Usually it would take not a long time to get from Paraty to Buzios… usually… however, I haven’t seen so many speed cams in any other country before which made it impossible to drive faster than 60 to maximum 80 km/h.
Furthermore, I decided to skip Rio this time even though I would have loved to spend some time again at this magical place.
However, military intervention in town and a quite dangerous situation made it a russian roulette to stop by.
Especially on a motorbike it is not advisable to stroll through the center and even close friends from Brazil advised me to not go. I had to postpone it to the next time…
Just driving on the main highway through Rio gives you a pretty ugly picture of how tough the life in the favelas must be.
Roads are seperated by stretches of inhibited areas while people are clearly on drugs and do prostitute themselves too. I was glad when I passed the center but for many more kilometers there were just favelas surrounding Rio de Janeiro. A picture the average tourists don’t really get to see…
When coming by plane it is not that visible and even the favelas directly in town seem to be not in a bad shape compared to the ones in the proximity.
However, I continued my trip to Buzios and arrived in the early evening. I did not do any bookings in advance and tried to find a hostel without success.
The center and the one way streets made it somehow impossible while I had to look for an alternative. The alternatives were just so expensive that I was trying to find something until 8 pm. I was exhausted… the heavy clothes, the heat… dehydration gave me a tough time today.
After a while I gave up and took the next best pousada which was still 230 Reals a night.
Buzios reminded me a lot of Ibiza afterall with its beautiful people and colourful nightlife. It is just the perfect place for spending a couple of days with your beloved one, to relax at one of the many beautiful beaches and to enjoy romantic evenings in great restaurants directly at the sea front while watching the sunset.
Next time I would be staying at one of the poussadas on top of the mountain close by with much more privacy and especially gorgeous views over the town.
