Day 116
Paraty, Brazil
In the light of day, our hell had turned to heaven. Paraty was everything I had been promised and more. Charming cobblestone alleyways featuring blue and white houses with laterns and red tin rooftops.

Adorable shops, great restaurants that call you to with the smell of fresh fruit and boiling sauces. And best off all....huge palms lining pristine white sand beaches dotted with colorful fishing boats. This is the Brazil you hope to find. Secluded, pristine and chi chi...but filled with music and color and smiling faces.
The decorations from Carnivale made it even more lively and we throughally enjoyed a morning of just strolling the tiny walkways.
After a fantastic lunch of garlicky brushetta, calamari, and spinach ravioli with light tomato sauce......we knew we had to leave. We had another four hour drive ahead of us and we figured it might take six with traffic.
Oh.....why don't we learn????!!!!!
The first half of the drive from Paraty was beautiful. We took the nicely paved coastal highway (I am sure this is how Mick gets there).
This drive answers the question "With crime and traffic and bugs....why does everyone love Brazil sooo much?"
On your left, thick emerald green rain forest splattered with purple flowers and grand waterfalls. On your right perfect beach after perfect beach and turquios waters more sparkling clear than you ever imagined possible.
It was 2.5 hours of road trip joy.
Then we hit Rio and a little traffic. But, not too bad....it was moving. And seeing Rio for the first time out the car windows was a rush....so we did not mind going slow to check out the vistas.
We passed through Rio without much trouble and hit the Northern 101 to the coast.
Then we sat. Wall to wall cars for 0ver 100 miles and 7 hours of sweat, noise, and the only scenery....the slums surrounding the city. The traffic is so heavy they set up roadside food stands where you can order and be served your dinner in your car without moving more than three feet down the road.
Dear Lord.....I did not think any of us were going to surrvive a 2nd day of living on the highway.
But, we did. A little past midnight (12 hours of driving) we found our Pousada in Buzios.
I rang the doorbell and heard a distinct "Hello."
English had never sounded so good.
It turns out the owners of our beautiful B&B are from California.
They had kindly awaited our arrival with a much needed open bottle of wine.
For the second night in a row....we were too distraught to join the Carnivale.