Broadening my Horizons

This boat almost caught me skinny dipping! I had the whoooole beach to myself before they turned up.

It's hard for me to leave Rio. Last time I was here, I didn't. For three months, I stayed within the city limits, with one exception: the city of Niteroí, which is like the Minneapolis to Rio's Saint Paul (or vice versa?). The minute you say "Niteroí" to a Carioca, this will come out their mouth: "The most beautiful thing about Niteroí is the view of Rio." Yeah, yeah. I've heard that one before. Can't people be so boring? I feel like every city says that about its neighbor.

Some say this is the best thing in Niteroí

A few weeks ago, Alessandro and I took a trip to Niteroí. Suddenly we were subiendo a hill covered in eukalyptus trees, and -ta da!- what a view.

Anyway, Niteroí doesn't really count. If someone's been to Boston and Cambridge, I'm not impressed. You have to go to New York or something too. And, finally, I've broken the confines of this enourmous, jealous city! Phew.

Paraty is a UNESCO world heritage site, full of cobble-stones and beautiful low white buildings full of restarants and rich old lady clothes :) I didn't spend much time there. Just enough, in fact, to find a boat. A boat to a little fishing bay, where we were greeted by a muscular man and woman making their way towards us, paddling a canoe with their hands. It was slow going. This couple (Velho and Luli) found us another boat, which took us to a hole in the forest, from which we hiked to another beach. The beach, called Sumaraca, was secluded, can you believe it?

The view from my tent

The owner of the beach is a quiet fisherman named Manequín. With a scant converation that mostly consisted of nods, my crew and I (a Japanese dread-head and a crazy Brazilian guy) determined that we could set up camp, and did so in the growing darkness. I changed into my new Brazilian bikini and sat in the shallow ocean under the milky way. The water was so transparent that even in the starlight I could see my body under the sea. Above, stars. There is no better way to clean yourself of a city!

I asked Manequín what his favorite star was and he said, "Botafogo". This football team from Rio is represented by a star. I guess you might get tired of stars when you have to look at them every night...

The next morning, after a dip, I sat with Manequín. I had of course made a million assumtions about him already: his solitary life, his deep understanding of the world. I learned that his grandfather and father had been born on a beach not far from here. That he had 7 children who still live on that beach. He gave me a coconut to drink and we just sat there quietly, which I thought was the perfect way to interact with a fisherman in a red sunga on a secluded beach in Brazil. Soon, a little motor boat carrying Velho (who is by no means velho), Luli, and a lot of beer arrived. My quiet Manequín ran for the boat, yelling something I didn't understand, grabbed a beer, and this is how I learned: sometimes lonesome fishermen are raging alchoholics. The silent Manequín was never to be seen again. He chatted and laughed and had a good ol' time. When there was no one to talk to, he yelled "O legato! O legato!"- "The lizard, the lizard!" and his little dog pintado would run barking into the bush.

I'm not sure this is an accurate representation of my abbs but...check them out! Oh yeah, and that's Manequín, and the Botafogo star gleaming in the backround.

We ate sushi from the fish we caught, and mussles steamed in the salt water where we picked them.

Sushi

Another crazy group of people (who we had traveled with from Paraty) decended from the hill on which they were staying in the afternoons and caused ridiculous, deserted island drama that I was the happy bystander to. It was a very lovely couple of days. If you ever want to know how to get there, ask me!

Finally! I can check taking this picture off of my things to do.