Day 90 - São Paulo to Paraty, Brazil

Wow. Can't believe we are on day 90 already - crazy that we have been away from home for so long but strangely feels normal now. 

Today is pretty much another travel day so here's me thinking this was going to be the shortest blog so far. That is until we went out into the town that night and witnessed a thunder storm like we have never experienced. But more of that in a minute. 

Our bus was at 9am from Tiete bus station which is the secondary eat bus station in the world behind New York's port authority one. Given the size of it and the São Paulo traffic we need to head off at 7.30am. Good job too as traffic is very slow and it took us a while to figure out the bus station, particularly exchanging our booking paper for an actual ticket which had been common place on every bus we have taken to date. 

The bus company we go with are called Reunidas and they are great. Really clean and comfortable and pretty cheap too as this is pretty much the local bus. 

We finally make it out of the bus terminal due to traffic and head off down Aryton Senna highway towards Paraty. 

Traveling out of São Paulo was quite surprising in that the modern and fairly wealthy feel of the place continued until we were out of the city. I was expecting to see some really poor areas and favelas around the edge but nothing but nice places.  Once out of the city the scenary once again is gorgeous. It is literally the edge of the jungle and didn't look to dissimilar to Iquotis in places, just a lot more colourful with the most amazing trees that flower. 

After a few hours and out first stop we hit the coast and get out first glimpse of some of those amazing Brazillian beaches. They look fantastic with great sand and waves and a really great looking coast line with the contrast of the jungle covered mountains in the background. 

After another break (seriously Brazillian coach drivers must not be allowed to drive longer than two hours without a 30 min break) we arrive in Paraty which is good as the two stops where the driver left the coach door open has overwhelmed the air conditioning and it is damn hot and sweaty on the bus by now. 

A quick cab to our Pousda - Casario Pousada which is absolutely lovely. 

After a bit of a chill we walk down the canal into town for an explore. 

Such a lovely place with a cycle path. 

We head to the main square and sit down outside for a quick beer. 

The ominous clouds start to form. 

And then it begins to bucket it down.

We thought Iquitos was epic rain but this is literally like someone is pouring buckets of water over the town. It's no longer going to be a quick beer - so we order another. 

And another. 

And another. By now the thunderstorm has started and I cannot express in words what a phenomenal storm it was. I had no idea thunder could be so loud and lightening so frequent. It is truly epic. By now the road is a river and the claps of thunder and lightening happening instantaneously meaning we are in the eye of the storm. 

Then the power goes off in the whole town and it is off for about an hour and a half which is quite convenient for watching the storm, particularly the huge forks of lightening raging across the sky. I have been stuck in worst places in a power cut. Time for another beer. 

It's all very good fun and sensing this storm is here to stay for a while we contemplate biting the bullet and walking back. Just then the most amazing and scariest thing happened - the most almighty bolt of lightening hit the ground across the square from us. It sounded like a bomb had gone off. It was so loud it made our ears ring and we felt the base of it thump through our hearts. The place lit up bright pink and it was like it was daylight for a couple of seconds. Car alarms were going off and people had dived for cover including the barmaid back behind the bar in comical fashion. Absolutely mental - it left everyone visibly shaken in the bar including us. 

Maybe it's not such a good idea to walk home. One for the road?? Why not!

The thing I love about capitalism is how quick it responds to consumer demand. In no time at all there are people on the streets selling ponchos and umbreallas. We got two ponchos. 

With that, and with the storm seeming to pass we decide to make a dash for it (which is a bit of an issue as our hotel is 1.5km away and taxis are now like gold dust). We resigned ourselves to that fact that we were going to get wet and made the way home. 

There were some amazing sights on the way. It was like the town had turned into Venice with the roads now canals. 

We literally couldn't even cross this road and had to go another way. It was shin deep. 

The ponchos managed to do a fairly decent job and most importantly them managed to keep my Subway sandwich dry until I got home! :-) I also picked the worst night to wear my glasses. 

But unfortunately mine had a small hole in the back somewhere resulting in this. 

What a night. Don't think we will have a valentines day like this again. Ironically it was probably the most romantic one we have had what with the power cut, the candle light and the thunderstorm.