Brazzil

As I drive across the border I see a person holding up a sign that reads 'Ljubjiana'. I was a little confused with the lights, officers, signs, tolls—with Slovenia in general. Especially all those consonants and no vowels make me very agitated
By Brazzil Magazine

The small state of Rio de Janeiro offers the traveler much more than just the cidade maravilhosa. Within four hours of travel from any point in the state, and often much less, are beaches, mountains and forests that equal any in Brazil. Many of these places offer more intimate settings in which to meet Cariocas who have known about the natural wonders surrounding the city for years. You won't find virgin sites, as you will in the Northeast—tourism here is fairly developed and prices are higher than in most of Brazil. But if you have only a couple of weeks in Brazil and think that you'll be returning some day, an itinerary that covers the entire state of Rio would be one of the best possible. For those with all the time in the world, it's easy to pass a month or two here.

Rio de Janeiro state, which lies just above the Tropic of Capricorn, has an area of 44,268 sq km—about the size of Switzerland—and a population of more than 14 million. The littoral is backed by steep mountains, which descend into the sea around the border with São Paulo and gradually rise slightly further inland in the north. This forms a thin strip of land nestled between the lush green mountains and the emerald sea, with beaches that are the most visually spectacular in Brazil.

Divided by the city of Rio and the giant Baía de Guanabara, which has 131 km of coast and 113 islands, there are two coastal regions, each with somewhat different natural characteristics: the Costa Verde (to the west) and the Costa do Sol (to the east).

Along the Costa Verde, where the mountains kiss the sea, there are hundreds of islands, including Ilha Grande and the Restinga de Marambaia, which make for easy swimming and boating. The calm waters and the natural ports and coves allowed safe passage to the Portuguese ships that came to Parati to transport sugar cane, and later gold, to Europe. They also protected pirates, who found a safe haven on Ilha Grande.

Beaches wait to be explored, particularly further away from Rio city, where the coastal road stays close to the ocean and the views are spectacular. The most famous spots are Angra dos Reis, Parati and Ilha Grande.

To the east, the mountains begin to rise further inland. The littoral is filled with lagoons and swamp land. Stretching away from the coast are campos (plains) which extend about 30 km to the mountains. Búzios and Cabo Frio, famous for their beauty and luxury, are only two hours from Rio by car. Saquarema, one of Brazil's best surfing beaches, is even closer.

Driving due north from Rio city, you pass through the city's industrial and motel sections and soon reach a wall of jungled mountains. After the climb, you're in the cool Serra dos Órgãos. The resort cities of Petrópolis and Teresópolis are nearby, and many smaller villages offer Cariocas an escape from the tropical summer heat. The fantastic peaks of the Parque Nacional da Serra dos Órgãos, outside Teresópolis, provide superb hiking and climbing opportunities.

The other mountain region where Cariocas play is the Itatiaia area, in the corner of the state that borders São Paulo and Minas Gerais. Getting there takes only four hours, the route passing near the steel city of Volta Redonda.

Indian Names

Many place names in Rio state are derived from Indian words. Among them are:

Araruama—place where the macaw eats
Baré—in the middle of many fish
Cunhambebe—women who speak too much
Grataú—ghost's den
Grumari—a kind of tree
Guanabara—arm of the sea
Guaratiba—place with much sun or place with many holes
Ipanema—place that gives bad luck or place of dangerous sea
Itacuruçá—stone's cross
Itaipu—stone that the sea hits
Itaipuaçu—little Itaipu
Jabaquara—crack in the earth
Jeribá—a kind of coconut palm
Mangaratiba—banana orchard
Maricá—belly
Parati—a kind of fish
Paratininga—dry fish
Sapeca—burned
Saquarema—lagoon without shells
Tijuca—putrid-smelling swamp

West of Rio de Janeiro

ILHA GRANDE

Ilha Grande is what Hawaii must have been like before the arrival of the British. It's all tropical beach and jungle, with only three towns on the island. Freguesia de Santana is a small hamlet with no regular accommodation. Pamaioca has a few homes by a lovely strip of beach near the old prison. Abraão has plenty of pousadas and camping grounds, and ferry connections to Mangaratiba and Angra dos Reis.

If you really want to get away from it all, Ilha Grande may well be the place to go. The options are pretty attractive. You can rent a boat in Abraão for $8 per hour and buzz around to Freguesia or Pamaioca. There are trails through the lush, steamy jungle to various beaches around the island. For instance, it is a 2 ½-hour trek to Praia Lopes Mendes, claimed by some to be Brazil's most beautiful beach, Praia de Pamaioca also ranks up there. And these are just two of the island's 102 beaches!

Vila do Abraão

Abraão could be a movie set for Papillon. It has a gorgeous, palm-studded beachfront of pale, faded homes, and a tidy white church. Not far away are the ruins of an old prison that will still give you the creeps if you go inside.

