We took an overnight bus from Florianópolis to Sao Paulo then a six-hour bus ride to a small place on the coast called Trindade (pronounced “trin-dadge-eh” – the pronunciation catches us out a lot… ). Carol, Cristianos girlfriend, has said we should visit Trindade for the beaches and we decided (a good move as it turned out) to stay there rather than the larger town of Paraty, 21km up the coast.
View Trindade & Paraty in a larger map
I am well used to overnight bus trips by now and sleep nearly as well as I do in a bed (with the exception of the Sao Paulo to Foz do Iguacu that left both of us wiped out for a few days for some reason). Euan, on the other hand, doesn’t sleep much at all so suffers far worse than I. To be honest, after meeting a couple who were on an overnight bus (the same bus company and route that we took to Iguazu) that was held up at gunpoint and hijacked for 1 ½ hours, we’re both a bit wary of overnight trips in Brazil now. You hear about these sorts of things but it’s the first time we’d actually met someone who had experienced it first hand, which makes it real rather than just a story third hand.
The drive along the coast northwards from Sao Paulo is a must if in the area. The scenery is stunning in places and the views from the mountains of the coast and various towns and villages below are wonderful. This isn’t the best example but most of the time I was busy peering out the window trying to get views through gaps in the trees.
It wasn’t far off darkness when we decided to get off the bus near the turnoff to Trindade, 8km away. Not sensible on hindsight but there was another lady getting off too and a friend who picked her up gave us a lift down the steep windy roads to Trindade. We didn’t understand much of what was said but nattered away nonetheless and got a huge hug from the half naked but very cheerful chap when we left.
Trindade is one of the prettiest beach side places we’ve been to and it still has a small bit of an untouched feel to it, unlike so many coastal towns. This was hardly a town, more a village with a sandy cobbled main street, ramshackle restaurants and tatty grocery stores. What gave it away as a popular place were the number of posadas.
Right on the waterfront, Trindade is sandwiched between a National Park and the sea and has numerous white sand beaches within walking distance. The jungle, as it seems to do almost all along the Brazilian coast, rolls right down to the sea and its thick and lush. Trees with huge green leaves, loads of trailing vines, palm trees and other greenery makes up this dense blanket of rich green that covers the hills and mountains that fold their way down to the coast. I find it wonderful to look at and kept looking at the land rather than the sea for a change!
This is the main beach and the main road of Trindade runs parallel to it.
At the other end there is a cluster of huge boulders that look like they have just dropped onto the beach from a height
and we spent a while taking photos of these.
We were walking to Praia Brava, a secluded beach about an hours walk from Trindade. The hills around the town are steep and at the bottom of the road joining the coast with the main highway is a stream, the base rock of which forms the road and the cars and buses navigate their way through. No point in wasting valuable tar seal when rock does the same job!
A rough track through the bush led us to Praia Brava, a beautiful beach that was nearly empty apart from one man (who was naked although I didn’t realise when I lifted my camera but did wonder why he did an abrupt about turn!)
The waves were great to play in and I took a leaf from my brothers book and threw myself at them but got tumbled more than once.
Some were a bit small but others caught me out, send me tumbling and had Euan laughing his head off…. I am in there somewhere!
We literally spent our days on the beach or around it – not something we normally do but it was OK for a few days. There were a few waterfalls nearby that were worth a visit and George, a young Englishman who owned the hostel we stayed in, showed us a few cool features about one of them. From looking at it, we’d never have known that you could slide under this small waterfall and ‘into’ the rock
but Euan tried it
and came out the other end OK.
This is another of the beaches surrounding Trindade – we were spoilt for choice.
This is the hostel we stayed in and it also had some cool features, one of which was that it was built around a rock so one of the lower bedrooms had a wall of curved granite. There were also loads of hummingbirds around that weren’t afraid of us. One even flew straight through the house but if I’d blinked I’d have missed it.
This is Sigurd and Lars, two of six Norwegian chaps that were there the same time as us. When we got chatting, Sigurd asked how we managed to travel for so long and I said that we’d worked for a fair few years, but definitely longer than them, to save for the trip! Sigurd then asked the inevitable “how old are you?” and I made him guess. He started with 25 (bless) then when he found out, he first said to Euan “and is that all your own hair?” to which Euan replied “if it wasn’t it would look a lot better than it does, I can assure you”. Sigurd then observed “Man! You’re almost as old as my parents….!!”. Yup. Thanks.
