Recently, I came to the realization that I have been in São Paulo almost continuously since my arrival in Brazil which is the longest stretch I have stayed in one location since my initial move abroad three and a half years ago. Naturally, I've been going a little stir crazy living and working in the same place, so when the opportunity to road trip to a beach in the state of Rio arose, I jumped on it, excited for an escape from city life.
We went to the village of Trindade, near the city of Paraty. According to Google, the drive from PACA to Trindade should take approximately four and a half hours. In reality, it took eleven. To begin, we were two hours late leaving because our travels coincided with the annual formula one race just down the road. Our delayed departure put us right in the middle of São Paulo rush hour which meant that it took four hours just to get to the other side of the city. If you're keeping up with the math, we were six hours into our journey at this point and were still on the outskirts of the same city in which we began. The next several hours were uneventful, except for some much needed rain. Once you exit the toll road and head towards the coast, the map starts to look like a child's scribble. This particular portion of roadway is simultaneously windy and straight downhill. Keep in mind that it's about midnight when we get to this stretch of asphalt. We were fiercely winding our way down the hillside when all of the sudden, there was an earsplitting screech and headlights right in our face. Fortunately, our car was still drivable but it was a terrifying experience nonetheless! We continued driving for a couple more hours until the road just ended at the ocean. After shaking off our widespread confusion, we finally figured out that there was a small stream blocking the road that we needed to take. We finally arrived around 2 o'clock in the morning.
The next day, we headed to the beach. Luckily it was worth all of the hassle it took to get there!
We went to the village of Trindade, near the city of Paraty. According to Google, the drive from PACA to Trindade should take approximately four and a half hours. In reality, it took eleven. To begin, we were two hours late leaving because our travels coincided with the annual formula one race just down the road. Our delayed departure put us right in the middle of São Paulo rush hour which meant that it took four hours just to get to the other side of the city. If you're keeping up with the math, we were six hours into our journey at this point and were still on the outskirts of the same city in which we began. The next several hours were uneventful, except for some much needed rain. Once you exit the toll road and head towards the coast, the map starts to look like a child's scribble. This particular portion of roadway is simultaneously windy and straight downhill. Keep in mind that it's about midnight when we get to this stretch of asphalt. We were fiercely winding our way down the hillside when all of the sudden, there was an earsplitting screech and headlights right in our face. Fortunately, our car was still drivable but it was a terrifying experience nonetheless! We continued driving for a couple more hours until the road just ended at the ocean. After shaking off our widespread confusion, we finally figured out that there was a small stream blocking the road that we needed to take. We finally arrived around 2 o'clock in the morning.
The next day, we headed to the beach. Luckily it was worth all of the hassle it took to get there!
I love the colors, and how "Clean" everything looks there! I realize that these may just be well-positioned shots, though. Funny to hear that you've still got traffic problems in South America too...new record perhaps? Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThe beaches are definitely cleaner and the water, more clear. I've decided to invent a new word for traffic here though because I don't think an adequate word exists in the English language!
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