As a base on Ilha Grande, you cannot go past Abraão, and not many do. It's a popular weekend destination for young Cariocas, so things get pretty busy then, but during the week it's very peaceful. It's OK to rouse the dogs sleeping on the dirt and cobblestone streets. They're friendly, and seem to enjoy tramping around the island to the abandoned penitentiary, the beaches, the forest, the hills and the waterfalls.

Orientation

To the left of the dock (when you're facing the ocean) in Abraão are the ferry ticket office, a guesthouse for military police, the road to Praia Preta and the trail to the ruined old prison. To the right of the dock is the cobblestoned Rua da Igreja, and at the far end of the beach, a clockwise trail leads around the island to Praia Lopes Mendes and the other beaches of Ilha Grande.

Information

Tourist Office

There's a tourist information booth close to the dock that opens when the ferries arrive. Staff speak only Portuguese, but have useful information on available accommodation and island activities. The tourist office in Angra dos Reis also has information about Ilha Grande.

For Places to Stay and Places to Eat, read the book.

Getting There & Away

Catch a Conerj ferry from either Mangaratiba or Angra dos Reis. If you take the 5.30 am bus from Rio to Mangaratiba, you can catch the ferry that runs daily at 8.30 am from Mangaratiba to Abraão. There are five buses a day from Rio to Mangaratiba: at 6 and 9 am, and 12.30, 3 and 7 pm. Outgoing bus schedules are similarly staggered, but they begin half an hour earlier.

The boat returns from Abraão to Mangaratiba at 4.30 pm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, on Tuesday and Thursday at 11 am and on Saturday and Sunday at 4 pm. Mangaratiba is nothing more than a poor little fishing town. If you're stuck there, you can stay at the Hotel Rio Branco, a small and dumpy place near the main square, which offers $12 doubles ($18 with private bath).

The ferry from Angra dos Reis to Abraão leaves at 4 pm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, returning from Abraão at 10.15 am on the same days. It's a 1 ½-hour, $5 ride. If you miss the ferry, you can hire a fishing boat to the island (about $30) from either Mangaratiba or Angra.

ANGRA DOS REIS

Angra dos Reis is a base for nearby islands and beaches, not a tourist attraction in itself. The savage beauty of the tropical, fjord-like coastline along this stretch of BR-101 has been badly blemished by industrialization. Supertankers dock in Angra's port, a rail line connects Angra to the steel town of Volta Redonda, there's a Petrobras oil refinery, and, thanks to the military government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a controversial nuclear power plant has been built nearby.

The closest beaches to Angra are at Praia Grande and Vila Velha. Take the 'Vila Velha' municipal bus.

Information

Tourist Office

The Centro de Informações Turísticas is in Largo da Lapa, right across from the bus station. Staff have information about places to stay on Ilha Grande. There's another tourist information booth close to the waterfront, with the same information.

For Places to Stay and Places to Eat read the book.

Getting There & Away

Angra dos Reis is almost three hours (150 km) from Rio de Janeiro's Novo Rio bus station. Buses to Rio leave Angra every hour from 4.30 am to 9 pm ($7). To Parati, there are six buses a day, the first leaving at 6 am ($5, two hours).

PARATI

Oh! Deus, se na terra houvesse um paraíso, não seria muito longe daqui!
(Oh! God, if there were a paradise on earth, it wouldn't be very far from here!)

Amerigo Vespucci

Amerigo was referring to steep, jungled mountains that seem to leap into the sea, a scrambled shoreline with hundreds of islands and jutting peninsulas, and the clear, warm waters of the Baía da Ilha Grande, as calm as an empty aquarium. All this still exists, if no longer in a pristine state, along with one of Brazil's most enchanting towns—the colonial village of Parati, which Amerigo did not get to enjoy.

Parati is both a great colonial relic, well preserved and architecturally unique, and a launching pad for a dazzling section of the Brazilian coastline. The buildings are marked by simple lines that draw the eye to the general rather than the specific, and earthy colors and textures that magnify, through contrast, the natural beauty that envelops the town. So while the individual buildings in Parati may well be beautiful, the town when viewed as a whole is truly a work of art.

Dozens of secluded beaches are within a couple of hours of Parati by boat or bus. There are good swimming beaches close to town, but the best are along the coast toward São Paulo, and out on the bay islands.

One of the most popular spots between Rio and São Paulo, Parati is crowded and lively throughout the summer holidays, brimming with Brazilian and Argentine holiday-makers, and good music. That the town is all tourism there is no doubt; there are so many boutiques and so few cheap places to eat and sleep. But if you get around these obstacles, Parati is a delight, and there are plenty of beaches to accommodate all visitors.

