Paraty, São Paulo and good bye Brazil

As our brazilian visa was about to expire and our flight out was booked from São Paulo we travelled south from Rio and made a short stop in Paraty, a nice tranquil town just between those two mega cities.
Paraty has a really charming historic city center right by the sea but not a lot is happening there. So we didn't do a lot, just strolled around the city and the beaches and relaxed before we headed to São Paulo.

In São Paulo we could stay at friends place, Korbi, a german guy we met in Jeri a month before. We only had one night left in Brazil and so we went out with Korbi and his friends to celebrate our last brazilian night.
The next day we said good bye Brazil and flew out from São Paulo towards Colombia... :)

Old beach front house

Street in the historic city center

Hummingbird street ... Beija-flor que trouxe meu amor, voou e foi embora
Olha só como é lindo meu amor, estou feliz agora...

Little island just of Jabaquara beach

Jabaquara beach

Rio de Janeiro - city of the thousand views

We left the north of Brasil after another few days in Fortaleza and flew south to Rio de Janeiro. I don't know what we expected, but it was nothing like that. In my mind I always considered Rio as "kind of dangerous" beginning already with arriving at the airport (with a highway from the airport to the city that closed sometimes because of drug-related shootouts and warnings to tourists that began with phrases like “to minimize the chance of kidnapping ... ”).
However nothing of this is true anymore. We experienced Rio as a great and overall really safe city with spectacular views all over. In the past several years, a strong national economy combined with the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016 has changed a lot in Rio. The New York Times worte lately that Rio’s murder rate has plunged to the lowest point in decades; even below those of American cities like Baltimore and St. Louis.

With it's hills and mountains all over the city, Rio offers amazing views from everywever you are, it doesn't matter if you are on the beach, on top of the Corcovado mountain (with it's famous "Christo Redentor" statue) or just somewhere in the barrio of Santa Teresa - you will be stunned by the view that is offered to you.
We spend only three days in this beautiful city but we are pretty sure that we will come back to stay a bit longer!

See for yourself why:

Copacabana

Praia de Ipanema

View from our hostel window

Christo Redentor on the Corcovado mountain overlooking Rio

Maracanã soccer stadion

Praia Vermelho

Pão de Açúcar (Sugar loaf mountain)

Windsurfing in Rio ;)

Sunset behind the Corcovado

Escadaria Selarón

View of Sugar loaf mountain from Santa Teresa

Favela Rocinha

Rocinha

View from Rocinha

Panorama from Corcovado mountain

São Miguel do Gostoso - another windsurfers paradise

Even before our journey actually started, we knew we had to come to see this place as it is another wind- and kitesurfers paradise on the northcoast of Brazil.
So when we arrived in São Miguel do Gostoso we already felt a tingling sensation and wanted to go into the water asap. However we decided to check out the two wind- and kitesurf-stations and talk to some locals about the conditions at this spot before. And as the sun was slowly setting we decided to have some caipirinhas and cuba libres and postpone the surfing to next day, as the wind is better around noon anyway.
This turned out to be a big mistake, at least for my part. The story is this:
After our caipirinha-cubalibre-sunset-watching-session we we had a shower and got ready to have dinner and discover the São Miguel do Gostoso nightlife and dance some forró.
But never underestimate: walking two month in fine white sands (as we did in Jeri) and then switching to walk on cracked asphalt, cobblestones and hard uneven sand is dangerous! And so it happend that after dinner and just on the way to the forró dancing I twisted my ankle really bad. Although the people at the forró place were really nice and helpfull and I had an icebag on my ankle a minute after twisting it, I knew right away: I won't be surfing in São Miguel do Gostoso. So I had some more Cuba libres (to forget the not-surfing-part...) and after the others were done with their forró dancing the owner of the bar even gave us a ride home with it's buggy.
For the next two days I stayed in bed respectivley hammock, propped up my leg and died out of boredom (I never read a 400 pages book that fast!) while the others went out playing in the waves.
Anyway, at least it helped and my ankle is a lot better already and on the last two days we spend there I could even walk down to the beach and watch them surf.

However, one thing is for sure: I will be back to surf this spot!!!

Paolo Migliorini's Dr. Wind Surfcenter

Caipirinihas and Cuba libres

Local kids playing with their horses in the water

Watching the others surf...

Walk back home from the beach after a day of surfing

Our nice little house in São Miguel do Gostoso