Paraty

Parity is a little gem of a town located back on the mainland to the west of Ilha Grande, the colonial centre has been well-preserved with its white buildings, colourful doors and cobbled traffic-free streets (with the exception of horse and carts). Parity was established on reclaimed land that was once mangrove forest. The first European presence was noted in 1502 (predominantly convicts) and over the years it has been an important trading port for many products, starting with gold, then it became a slave import area, brazil tree wood from the rainforest, sugar cane and finally coffee in the 19th century. They have a local drink made with distilled sugar cane called Cassaasa, it’s very potent and moorish – we had to buy a bottle, it’s drunk neat and chilled so makes a nice sundowner!

A walking tour (with a British guide as it happened) of the colonial centre was eye opening giving us the opportunity to learn a lot more about the town. This included pointing out what certain buildings were once used for, such as trading slaves, the ‘red light district’ frequented by sailors when they were in port and the meanings of the patterns adorning many of the buildings. The town had a strong masonic link and the patterns on the side of the building were used to indicated the owners seniority and wealth (pineapples) as well as water spouts in the shape of trumpets which are thought to ‘cleanse’ the house.

A particular highlight is that the streets flood when there is a high spring tide, it was designed as a way to cleanse the streets of a variety of detritus (animal and human waste) as well as enabling to float goods between their homes and the port. Albeit with modern sub-terranean installations such as modern sewers and electrics the street levels have been left higher then they once were so the streets don’t flood on every high-tide. We were very lucky to be visiting over a full moon so the tide range was large – we got to see the streets empty of water and ‘full’. It was a good way of mesmerising the children watching the tide come in for a few hours. There is also a massive population of fiddler crabs (so called because the males have one large and one small claw making it look like they’re playing a fiddle), they live in the cracks between the cobbles, we had fun searching them out!

There are many idyllic and unspoilt islands in the vicinity of Parity, on our final day we went on a boat trip for the day visiting some of the many islands spending a relaxing day snorkelling in the crystal clear waters spotting the many varieties of sea life that frequent the waters, lounging on deserted beaches and taking in the peace and quiet of our surroundings – albeit the highlight for Elana and Bert was jumping into the sea from the boat – again and again and again…!Baca lagi