History

Parati was inhabited by the Guianas Indians when Portuguese from the capitania of São Vicente settled here in the early part of the 16th century. With the discovery of gold in Minas Gerais at the end of the 17th century, Parati became an obligatory stopover for those coming from Rio de Janeiro, as it was the only point where the escarpment of the Serra do Mar could be scaled. The precarious road was an old Guianas Indian trail that cut past the Serra do Facão (nowadays Cunha, São Paulo) to the valley of Paraíba and from there to Pindamonhangaba, Guaratinguetá and then the mines.

Parati became a busy, important port as miners and supplies disembarked for the gold mines and gold was shipped to Europe, The small town prospered and, as always, the wealthy built churches to prove it. There was so much wealth in Parati that in 1711, Captain Francisco do Amaral Gurgel sailed from Parati to save Rio de Janeiro from a threatened French siege by handing over a ransom of 1000 crates of sugar, 200 head of cattle and 610,000 gold cruzados.

Parati's glory days didn't last long. After the 1720s, a new road from Rio to Minas Gerais via the Serra dos Órgãos cut 15 days off the route from Parati and the town started to decline. In the 19th century, the local economy revived with the coffee boom, and now, with the recent construction of the road from Rio, the town's coffers are once again being filled. Parati is also renowned for its excellent cachaça.

The town is easy to look around: just walk on the pés-de-moleque (street urchins' feet), the local name for the irregular cobblestone streets, washed clean by the rains and high tides. It's a couple of km off the Rio to Santos highway, at the southwest corner of Rio de Janeiro state. Until 1954 the only access to Parati was by sea. In that year a road was built through the steep Serra do Mar, passing the town of Cunha, 47 km inland. In 1960 the coastal road from Rio, 253 km away, was extended to Parati, and beyond to São Paulo, 330 km away.

Climate

Like Rio, Parati gets hot and muggy in the summer. The rains are most frequent in November, January and May. Be ready for plenty of nasty mosquitoes.

Orientation

Parati is small and easy to find your way around, but one thing that becomes confusing is street names and house numbers. Many streets have more than one name, which has the locals, as well as the tourists, thoroughly perplexed. The house-numbering system seems totally random.

Information

Tourist Office

The Centro de Informações Turísticas (71-1266, ext 20), on Avenida Roberto Silveira, is open daily from 7 am to 7 pm. The Secretaria de Turismo e Cultura (71-1256), in the Antigo Quartel do Forte, near the port, is open daily from 8 am to 6 pm.

Churches

Parati's 18th-century prosperity is reflected in its beautiful old homes and churches. Three main churches were used to separate the races—Nossa Senhora do Rosário for slaves, Santa Rita for freed mulattos and Nossa Senhora das Dores for the white elite.

The Igreja Nossa Senhora do Rosário e São Benedito dos Homens Pretos (1725), on Rua Dr Samuel Costa, was built by and for slaves. Renovated in 1857, the church has gilded wooden altars dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary, St Benedict and St John. The pineapple crystals are for prosperity and good luck.

Igreja Santa Rita dos Pardos Libertos (1722), on Praça Santa Rita, has a tiny museum of sacred art, and some fine woodwork on the doorways and altars. Capela de Nossa Senhora das Dores (1800), Rua Dr Pereira, was renovated in 1901. The cemetery is fashioned after the catacombs.

Matriz Nossa Senhora dos Remédios (1787), on Praça Mons Hélio Pires, was built on the site of two 17th-century churches. Inside there is art from past and contemporary local artists. According to legend, construction of the church was financed by a pirate treasure hidden on Praia da Trindade.

Forte Defensor Perpétuo

The Forte Defensor Perpétuo was built in 1703 to defend from pirate attacks the gold being exported from Minas Gerais. The fort was rebuilt in 1822, the year of Brazil's independence, and was named after Emperor Dom Pedro I. It's on the Morro da Vila Velha, the hill just past Praia do Pontal, a 20-minute walk north of town. The fort houses the Casa do Artista e Centro de Artes e Tradições Populares de Parati.

Beaches & Islands

The closest fine beaches on the coast—Vermelha, Lulas and Saco—are about an hour away by boat (camping is allowed on the beaches). The best island beaches nearby are probably Araújo and Sapeca, but many of the islands have rocky shores and are private. The mainland beaches tend to be better. These beaches are all small and idyllic; most have a barraca (serving beer and fish) and, at most, a handful of beachgoers.

Parati has 65 islands and 300 beaches in its vicinity. Whatever the count, there are enough. Following this is a list of the most accessible beaches north of town. Don't limit yourself to this list, as there are plenty more to be found. If you do come across any really special beaches and you can bear to share your secret, we'd love to know about them.

