The End of Honeymonth
let's tie a bow on this thing
After too much time, I want to put a bookend on the rest of this trip. I haven’t been in South America for about a month now and I think it feels about right to cap it off with a round up of my last two stops. They are not the least, but they were the last.
Paraty
A little colonial town that is constantly flooded by the tide coming in throughout the days. Stones in the street don’t make looking up easy while you walk, unless you want to catch the tip of your Tevas and splay out like a dead starfish hoping the locals don’t point and laugh. It was exactly what we were looking for after the hustle and bustle of the party central that is Rio de Janeiro.
Our first day, we found a cute little market and met a sweet woman who blended her own spices. It turns out that Paraty is where all the festivals are, and they’re constantly deconstructing and reconstructing stages, whether for an international jazz festival, or a religious holiday that brings together the town. Located smack dab in the middle of Rio and São Paulo, it’s a respite for the the folks who need a breather in a sleepy oceanside town.
We celebrated a big milestone for Fiona by getting a private boat tour one day. Our guide was a great character and seemed to be related to every other charter boat we came across. “Oh, that’s my uncle, I haven’t seen him for a few days”; “My brother always takes this route and I get to see him all the time!” It was cool to see how familial the town was and how the unique the city that had a large colonial-time economy could fall into near-disappearance over time.
Before Rio was the main port for the Portuguese to get their plunder back to the Old World, Paraty was the site to export hundreds of metric tons of gold and precious metals. After a road was cut directly from the mines (Minas Gerais), the city was almost literally lost. Today, it is mainly known as the cachaça capital of Brazil, though we didn’t have nearly as many caipirinhas here.
São Paulo
After a four-hour drive up winding jungle roads, we found ourselves in the economic capital of Brazil. Many cariocas1 scoffed at the thought of us going to their rival city. When we arrived in the gridlock traffic, creeping up the hills, we were surprised by the density and big city nature of São Paulo. We didn’t spend much time there, but we went to the Liberdade neighborhood, known for its rich East Asian influence. We scored some matcha, maté (I AIN’T NEVER GONNA STOP), coffee and some tender pâte à choux2 on a bright, dry morning. We explored stationary stores, anime dungeons, cosmetics and grocery stores. It was an idyllic morning to spend traipsing through a mesh of cultures and foods we love.
We Ubered to the Museu Afro Brasil, located in the beautiful Ibirapuera Park where we at fresh salmon nigiri. The museum was incredibly expansive with art from the many peoples that were brought to the Brazil against their will. We spent much of our time in the art section as our Portuguese is essentially non-existent, but were able to AI our way through translations. The most impactful was the restored frame of a boat that housed slaves during the Transatlantic trade, that was initially left to wither in the Bahia, a northern province of Brazil. Photos showed the way it was used and how it was expertly transported to its current place.
Later on, we worked our way to Beco de Batman, an alley covered with graffiti that houses a Cristiana-esque3 mystique in the city. There wasn’t as much to see there as we had hoped, but we were told by our companion from Paraty that it would be worth it. As the sun went down, we made our way to the only churrascaria4 we visited in Brazil and, like much of the trip, we were not really dressed to be there. Despite that, we ate our weight in seafood, picanha, strawberries with cream, tiramisu, and a thimbleful of sherry to boot.
We tried to make the most of our time in the city and we hope to visit again one day, but unfortunately, I yearn for swimming and Rio will likely be on the docket sooner than SP.
Bonus: Another Wedding!
One of the motivations for this trip was that our friends were getting married out of São Paulo, and we figured if we were going to make the 12 hour trek for a weekend, why not go for five weeks? The math doesn’t make sense to anyone, but we were the only ones with a calculator, so we didn’t need it to.
It turns out that giving cards for birthdays or weddings is not universal and I spent most of the day of the wedding scrambling to different small shops struggling to find n’ery an envelope. But I whipped out my best elementary grade arts and crafts skills to cut, glue and fold an envelope. Thankfully we had bought water colors (a hobby I’ve been picking up over the last year) and painted a card to go with the gift we never had a moment to give our friends.
A backyard barbecue, a trilingual ceremony, cachaça shots with a man who told us to respect the drink because it would make you sick (who was thebn the only one yakking in the men’s room at the end of the night), a samba line, tears, hearty laughs, and fireworks made it a moment worth the trip. We love you Ana María and Gabriel and thank you for letting us share a special day with you and your families.
The demonym for Rio de Janeiro
Basically French for cream puff. Don’t overthink it.
Freetown Cristiania is an intentional community, anarchist commune, micronation and former army barracks in Copenhagen, DK.
Think: “Fogo de Chão” but better. I think. I’ve never been to FdC 🤷🏻♂️