What was funny was that, later that night, Euan and I had decided to flag dinner and instead drank Caipirinhas and ate peanuts while Sigurd and Lars were busy cooking themselves pasta with sauce. Sigurd couldn’t work the can opener and slowly pushed it across the bench to where I sat on the other side whispering “you’re adults… could you….?”. The irony was lost on them that we might be 'adults' but they were the ones slaving away over dinner where we’d taken the liquid option!
Dusk was the best time to be on the beach
and it was here that I noticed some curious heads bobbing around in the water. They weren’t fish and the only thing I can think they were was sea snakes as they moved strangely and ducked under every now and then only to resurface shortly after. I got one back on the Norwegians who were swimming nearby by asking them if they’d seen the sea snakes but I didn’t expect the reaction to be quite so violent. They freaked out, wouldn’t go back in swimming and, as tall as they were, sat on each others’ shoulders to try and see down into the water.
We did a day trip to Paraty, said to be one of the best-preserved Portugese colonial towns in Brazil. The old part of the town is particularly nice but the cobbled streets meant you had to look where you were going rather than at the architecture!
The old part of town was quite tidy and despite it being really quiet while we were there, we suspect it would be a mad tourist place in the summer. The boats were even painted in pretty pastel colours and we were pretty sure that locals wouldn’t do that unless there were loads of people to look at them.
We think (and hope) that this guy was donned in chains for photographs… it seemed a bit strange otherwise (and seemed odd to me regardless).
We bumped into these Kiwi siblings who, on hearing me talking to Euan, asked what part of NZ we were from. They recognised me from my accent but when they heard Euan talk they thought he was from NZ too! We’ve had that a few times now and it always makes me laugh.
Anyhow, we got chatting and the bizarre thing was that this chap, who lived in Sao Paulo, had worked with Phillipa, the camera lady who was at the estancia in Uruguay filming the Intrepid programme. Small world.
View Trindade & Paraty in a larger map
I am well used to overnight bus trips by now and sleep nearly as well as I do in a bed (with the exception of the Sao Paulo to Foz do Iguacu that left both of us wiped out for a few days for some reason). Euan, on the other hand, doesn’t sleep much at all so suffers far worse than I. To be honest, after meeting a couple who were on an overnight bus (the same bus company and route that we took to Iguazu) that was held up at gunpoint and hijacked for 1 ½ hours, we’re both a bit wary of overnight trips in Brazil now. You hear about these sorts of things but it’s the first time we’d actually met someone who had experienced it first hand, which makes it real rather than just a story third hand.
The drive along the coast northwards from Sao Paulo is a must if in the area. The scenery is stunning in places and the views from the mountains of the coast and various towns and villages below are wonderful. This isn’t the best example but most of the time I was busy peering out the window trying to get views through gaps in the trees.
It wasn’t far off darkness when we decided to get off the bus near the turnoff to Trindade, 8km away. Not sensible on hindsight but there was another lady getting off too and a friend who picked her up gave us a lift down the steep windy roads to Trindade. We didn’t understand much of what was said but nattered away nonetheless and got a huge hug from the half naked but very cheerful chap when we left.
Trindade is one of the prettiest beach side places we’ve been to and it still has a small bit of an untouched feel to it, unlike so many coastal towns. This was hardly a town, more a village with a sandy cobbled main street, ramshackle restaurants and tatty grocery stores. What gave it away as a popular place were the number of posadas.
Right on the waterfront, Trindade is sandwiched between a National Park and the sea and has numerous white sand beaches within walking distance. The jungle, as it seems to do almost all along the Brazilian coast, rolls right down to the sea and its thick and lush. Trees with huge green leaves, loads of trailing vines, palm trees and other greenery makes up this dense blanket of rich green that covers the hills and mountains that fold their way down to the coast. I find it wonderful to look at and kept looking at the land rather than the sea for a change!
This is the main beach and the main road of Trindade runs parallel to it.
At the other end there is a cluster of huge boulders that look like they have just dropped onto the beach from a height
and we spent a while taking photos of these.
