breath of fresh air

My second day in Paraty was amazing; nearly perfect. Although the day started out with some spatters of rain, the weather cleared and was quite beautiful.

Jo, Charlie, and myself booked a boat trip out of the town for five hours of the day. The boat stopped in four locations for sun, swimming, and lunch. The trip for five hours was 20 reais (or about US$11), with some extra charges for food and music. Considering I spent somewhere around US$150 for a similar trip in Australia, I felt pretty good about this tour!

I wish I knew Portuguese to figure out where we were and the significance or history behind the places we saw.

We stopped at two islands for the beaches. I strolled in the sand, I beach combed for some small shells, and caught some sun. On another stop we fed and swam with the fishies. The water was a bit on the cool side (since Brazil is transitioning from winter to spring), but I got in and can say I have been in the Atlantic again! At another stop we had a fish lunch. A fantastic man played guitar and sang in Portuguese. At our lunch stop he plucked away at The Girl from Ipanema on his guitar; this is the life!

The entire tour was well-orchestrated. I felt unbelievably gifted with the opportunity to participate in this part of God's creation and do something terrifically out of my ordinary!