Ilhabela–Phil and his buddies–Tuesday – Sep 12, 2006
Today we take a van tour of a small part of the island and stop along the way at beachfront bars, sampling their wares. At each stop, we are greeted warmly by the owner, offered chairs right on the sandy beach with umbrellas to ward off the still rising sun. It’s out of season here, so there are few people in sight on this Tuesday.
Our last stop for the morning is at a really wonderful beachfront resort hotel, a place we all agree is the best place we’ve seen yet in Brazil. It has about 20 rooms, all done in fine taste, and well maintained. Leather sofas conveniently located under a shade tree right on the beach are too much to resist. There, seated comfortably, we are served cold beer brought in silver ice buckets. We are all so impressed with this place that we change our plans and decide to eat lunch there. Linen-clothed tables are set up for us on the beach in the shade of the trees, where we are seated feet in the sand. In due course, we are served an outstanding meal of fresh grilled fish and picanyha, a beef specialty. The design and execution of everything at this hotel is top drawer and artful. It is a place – indeed the entire island is a place – to which we all will surely return.
With regret, we depart from Ihlabela on an overnight voyage to Paranagua, capital of the state of Parana. A storm has moved into the area, seas are rough, and the sky rainy with light fog. Cargo ships are lined up in a holding pattern offshore waiting to load freight in this important port city sited up a long channel in a bay, where it is protected from foul weather. After making our way to the city, we detour up a wide river and anchor off the local yacht club, which sends a water taxi to pick us up for the ten minute ride to town. Without knowing how many people it would be hauling, the club sends a small aluminum, flat-bottomed skiff. This we fill with six people, some of whom weigh well over 200 pounds each, making the boat tipsy.
After an anxious ride, we get to the club, unload, climb into a taxi and head off into town for lunch and a brief walk around the waterfront. Its most remarkable feature is the prevalence of Portugese colonial buildings, most newly restored, dating from the 1700’s. These, together with ancient cobbled streets, give the place the pleasant if shopworn feel of a tourist attraction not yet discovered by tourists.
Returning to Indigo in a far larger taxi boat, we decide to make another long voyage, this time to the misnamed Porto Belo (beautiful port). The weather remains cool, breezy and overcast with intermittent rain as we take a taxi ride around the beachfront and promptly decide this place resembles Panama City, Florida. It’s jammed with tourist tacky places, condos, chlock shops and the like. The bad weather doesn’t help at all. Phil