We were walking to Praia Brava, a secluded beach about an hours walk from Trindade. The hills around the town are steep and at the bottom of the road joining the coast with the main highway is a stream, the base rock of which forms the road and the cars and buses navigate their way through. No point in wasting valuable tar seal when rock does the same job!
A rough track through the bush led us to Praia Brava, a beautiful beach that was nearly empty apart from one man (who was naked although I didn’t realise when I lifted my camera but did wonder why he did an abrupt about turn!)
The waves were great to play in and I took a leaf from my brothers book and threw myself at them but got tumbled more than once.
Some were a bit small but others caught me out, send me tumbling and had Euan laughing his head off…. I am in there somewhere!
We literally spent our days on the beach or around it – not something we normally do but it was OK for a few days. There were a few waterfalls nearby that were worth a visit and George, a young Englishman who owned the hostel we stayed in, showed us a few cool features about one of them. From looking at it, we’d never have known that you could slide under this small waterfall and ‘into’ the rock
but Euan tried it
and came out the other end OK.
This is another of the beaches surrounding Trindade – we were spoilt for choice.
This is the hostel we stayed in and it also had some cool features, one of which was that it was built around a rock so one of the lower bedrooms had a wall of curved granite. There were also loads of hummingbirds around that weren’t afraid of us. One even flew straight through the house but if I’d blinked I’d have missed it.
This is Sigurd and Lars, two of six Norwegian chaps that were there the same time as us. When we got chatting, Sigurd asked how we managed to travel for so long and I said that we’d worked for a fair few years, but definitely longer than them, to save for the trip! Sigurd then asked the inevitable “how old are you?” and I made him guess. He started with 25 (bless) then when he found out, he first said to Euan “and is that all your own hair?” to which Euan replied “if it wasn’t it would look a lot better than it does, I can assure you”. Sigurd then observed “Man! You’re almost as old as my parents….!!”. Yup. Thanks.
What was funny was that, later that night, Euan and I had decided to flag dinner and instead drank Caipirinhas and ate peanuts while Sigurd and Lars were busy cooking themselves pasta with sauce. Sigurd couldn’t work the can opener and slowly pushed it across the bench to where I sat on the other side whispering “you’re adults… could you….?”. The irony was lost on them that we might be 'adults' but they were the ones slaving away over dinner where we’d taken the liquid option!
Dusk was the best time to be on the beach
and it was here that I noticed some curious heads bobbing around in the water. They weren’t fish and the only thing I can think they were was sea snakes as they moved strangely and ducked under every now and then only to resurface shortly after. I got one back on the Norwegians who were swimming nearby by asking them if they’d seen the sea snakes but I didn’t expect the reaction to be quite so violent. They freaked out, wouldn’t go back in swimming and, as tall as they were, sat on each others’ shoulders to try and see down into the water.
We did a day trip to Paraty, said to be one of the best-preserved Portugese colonial towns in Brazil. The old part of the town is particularly nice but the cobbled streets meant you had to look where you were going rather than at the architecture!
The old part of town was quite tidy and despite it being really quiet while we were there, we suspect it would be a mad tourist place in the summer. The boats were even painted in pretty pastel colours and we were pretty sure that locals wouldn’t do that unless there were loads of people to look at them.
We think (and hope) that this guy was donned in chains for photographs… it seemed a bit strange otherwise (and seemed odd to me regardless).
We bumped into these Kiwi siblings who, on hearing me talking to Euan, asked what part of NZ we were from. They recognised me from my accent but when they heard Euan talk they thought he was from NZ too! We’ve had that a few times now and it always makes me laugh.
Anyhow, we got chatting and the bizarre thing was that this chap, who lived in Sao Paulo, had worked with Phillipa, the camera lady who was at the estancia in Uruguay filming the Intrepid programme. Small world.
The weather packed up on our last day but the best thing is that even when it’s raining and overcast it’s still a pleasant 25 plus degrees. We’re not into the hot humid climates so would struggle during the summer here but this time of year, or slightly earlier, is bang on as far as we’re concerned. We’re making our way up the coast to Rio de Janeiro and stopping off at an island on the way for good measure. It’s all about the beaches in this part of the world it seems and they seem to go on forever up the coast. They say that the beaches in the north are even better but with Salvador being a good 26-hour bus ride away from Rio, I don’t think we’ll be making it there!
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