Paraty Caipirnha Cruise

Paraty, Brazil

“This is my kind of study abroad”

Paraty is a sleepy beach town on the Brazilian coast between Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.  Historically significant as a distribution point and port town for a few different products and trades over the centuries, this little village has an interesting story to match its lovely scenery. It’s charming.

Paraty Marina 

All Aboard!

The morning after our arrival in Paraty, we made our way to the marina (above) to go on a full day "Caipirnha Tour" (aka booze cruise) around some of the islands in the area.  Caipirnhas are the traditional cocktail of Brazil, made of a local alcohol called cachaca which comes from sugar cane.  The drink itself is similar to a mojito.  

There were around 50 passengers on board a boat called Gladiador including another G Adventures group and a fair few Brazilians on their summer holidays.   There was nothing formal about the trip so we waited in a disorganized mass of people, boarded, and took off without any kind of safety announcements. Totally fine unless the boat sinks.  Conveniently for us, it did not.

The boat had 2 levels: the main deck which was shaded and had the wheel house, bathrooms, galley, etc. and the upper deck which had red mats covering the floor and was exposed to the weather.  There were little wires tied about ½ inch above the mats so they wouldn’t fly away if caught by the wind.  Great idea but that just meant almost everyone caught a foot on one and would nearly trip. 

Stuart, Sharon, & EJ

Once we boarded I headed upstairs to the open deck.  Given the heat of the area and that the boat hadn’t started moving yet, it was no surprise that the red mats were roughly the temperature of molten lava so there was a quick run to one corner where I could drop my towel and sit down before melting off my feet.  Most of the rest of the  group joined me up there and we got comfortable as the boat made its way from the marina into open water.  Once moving, the breeze made the temperature perfect and the mats cooled down nicely.  We could hardly feel our skin crisping in the sun.

Island with a jacaranda tree

The scenery was just gorgeous.  Aside from the beautiful, clear turquoise water, we passed jungle island after jungle island with rocky edges, overflowing with greenery, and here and there a pop of color from the purple blooms of jacaranda trees and hibiscus flowers.  Federico (our guide) brought us a container which in any other context would have been an Ikea wastebasket but here it was filled with caipirnhas and we sipped our cocktails and took in the scenery.  We seldom had an empty glass or lack of scenery to view.

Yi is in there somewhere.

Over the course of the day, we had a few different flavors of caipirnhas, all in Ikea wastebaskets, including passion fruit.  This was the point on the trip that we learned Sharon is grossed out by the slimy consistency of passion fruit seeds.  We all found this a little funny but since most of us favored the original flavor anyway, we stuck with that one.  Coincidentally, I believe the smell of passion fruit will always remind me of Brazil.

Several of my classmates and I broke out one of our textbooks, “Don’t Make Me Think” and read as the boat moved through the water.  I wonder what the others on the boat must have thought of us, reading a book with that title while drinking traditional cocktails on a on a boat in Brazil, but I was having a great time.

Nina, Kaixin, and Yi were less interested in being in the sun than the rest of us so they chilled out on the lower deck for a good chunk of the day.  When they did come up to join us, all three of them covered as much of their bodies as possible and with a little help from Stuart, Yi became something of a mummy, even using her textbook and book bag to cover her feet.

The boat stopped for the first time in an island bay with 6-meter-deep water (18 feet, more or less) where we could swim.  While Kaixan and Yi are not swimmers and Nina decided to wait until the second stop to get in, the rest of us jumped from the top deck right into the water and enjoyed around 45 minutes swimming in stunning blue water.  It was perfect.

The boat moved on, we stopped for lunch, and then again for another swim.  We took turns playing on a stand up paddleboard and Sydney put everyone else to shame.  

There was a moment when I had to stop and appreciate that we were swimming in turquoise water on the coast of Brazil in the middle of summer while Washington DC and all of our classmates were freezing through winter.  This is my kind of study abroad.

Cute little island along the way.

When it started lightly raining later in the afternoon, we moved our bags to the lower deck but stayed on top.  Must of the rest of the passengers stayed below and the music started cranking with many of the Brazilians singing along and a lot of people dancing.

As the rain was stopping, we had one final break to swim at an island with a private residence, apparently the owner was somehow affiliated with a large grocery chain in Sao Paulo.  I imagine the people living there don’t love having party boats filled with drunk people gracing their front “yard” but since they own the land, not the water, it’s allowable for boats to pull in and people to swim/snorkel.  But there were definitely "no trespassing" signs along the water to keep people from going ashore.  

The crew

In the water, there were a good number of fish and of course more came when the boat staff threw bread into the water.  I don’t support such things but it was cool to see some diversity in the marine life.  I saw fish with zebra strips and what I think were juvenile lion fish, a dead sand dollar, and a sea urchin.

The ride back to the mainland was pleasant.  We got back to the marina and disembarked right as the sky opened up and it started pouring buckets.  It was a great way to end a great day, with perfect timing.

Sharon, me (Jill), EJ, Sydney

Aside from the inevitable sunburns that most of us earned that day, excluding the Chinese students who have a similar relationship to the sun as Dracula, we had a great time. 

See ya next time, Paraty!