Trinidade

Trindade was so relaxed, the weather so good, the accommodation and food lovely, and everything so cheap that we stayed for 5 nights just doing not very much really. It actually seemed like a long time since we had had proper beach time in great weather, and Trinidade was in my opinion every bit as good a beach as any I've been to in South East Asia. In fact, it reminded me very much of South East Asia, with lots of cheap accommodation right on the beach (there is nothing quite like being able to get out of bed, putting on your swimming shorts and walking straight onto a lovely deserted beach under a clear blue sky and into the sea for a quick refreshing dip).

So on one of the lazy days we tried to navigate to the neighbouring beach by clambering over the rocks strewn around a large rocky outcrop at the end of our main beach. But they eventually became a bit too steep and high, and so we had to turn back. So the next day we decided to cheat and take the overland route and it turned out to be a really easy 5 minute walk! It also turned out to be a very popular beach (this being the weekend now), and so had lots of people and busy beach bars and restaurants. It was actually nice to have a bit of life around, and kids playing freely on a beach are always a joy to watch (I've always thought we're the ones with a lot to learn from the carefree nature of kids, rather than always trying to 'teach' them how to behave - case in point would be Sarah always giving out to me for playing with my food, or eating with my fingers, or having food all over my face, my point being she's the one with something to learn, not me!).

There were in fact two beaches on this side of the village, separated by a short rugged forest trail over a little headland. This third beach was the most scenic, having no development whatsoever along it's entire length, and having fairly steep hills covered in untouched native forest flowing straight down to the beach. At the end of the beach, and along another short trail, is a big natural pool formed by a rough ring of huge boulders. It's completely calm here and was quite popular with families.

One of the evenings Sarah fancied another tasty cake, so we strolled around to the local bakery. It turned out that there was a proper chess set on one of the tables and the owner of the bakery asked me if I wanted to play. I didn´t really fancy it, but decided to have a quick game. It turned out to be a very good game, and dragged on for ages, but I won in the end. The guy was clearly a keen player but explained, mostly through sign language, that he only really got to play online. He was also very clearly keen for another game, and it wouldn´t have been fair to just leave I suppose, so I very reluctantly agreed to another game.

Again this game took ages (and his shop was getting very busy, so he had to keep interrupting the game to serve people), but after I had gained a huge advantage (up a rook), I got completely befuddled trying to finish him off and he came up with a great counter attack to win the game. Naturally he wanted another game straight away, but by now it was late, I was very tired, and it seemed fair to end at one game each. Also I found it very fustrating playing someone of a similar level without using a chess clock, something I found playing Hanno on the last big trip too, as it means your always under pressure to make a move before your really ready - and Sarah wasn´t helping much by always telling me to hurry up!

So that just about wraps up our crazy adventures in Trinidade - definitely my favorite beach place of the trip so far. Our next port of call was the island Ilha Grande, and knowing the ferry didn´t depart from the town of Angra until 15:30 we had the whole morning to mess about back in Paraty. So we left our bags in left-luggage at the bus station, burnt a set of photos onto DVD and hired bikes for two hours to explore around the outskirts of the town. It always strikes me just how much more of a town you get to see on a bike compared to walking or buses, and we got to check out the small local fort on a hill overlooking the town and to ride alongside a small river with boat builders working away.

Then another lovely quick lunch in the local market again before going back to the bus station. It was a bit panicky though, as Sarah had gone to withdraw money while I loaded our bags on the bus, and she only got back with literally 1 second to spare (I had to knock on the bus to get the driver to reopen the door he had closed as he pulled away from the station). So an easy 2 hours later we arrive in Angra and get a slightly earlier boat across to the island.