We awoke to rain and cold, so we went back to sleep and eventually got up at 9:30am. While it was just misting, JT tried to take our clothing to two different laundromats, but both were closed (likely because it was Sunday). JT did get us some breakfast, snacks, and a 5 liter water jug from the nearby grocery store.
We decided to just stay and explore Paraty today since it was cloudy and misty. We did not leave the hostel until shortly after 11am.
We walked to along the coast, and looked at the many local birds, many of which look very different than what we have in the United States. There was a lagoon where there were particularly many birds, including many vulture-like birds were hanging out and some egrets that were fishing. Then we crossed the bridge (the only one in the historic center) and walked up a steep street and then a steep dirt path to the fort. During our walk, the mist became a light rain. The views from the fort were really nice even with the rain. We imagine that the views must be much better when it is not raining. The fort building itself was small and seemed to be closed for renovations. We had a quick snack on one of the fort walls and then walked back down the hill. As we were walking, the rain grew harder and harder. We tried seeking shelter from the rain wherever we could – public phone cover, store awnings, and a beach pavilion.
Once we starting getting cold (due to wearing wet clothing and the cool temperatures), we decided to head back to the hostel and change into warm, dry clothing. While it continued to rain outside, we sat in the living room, worked on our blog and itinerary, watched The Patriot movie, and connected with some fellow travelers also staying there at Adventure Hostel.
For dinner we decided to eat at Istanbul, a kebab cafe near the grocery store and bus station. We made our way through the sprinkling rain the 200m to the restaurant. Katie had chicken and JT had doner. The chicken was absolutely delicious, at least partially due to an entire orange being squeezed over it while it was cooking. The kebab shells were rolled out and cooked fresh right in front of us, as was the meat. It was pretty cool to see what delicious food two cooks could make in front of your eyes with just an old kitchen stove! After eating our kebabs we tried a meat-filled pastry that reminded us of the gozleme we ate in Turkey. Although the pastry was different than gozleme, it was still good. We would certainly recommend getting the chicken kebab – it’s delicious and very nicely done! The donor kebab was not great though. Seeing the food being made fresh in front of you was definitely a great part of the experience. One of the cooks also spoke English, so this made ordering much easier.
