The Art Of Slow Travel In Brazil

Some places are worth a linger – especially when they’re tucked away between Brazil’s two busiest cities. We put our feet up in historic Paraty to take in this coastal secret.

- Dan Linstead

An empty hammock is always an invitation, and this one was more enticing than most. Slung low across the beachhouse decking, it was designed in the Brazilian style: a king-sized swathe of cream cotton fringed with decorative crochet. It swung idly in the Atlantic breeze, proffering a view of fishing boats, wheeling frigatebirds and the turquoise waters of the Baia de Paraty, aglint in the afternoon sun. With a sigh, I settled in.

“A man in a hurry will be miserable in Brazil,” wrote Peter Fleming in his 1933 classic Brazilian Adventure. “I learnt the necessity of resignation.” Nearly a century later, this continent-sized country is still teaching impatient gringos valuable lessons about slowing down – and nowhere more so than Paraty.

Low streets, slow times

Driving along the Costa Verde west of Rio, time seemed to decelerate with every rainforest-backed cove we passed, until we took a left turn and arrived at a town largely unaltered in a century. Like many travellers, I’d come straight from several frenetic days in the big city, high on sightseeing, and my eyes were set on the even bigger metropolis of São Paulo. But around halfway between these two giants, I found myself in another era.

Paraty’s old town dates back, in parts, to the 17th century, when its sheltered harbour bustled with fleets of Portuguese caravels transporting gold back to Europe. Today, it’s a place to stroll along cobbled streets, peer into whitewashed churches, and watch hummingbirds flitting from one courtyard garden to another. Listed by UNESCO, the town boasts perhaps the finest collection of Portuguese colonial buildings in the world. This wasn’t a simple stopover, I soon realised. This was a linger-over.