Praia do Pontal

On the other side of the canal, 10 minutes away on foot, is Parati's city beach. There are several barracas and a lively crowd, but the beach itself is not attractive and the water gets dirty.

Praia do Forte

On the side of the hill, hidden by the rocks, Praia do Forte is the cleanest beach within a quick walk of the city. It is relatively secluded and frequented by a youngish crowd.

Praia do Jabaquara

Continue on the dirt road north past Praia do Pontal, over the hill, for two km to Praia do Jabaquara, a big, spacious beach with great views in all directions. There is a small restaurant, and a campground that's better than those in town. The sea is very shallow, so it is possible to wade way out into the bay.

Festivals

Parati is known for its colorful and distinctive festivals. The two most important are the Festa do Divino Espírito Santo, which begins nine days before Pentecostal Sunday, and the Nossa Senhora dos Remédios, on 8 September. The former is planned throughout the year and features all sorts of merrymaking, revolving around the fólios, musical groups that go from door to door singing and joking.

The Festas Juninas, held during the month of June, are filled with dances, including the xiba (a circle clog dance) and the ciranda (a xiba with guitar accompaniment). The festivals culminate on 29 June with a maritime procession to Ilha do Araújo. Parati is a good option for Carnaval if you want to get out of Rio for a couple of days.

The Parati region produces excellent cachaça, and in 1984, the town council, in its wisdom, inaugurated the annual Festival da Pinga. The pinga party is held over an August weekend.

For Place to Stay and Places to Eat as well as Getting Around read the book.

Praia Barra Grande

About 20 km up the Rio to Santos highway, Barra Grande is an easy-to-reach alternative to the beaches in Baía de Parati. There are 11 municipal buses a day leaving from Parati, the first at 7. 10 am.

Praia de Parati-Mirim

For accessibility, cost and beauty, this beach is hard to beat. Parati-Mirim is a small town 27 km from Parati. The beach has barracas and houses to rent. From Parati, it's a couple of hours by boat. If you're on a budget, catch a municipal bus, which makes the 40-minute trip for only $0.50. Get the 'Parati Mirim' bus from the rodoviária at 6.50 am, or 1 or 4.40 pm.

Praia do Sono

They don't get much prettier than this beach. Past Ponta Negra on the coast going south, about 40 km from Parati, Praia do Sono can have rough water and is sometimes difficult to land on. It's a four to five-hour boat ride. The much cheaper alternative is to take the Laranjeiras bus from Parati, then get directions in Laranjeiras for the 1½-hour walk to Sono. Buses leave Parati at 5.15 am, and 12.30 and 6.40 pm. There's food but no formal lodging at the beach.

Praia da Trindade

About five km before Sono, this is another beautiful beach. It has lots of simple pousadas, so you can stay here for a night or two. The beach is accessible by boat, as well as by the same bus as for Praia do Sono. Ask the driver to let you off at the entrance to Trindade. From the bus stop, it's a four-km downhill walk.

Inland

The old gold route, now the road to Cunha (six km), is a magnificent jungle ride up the escarpment. The steep, dirt part of the road gets treacherous in the rain. Catch the 'Cunha' bus.

Take the 'Ponte Branca' bus from Parati to the Igrejinha da Penha, a small, triple-turreted hillside church. You'll find a 750-meter jungle trail to a beautiful waterfall and water slide. Buses charge $0.25 for the round trip, and leave at 5.45, 9 and 11.30 am, and 2 and 6 pm.

Fazenda Bananal-Engenho de Murycana is four km off the Parati to Cunha road, 10 km from town. It's a touristy spot with an old sugar mill, a restaurant, a zoo, and free samples of cachaça and batidas.

Parque Nacional da Serra da Bocaina

On the border between Rio and São Paulo, where the mountains of the Serra do Mar meet the sea, is the Parque Nacional da Serra da Bocaina. Rising from sea level to the 2132-meter Pico da Boa Vista, the park contains a mixture of vegetation, from Mata Atlântica in the lower altitudes to Mata Araucária (pine forests) and windswept grassy plateaus in the higher altitudes.

Wildlife is plentiful and includes a large population of the rare spider monkey, as well as other monkeys such as the howler and ringtailed. Other animal species include the tree porcupine, sloth, deer, tapir, giant anteater and the otter. Birds found in the park include the harpy and black-hawk eagles and the black-beaked toucan.

Excerpts from Brazil - A Travel Survival Kit, 3rd edition, by Andrew Draffen, Chris McAsey, Leonardo Pinheiro,  and Robyn Jones. For more information call Lonely Planet: (800) 275-8555. Copyright 1996 Lonely Planet Publications. Used by permission.

Lonely Planet
Brazil - A Travel Survival Kit
by Andrew Draffen, Chris McAsey,
Leonardo Pinheiro, Robyn Jones,
704 pp.

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