South America, Day Twelve: We Are Sailing

After a well deserved lazy start and breakfast, the morning was spent with a little bit of housekeeping including booking a bus ride out to our next destination for the next day. I felt a little sad as I booked the seats but happy enough that I got to stay in Paraty at all.


The plan was to catch a boat to explore the sea around the port. As usual, the sky was overcast but the sun did come out at times and was well received when it did. For a boat trip it was relatively unoriginal, and all the standard boxes were ticked; we moored a couple of times, we visited a few islands and we took lunch on the boat while being entertained by live music.


There really is not much like diving off a boat and into the open sea, and I feel real sympathy for those who feel uncomfortable with water enough to prefer remaining dry on deck. I even managed to snorkel with the equipment loaned to me by some new Argentine friends we had met on the trip (I forgot how many I had collected by that point). And best of all? The boat trip was damned cheap, even when I considered the hidden costs (although I did enjoy the music much more once we were told we had to pay the musician).


On our return we experienced first hand a unique quirk of Paraty: how it gets flooded for a few days of the month (during the full moon to be precise). It was a little odd to see but fun nonetheless.


After having a shower back at the pousada, I spent the rest of the day exploring Paraty further, including checking out the beach and fort. These were both nothing special in themselves, but they both definitely added to the charm of the town. While waiting for a theatre show I had booked that evening I even managed to chill in a hotel bar for an hour reading a book, playing DS and people watching, a holiday activity of mine that I had yet to do in the last twelve days.


My final thought on Paraty? It was totally wasted on a single person like me.