paraty which demands photo-taking of every narrow cobbled street, colourful doors and flowers. Watched the cloudy sunset on the beach outside our hostel, thinking about our time in South America, the past 3 and a half months and the 2 days that were left, cheersing this and cheersing that, feeling sad that it is almost over, but getting so excited about the family reunion in Italy just around the corner, it felt almost like a party for 2.