Paraty and Santos, Brazil

The coastline of this area, in Rio de Janeiro state, is called Costa Verde (Green Coast). And it is green, thanks to that Atlantic rainforest that covers the hills and reaches the shoreline.

Paraty is a town that was built in the late 1500s by the Portuguese. Sometimes Paraty is spelled Parati, but it's always pronounced puh-ruh-CHEE. It's remained relatively untouched over the centuries --- and unsacked by pirates, mainly because the water is so shallow that the pirates couldn't bring in their ships with heavy weapons. Any pirates who came to the town came in a rowing boat, with a smile and a plea for provisions.

Paraty is now on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The distinctive designs on the houses incorporate Masonic symbols. These designs were a signal to other Freemasons, a welcome to other 'club' members. This theme (incorporating Masonic symbols) came up again and again along this coast, in various towns, so we assume that Freemasonry was important from a social and business perspective.

The cobbled lanes in the old town of Paraty are actually water courses. The sea comes in through the sea-walls at high tide, fills the streets and then recedes. During storms, or at ultra-high tides, the water can come up to the steps of the houses – but the houses rarely flood as they have been built on additional levels inside.

No cars are permitted in the old town. There are a few horse-drawn vehicles but mostly for tourists (and their dogs). It’s all walking.

Churches in Paraty were strictly assigned to different groups: women, people of mixed colour and freed slaves, and slaves themselves. The slave church had no public square in front, as slaves weren’t permitted to chat amongst themselves once they had finished their worship. The most interesting church in Paraty, though, is this one. It’s leaning to the left. Sadly, said the guide, it’s not leaning enough to be a second Leaning Tower of Pisa.

In the 17th century, significant gold deposits were discovered inland from Paraty. A stone road was built from the town to the mines, using an old trail made by indigenous people. Parts of the road, called Caminho do Ouro (Gold Trail), have been excavated but you have to hike a few days to get there. Of course those dastardly pirates stole the gold once it was being shipped to Rio de Janeiro, so the road had to be extended to reach the capital inland.

Paraty is a centre for cachaça trading. Cachaça (pronounced kuh-SHUH-suh) is a sugar-cane spirit, the Brazilian liquor at the heart of caiprinhas. Like rum, cachaça is distilled from sugar-cane but traditional cachaça has no sugar or colour, so doesn’t taste like rum at all. We visited the local cachaça store and tasted some brands. As you can see, the choice is vast. And cachaça is strong, so those cobbleshtones threw up shome additional shallengesh as we shtumbled back to the ship. Hic.

A few hundred kilometres to the south, and in the next state --- São Paulo --- is the town called Santos. It's pronounced SAN-tosh, and no, that has nothing to do with the intake of cachaça. After two weeks of wonderful sunshine, this was the afternoon that we had rain. (Warm rain.) But the colours of the city shone brightly.

Santos is the home town of Pele and his footbal club Santos FC. I'm ignorant about sport, but I did admire the gazillion display cases of trophies that Santos FC has won since its inception in 1912. I also learned that Santos has scored more goals than any other football club, ever.

This was a wall of fame (I think) ...

... and a rather interesting scultpure of Neymar, whose career began at Santos. Even I have heard of him.

Far more interesting (to me) was the Museo de Café (Coffee Museum). At the end of the 19th century, Brazil's biggest export was coffee. In this building, for a few decades, the price of coffee was fixed for the rest of the world.

On the ground floor is the bidding hall. The president of the coffee exchange sat in the big chair, flanked by secretaries. The coffee brokers sat in the other 70 seats; the growers and producers stood around the outer circle, waiting to hear what they would earn for their crop. More Masonic symbols on the floor!

Those dark chairs are all hand carved from Brazilian walnut, or imbuia. It's a very lovely building, with a stained glass ceiling and ornate plasterwork that has been beautifully preserved.

There are permanent exhibits, but there was a fascinating temporary exhibition when we were there that explored the role of women in coffee production. Women have been invisible in the history, apparently, so this was an effort to redress that omission. No, it wasn't all about women's clothes but I did find these displays interesting. (Pun unintentional. Honest.)

Our final visit in Santos was to the Orchid Garden. I was so looking forward to this. Our misfortune was that the rain started as soon as we got there, so we trudged along lush green walkways becoming increasingly wet. Wet, but warm. However, I don't know who looked more miserable: Ken or the colourful tropical Brazilian parrots and toucans huddled under their wings.

It was still raining later in the evening when we sailed out of Santos, but the light was lovely, we were dry, Ken had his favourite IPA in hand, and all was well with the world.

Next: Porto Belo, Camboriu and Rio Grande