In the steps of the slave traders

A wooden sailing ship is taking adventurers along the Brazilian coast, writes Mike Heard.

Intrepid travellers get the opportunity next year to explore the coast of Brazil in a wooden sailing ship.

A 40-metre vessel, built in the Amazon jungle, sails between Rio de Janeiro and the Unesco World Heritage town of Paraty, about 200 kilometres to the south.

En route, passengers can go ashore to swim and snorkel, explore villages and towns and hike through rainforests filled with monkeys and armadillos.

Paraty is noted for its well-preserved 17th-century colonial homes.

A former port for the shipment of gold and diamonds to Europe, it was also the centre of an area producing sugar-cane liquor and at one time had 250 distilleries for a population of only 16,000. The end of the slave trade in 1888 saw the population drop to about 600.

Tourism revived Paraty's fortunes in the mid-1970s when a highway linking it with Rio de Janeiro was completed.

The two-masted sailing ship, Tocorime Pamatojari (Adventurous Spirit), sleeps up to 16 passengers and has five crew.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/travel/activities--interests/cruising/in-the-steps-of-the-slave-traders/2008/10/15/1223750091984.html

Parati (Paraty), Brazilian pearl of the tropics

The town is located on the Bay of Ilha Grande, which is dotted with many tropical islands. Rising up some 1,000 meters behind the town are the tropical forests, mountains, and waterfalls.

The town, also known as Paraty is surrounded by many Nature Parks including Serra da Bocaina National Park, Serra do Mar State Park, the Park Reserve of Joatinga and the Environmentally Protected Area of Cairuçu, where the village of Trindade is located. It is an area of tropical humid forests with coastal/marine component; mixed mountain and highland systems.

The temperature in Paraty ranges from 64F - 80F, (18C to 30C), though the summer months can be even hotter.

Sea breezes temper the heat and afternoon rains are common in the summer. It makes the city a popular destination for visitors from São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, the rest of Brazil and the world.

It is almost literally a place that time forgot. It was one of the richest towns in 17th-century Brazil, thanks to its location between the gold mines of Minas Gerais and the Portuguese ships that took their output back to Europe, but, by 1720, a new road had been built between Minas and Rio de Janeiro, cutting the town out of the commerce (and the money) resulting in 200 years of almost total isolation.

Parati is a beautiful colonial city located south of Rio de Janeiro.

Containing some of the best and best preserved examples of Portugese baroque architecture, it should come as no surprise that it has been listed as a National Historic Monument - discovered by celebrities and people in the know from Rio and Sao Paulo.

The result of such isolation is (residents like to say it is a 300-year-old town with just 30 years of tourism) is a wonderfully preserved collection of cobbled streets, whitewashed one- or two-story houses, good restaurants and not a fast-food or tacky knick-knacks shop in sight.

Carnival atmosphere: festival at Parati

As book lovers from around the world descend on this baroque style place for a star-studded festival, Rory Ross finds out what gives this sleepy, whitewashed Brazilian town its novel appeal.

On 9 August, 2006, the fourth International Literary Festival kicks off in this immaculate colonial hamlet on the coast of Brazil. Parati, a mere dot on the map, is roughly equidistant between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. It's the sort of backwater you might think would struggle to host a game of Scrabble, let alone an international literary festival. And yet, for a few days each year, it becomes the centre of the book world.

Literary Festival at Parati - read the original article

The historic "centre" (it is actually on the edge of town) was built just below sea level with water on three sides, which means that its streets are washed once a month when the tide is at is highest. Cars are banned - the locals get around on foot - or on bicycles or by donkey and cart - and there's always a cooling breeze coming off the bay.

One visitor (Alex Bellos) had this to say:

Part of Parati's charm is that the historic centre is still lived in by locals, many of whom have refurbished their homes as bed-and-breakfast pousadas. I stayed in the Pousada do Ouro, an 18th-century mansion with dark wooden beams, antique furniture and a courtyard filled with plants.

The centre is beautifully maintained, the houses painted traditionally with white walls and brightly coloured doorways. It feels much bigger than it is, partly because the giant cobbles make it tiring to walk around, but also because the streets all curve sideways at the end. You can never see beyond a few blocks. There were two reasons for this: to protect the town from sea winds and to hide it from pirates.

The effect makes the centre feel brilliantly self-contained. Wherever you are you can never see out.

http://www.excitingbrazil.com/parati.html